City University of Hong Kong (CityU) announced earlier the launch of “HK Tech 300”, a large-scale flagship innovation and entrepreneurship programme, with an allocation of HK$500 million, which has attracted increasing attention. The third cohort seed fund received an overwhelming response in terms of applications. After careful selection by the panel members, 87 start-up teams were selected to receive HK$100,000 each in seed funding under HK Tech 300, which will help them to turn their creative ideas into reality and embark on their entrepreneurship journey.

HK Tech 300 supports CityU students, alumni and researchers to transform their ideas into start-ups. The goal of the programme is to establish 300 start-ups within three years. Since its launch in March 2021, HK Tech 300 has received an overwhelming response. So far, about 150 start-up teams in Biotech and Health, Fintech, Deep Tech, EduTech and EnviroTech have been selected to receive HK$100,000 each in seed funding.

Representatives of the newly selected start-up teams attended Orientation Day, held at Hong Kong Science Park yesterday (4 November), creating a lively atmosphere. This was the first time HK Tech 300 held an orientation day in Science Park.

In his opening remarks, Professor Michael Yang Mengsu, Vice-President (Research and Technology) of CityU, thanked Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), one of HK Tech 300’s strategic partners, for its strong support, and congratulated the selected teams on taking their first step on their entrepreneurship journey. He said, “I have some good news and potentially bad news for all of you. The good news is that you have so far succeeded in this competitive entrepreneurial era; the bad news is that you still have a long way to go and may fail, but such failures will help you grow”. He encouraged them not to give up on their entrepreneurship journey, and pointed out that every failure would increase their chance of success. He hoped that the selected teams would enjoy their entrepreneurship journey and turn their ideas into achievements as soon as possible.

In his speech, Mr Albert Wong Hak-keung, Chief Executive Officer of HKSTP, welcomed everyone to the Park’s Charles K. Kao Auditorium to participate in Orientation Day. He noted that the previous day was the birthday of the late Mr Charles Kao, the “Father of Fibre Optics”, so it was of special significance to hold the orientation there. He hoped the collaboration between HKSTP and CityU in supporting the development of innovation and technology would be successful and encouraged the selected teams. “Many start-ups fail. Now that you have chosen to embark on this entrepreneurship journey, you cannot regard it as just another college assignment or graduation thesis. You must regard it as a major step in your career, and you must do your best to succeed!” he said.

Another guest, Mr Duncan Chiu, President of the Hong Kong Information Technology Joint Council, praised HK Tech 300 as a forward-looking programme. “The population of the Greater Bay Area is forecast to rise to more than 100 million by 2035, many of whom are young, talented people, like everyone here. You should seize the opportunity provided by the Greater Bay Area, because it provides you with a great opportunity in the best place in the world to start a business.”

Next, Dr Laura Lo, Associate Vice-President (Chinese Mainland Affairs Office) of CityU and Chairman of the HK Tech 300 Incubation Sub-committee, guided the selected teams on how to use the HK tech 300 Seed Fund and reminded them to strive to achieve the goals they set. Representatives of CityU provided various practical entrepreneurship information to the selected teams, including the mentorship scheme; tips for opening a company bank account and financial management; collaboration among HK Tech 300, HKSTP and Cyberport in different fields; support provided by various business associations; and how to search for intellectual property and technology developed by CityU.

Mr Henry Lam, from Albacastor Robotics Limited, which is shortlisted as a HK Tech 300 Angel Fund team, encouraged all the teams to actively participate in different start-up competitions and to continuously improve their business plans in the sharing sessions. “Participating in HK Tech 300 enabled our company to obtain funding and co-working space for development. We also got help from entrepreneurial mentors and more opportunities for publicity and cooperation for the company,” he said.

In the same sharing session, representatives of i2Cool and Greater Bay Biotechnology, whose start-up projects were selected in the second cohort seed fund, shared their entrepreneurial experience. The two teams won the championship and third place, respectively, in the 2021 SME Innovation and Entrepreneurship Global Contest – Hong Kong Chapter. Subsequently, i2Cool represented Hong Kong in the global finals of the same contest and won second place.

Mr Zhu Yihao, representative of i2Cool, encouraged all the teams to participate in various competitions, “Participating in competitions is actually connecting with the market, and the criticisms and opinions from the judges will help you improve your products”. He also thanked CityU for its publicity work, which attracted the attention of investors in mainland China for i2Cool.

Mr Colin Ng Chelon, representative of Greater Bay Biotechnology, said, “We (start-ups) may not have enough capital to carry out market research, but we can test the market response by participating in competitions. Moreover, the judges in the competitions may be investors in science and innovation enterprises, and may become shareholders in your company in the future”. He reminded everyone to constantly adjust their business strategies along their entrepreneurship journey.

Finally, the teams visited the Robotics Catalysing Centre, INNO2 and other facilities in Hong Kong Science Park.v