The HKUST-Sino One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition 2020 has come to a fruitful end on 6 June 2020.
With the purpose of nurturing business innovation in the areas of Healthcare, robotics & AI, Environment & Sustainability, social services & enterprise and more, the competition has come to its 10th anniversary. Despite of the pandemic situation, the competition attracted an overwhelming responses with over 150 applications, the most applications in the past 10 years, from HKUST faculty, staff, students, and alumni from schools of Science, Engineering, and Business. We also transformed all our physical events into online mode including the Elevator Pitch and the Final Round Presentation.
On 3 June 2020, 12 finalists presented their full business plans online to the judging panel and the result of the awarded teams were announced on 4 June 2020. Ultimately, 13 teams won over one million of cash prize in total. All the teams and HKUST community gathered online for the announcement and sharing of the awarded teams.
This year, SPES Tech has crowned the champion of the competition and the winner of the President Award, as well as the GF Innovation Award. The team developed its proprietary photosensitive hydrogel that offers a more flexible and accurate testing environment than its counterpart derived from animal sources for biomedical studies.
When it came to the sharing of SPES Tech, everyone was surprised by their perseverance of attempting the competition for the third time.
“I'm really surprised with the result. The first time we weren’t shortlisted in Round 1. The second time we got into the semi-final. But maybe the terms were too technical that the judges were hard to follow. For this time, we got a lot of coaching from the mentors in Entrepreneurship Center and we learnt to simplify the technology so that people can understand.” said Kachin Wong, founder of SPES Tech.
PhoMedics Limited, winner of the Gold Award (first runner-up), has developed a technology called computational high-throughput autofluorescence microscopy with pattern illumination (CHAMP), which allows a surgeon to check during a cancer surgery whether the patient’s cancer cells are cleanly eradicated, thus minimizing the chance of requiring a second operation.
Meanwhile, Silver award winner LunaLearn Ltd developed a mobile application that offers scientific guidance on the milestones of a baby's development from birth to 36 months. The team also designs corresponding toys at different stages to encourage quality interaction between parents and the infants.
Overall, the competition was ended with this rewarding sharing session that the HKUST community could interact with these newly formed startups.
The top 3 teams of the competition, comprising HKUST students, alumni, and their international peers, will compete with the finalists from 7 different regions in the Grand Final in Nansha later this year.
To view the list of all awardees, please visit: https://onemilliondollar.ust.hk/awards_announcement
Media coverage:
The Standard - Cancer-detecting startup wins business prize
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news/section/4/221309/Cancer-detecting-startup-wins-business-prize
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星島日報 - https://std.stheadline.com/daily/article/2257344/
Topick - 科大教授研顯微鏡技術 助順利切除腫瘤免重做手術
https://topick.hket.com/article/2707238/%E7%A7%91%E5%A4%A7%E6%95%99%E6%8E%88%E7%A0%94%E9%A1%AF%E5%BE%AE%E9%8F%A1%E6%8A%80%E8%A1%93%20%20%20%20%E5%8A%A9%E9%A0%86%E5%88%A9%E5%88%87%E9%99%A4%E8%85%AB%E7%98%A4%E5%85%8D%E9%87%8D%E5%81%9A%E6%89%8B%E8%A1%93?mtc=20023
明報 - 科大研顯微鏡術中執漏 助腫瘤切除免二度開刀
https://news.mingpao.com/pns/%E5%89%B5%E7%A7%91%E7%B7%9A/article/20200728/special/1595874336645
信報 - 科大新顯微鏡技術 直接檢測除癌細胞 (subscription needed)
https://www1.hkej.com/dailynews/finnews/article/2533204/
文匯報 - 光敏水凝膠養幹細胞 遇LED光都有反應
http://paper.wenweipo.com/2020/07/28/HK2007280044.htm
經濟日報 - 顯微鏡新技術 助檢視癌細胞切除否 (subscription required)
https://paper.hket.com/article/2707539/%E9%A1%AF%E5%BE%AE%E9%8F%A1%E6%96%B0%E6%8A%80%E8%A1%93%20%E5%8A%A9%E6%AA%A2%E8%A6%96%E7%99%8C%E7%B4%B0%E8%83%9E%E5%88%87%E9%99%A4%E5%90%A6
晴報 -【醫療科技】科大研新顯微鏡3分鐘出影像 助一次過清除癌細胞
https://skypost.ulifestyle.com.hk/article/2706993/%E3%80%90%E9%86%AB%E7%99%82%E7%A7%91%E6%8A%80%E3%80%91%E7%A7%91%E5%A4%A7%E7%A0%94%E6%96%B0%E9%A1%AF%E5%BE%AE%E9%8F%A13%E5%88%86%E9%90%98%E5%87%BA%E5%BD%B1%E5%83%8F%20%E5%8A%A9%E4%B8%80%E6%AC%A1%E9%81%8E%E6%B8%85%E9%99%A4%E7%99%8C%E7%B4%B0%E8%83%9E
am730 - 科研公司研新技術顯微鏡 測殘餘癌細胞精準度達95%
https://www.am730.com.hk/news/%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E/%e7%a7%91%e7%a0%94%e5%85%ac%e5%8f%b8%e7%a0%94%e6%96%b0%e6%8a%80%e8%a1%93%e9%a1%af%e5%be%ae%e9%8f%a1-%e6%b8%ac%e6%ae%98%e9%a4%98%e7%99%8c%e7%b4%b0%e8%83%9e%e7%b2%be%e6%ba%96%e5%ba%a6%e9%81%9495-228302
Mirage News - HKUST-Sino One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition 2020 Puts Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship
https://www.miragenews.com/hkust-sino-one-million-dollar-entrepreneurship-competition-2020-puts-technological-innovation-and-entrepreneurship/
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