Hong Kong's Cyberport hosts national innovation and entrepreneurship competition

In recent years, the Hong Kong Government has been committed to promoting the development of innovation and technology, and Cyberport is the flagship of Hong Kong's digital technology and an incubator for entrepreneurship. Cyberport's hosting of the national innovation and entrepreneurship competition "Create China International SME Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition - Hong Kong Stage" is an opportunity for local innovation and technology companies to stand on the stage, and the top three companies of the 2022 and 2023 Hong Kong Stages thanked the Hong Kong Government for fostering innovation and technology talents and helping local innovation and technology companies to enter the Greater Bay Area and the international arena in the same interviews.

The "Create China" International SME Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition is China's national-level innovation and entrepreneurship competition, which selects many outstanding start-up companies every year. Jointly organized by the China SME Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer of the Hong Kong SAR and the Youth Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong SAR, and co-hosted by the Hong Kong Cyberport and the Angels Investment Foundation, the Hong Kong leg of the competition is undoubtedly one of the most important events in the local entrepreneurial scene.

In 2022, the first, second and third place winners of the Hong Kong leg of the competition were Nonsense Technology, Tiptop Technology and TZG Innovation Technology, while in 2023, the top three winners were Tricore Technology, Triad Data and Hong Kong Carbon Innovation Technology. Among them, TZG became the Champion of the International SMEs Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition 2022, while all other Hong Kong representatives were awarded with Merit Prizes, showing that with the Government's strong promotion and support, Hong Kong's innovation and technology companies are capable of targeting the Greater Bay Area, China and even the world.

Nonsense won the Hong Kong leg of the competition in 2022 with "Nonsense Insights", a design that employs cutting-edge Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Deep Learning technologies to enhance capital market research and due diligence workflows. Founder and CEO Calvin Cheng admits that the design aims to promote financial development in Asia: "In Asia, most of the information and data disclosed by companies is not complete, so I want to enhance the transparency of the capital markets to help and facilitate overseas investors to more easily grasp the growth potential of Asian companies," he says.

Calvin said that data is expensive for most professional investors, so he said the ultimate goal is to popularize the data so that non-professional investors can get useful and unique insights for long term investment. He also said the company's short-term goal is to improve the quality of data disclosure by listed companies: "We have recently launched a series of regulatory technologies that can effectively help listed companies compare their ESG disclosure levels," he said.

Nonsense is now based in Cyberport, and is also looking at the Greater Bay Area market and preparing to develop related market products. Calvin credits the Hong Kong government's support for the development of a local start-up to its current size: "The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau have launched a series of FinTech funding schemes, which have helped financial institutions to get funding to introduce the latest technology! He added, "Last but not least, we would like to thank Cyberport for their continuous support to our company, including assisting us to exhibit at various fintech conferences, shooting promotional videos and assisting us to promote our products in the market."

The first runner-up of Hong Kong 2022 was awarded by Tiptop with the "Portable Self-help Medical Imaging Device", which is used for in-depth health monitoring and diagnostic screening at home and in clinics, and is capable of early detection and chronic disease management for some of the most costly diseases, such as liver, lungs, and kidneys. Justin Chan, CEO and co-founder of the company, admits that this state-of-the-art medical device is only possible because of the government's financial support: "Whether it's Cyberport, the ITC or other government organizations, all of them have provided different kinds of financial support, and even at the beginning, when we only had a prototype and it wasn't mature enough to attract investors in the market, the government still provided financial support to us so that we could continue with the study.

Justin said that the company has been actively studying the entry of the Greater Bay Area market because he understands the growing demand for primary healthcare in the region: "The main reason is of course the aging population, and also the problem of the healthcare system, which is a common problem all over the world, where people have to queue up for a long time in hospitals in order to get the opportunity to see a doctor or get a checkup. He said that Gense Technologies can not only be implemented on the ground, but can also be used by the general public, hoping to achieve communityization, so that everyone can know their own health conditions at an early stage.

Although TZGIT finished third in the 2022 Hong Kong Stage Race, it eventually won the championship in the Grand Final! With over 50 international patents for its "Micro Anti-Shake Head" design, which can be built into mobile phones and uses mechanical anti-shake to achieve excellent anti-shake results, Founder and CEO Edward Mak said, "Our founding core team has many years of experience in anti-shake innovations, and we have the technology that can solve the pain points in this market! We have the technology to solve this pain point in the market!

The biggest difficulty in designing micro-head anti-shake is how to place many precision parts in a very small space. TZG has gradually solved the problem by conducting in-depth research on the mechanical structure, introducing electronic control technology, and strengthening the production process, etc. Edward said directly that the company hopes to break the monopoly of the relevant market by foreign countries: "Our products use domestic materials and factories, and can realize the substitution of domestic production, breaking the monopoly of foreign countries and bringing clear images to mobile devices at a favorable price. Our products use domestic materials and factories, which can realize domestic production, break the monopoly of foreign countries, and bring clear images to mobile devices at a favorable price.

Currently, TZG is a LEAP member of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTPC) and a Tech300 key supporting enterprise of the City University of Hong Kong, and it has already landed in Shenzhen's river-loop area and is stationed in the Shenzhen branch of the Hong Kong Science Park, Edward admits that participating in the "Maker China" event has given his company a lot of opportunities: "We have come into contact with many investment institutions in the Mainland, and the awards of the event have brought us a strong endorsement of our credibility, and also gained the resources of the media! We have also gained media coverage and increased our company's visibility!

In the 2023 Hong Kong leg of the competition, Compound Ear Technology Limited won the championship with "Dai3mimi", a medical service that uses the company's own developed and patented medium-conducted sound system to help the elderly to regain their hearing, as well as to provide mobile communication for hearing-impaired patients to communicate with each other over long distances, thus making telemedicine a possible medical service. Stephen Lam, the founder and product creator of the project, revealed that the concept of the project originated from his own story: "My father is hearing impaired, and it is very difficult for him to find a hearing aid that he can use comfortably, which inspired me to design a hearing aid for him.

Stephen says that he is now looking to expand his product network to overseas markets and mainland China, with the help of the government: "The Hong Kong government offers a number of different programs that we are eligible to apply for. In addition, organizations such as the Cyberport and the Science Park are providing us with invaluable support and pushing us forward! Asked what changes he hopes the product will bring to society, he returned to his original intention: "We want to introduce a new hearing technology to the public that overcomes the limitations of traditional methods. In addition, our technology provides a unique way to work with clinicians to enhance the sensory experience of people with cognitive impairment."

Of the six winning entries in the 2022 and 2023 categories, Triad's "MOODIE.AI Artificial Intelligence Communication and Presentation Training Platform" is arguably the most unique, as it is designed to be educational in nature, a self-managed training platform that combines artificial intelligence, decision science, and applied psychology to help train users in presentation skills. CEO Roland Leung admits that speaking is much more important than one might think: "It's hard for AI to build trust and relationships between companies, and that's something that has to be done by 'people', and to communicate well, you need to be able to express yourself well, and that's where speaking comes in.

Roland hopes to introduce MOODIE.AI to universities, secondary schools and even elementary school, so that students can be exposed to relevant training early, and if coupled with the guidance of a real instructor, a training model that combines real people and artificial intelligence can be achieved. What's unexpected is Roland's outlook on not only entering the Greater Bay Area, but also ASEAN: "We've seen that Vietnam, for example, is a market with a lot of business opportunities, so we hope that our products can become a mainstream application in the education sector in these regions. He admits that the Hong Kong government's help has been very important in his bid to get out of Hong Kong: "We are from Cyberport, so we have received different training programs from Cyberport, and they have provided us with a lot of financial support and opportunities to participate in many exhibitions and competitions, and a lot of customers and investors have come to know about us as a result!

Hong Kong Carbon Land Innovative Technology (HKCIT) has won the 3rd runner-up of Hong Kong 2023 with its "Graphene Heating Mask", which is a breakthrough in the heating technology. The traditional heating technology has a lot of shortcomings, such as low stability of heating, and even high voltage and easy to break, which may jeopardize the life of the people. Therefore, Hong Kong Carbon Land's "Graphene Heating Mask" hopes to solve the problem of high power consumption and improve the heating effect. Toby Poon, Director of Hong Kong and International Marketing of the company, said that apart from improving the heating process, the ultimate vision of the design is to bring about a greener environment: "We want to make the world consume less electricity, reduce carbon emissions, and give people a more comfortable life!

Toby revealed that after participating in "Create China", Hong Kong Carbon Realm has attracted the attention of many companies in the Greater Bay Area and Mainland China, and winning the award has been a shot in the arm for potential clients in the future. She added that the company has plans to enter the Greater Bay Area, "We have plans to enter the Greater Bay Area, and we have already set up locations in Songshan Lake, Dongguan and Nansha, Guangzhou.

Hong Kong announced the "Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Development Blueprint" at the end of last year, and the Central Authorities also released the "Overall Development Plan on Hong Kong/Shenzhen Co-operation on Modern Service Industries in Qianhai Area" and the "Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Deep Co-operation Area" at the same time. It is believed that with the strengthening of Hong Kong's connectivity with the Greater Bay Area, local start-ups will be provided with more resources and opportunities for development. If you are interested in learning more, please visit: (TBC)

(Information and photos to be provided by clients)