Competition Timeline

 

The competition schedule consists of several stages: Pre-event Registration, Preliminary Rounds, Semi-finals, Finals, and Post-event Due Diligence. The timeline for each stage is subject to adjustment based on the actual progress of the competition. All mentioned schedules are based on Beijing Time (GMT+8), and the specific itinerary will be subject to the official competition notices released by the Organizing Committee.

 

Competition

Timeline

Remarks

Registration

Now through 14 August 2026, 17:00

Click:https://1m.hkust.edu.hk and choose [Guangzhou] to register

Preliminary Round

Late August 2026

A panel of five judges will conduct an online scoring review of the submitted project materials and business plans. The preliminary score will be calculated by removing the highest and lowest scores from the panel and averaging the remaining ones. There will be no offline defense session.

  •  Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Track: The top 45 projects based on their scores will advance to the semi-finals. Concurrently, to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship among university students, 15 non-advancing projects consisting entirely of current students from universities in these regions will be selected based on their preliminary scores to compete for the special 'Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan College Student Award.'

  • Overseas Track: The top 30 projects based on their scores will advance to the semi-finals.

Semi-finals

①Hongkong, Macao & Taiwan Track: 20 October
②Overseas Track:22 September

The semi-finals will feature a '7-minute project presentation + 5-minute Q&A' format. A panel of three judges will score each project, and the average score will determine the project's final ranking. 

  • Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Track: 
    The 45 shortlisted projects will be divided into 3 groups for an offline competition in Guangzhou. Based on the scoring within each group, the top 5 projects from each group (totaling 15 projects) will advance to the finals. The 15 special 'Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan College Student' projects will form a separate standalone group, where they will compete for the 15 special student awards based on their score rankings.

  • Overseas Track: The 30 shortlisted overseas projects will be divided into 2 groups and will compete via online roadshow presentations. Based on the scoring within each group and their willingness to establish local operations, 10 projects with a clear intent to settle in Guangzhou will be selected to advance to the finals.

 

Grand Final and Awards Ceremony

21 October

The qualifying teams from both tracks will convene in Guangzhou to participate in the finals in person. The finals will adopt a '7-minute project presentation + 3-minute Q&A' format, evaluated by a panel of no fewer than five judges. The final score will be calculated by removing the highest and lowest scores from the panel and averaging the remaining ones. 

The competition results will be announced on-site based on the final score rankings from highest to lowest, followed by the presentation of First, Second, and Third Prizes. If any project withdraws midway or is unable to participate on-site, it will be treated as a forfeiture, and the corresponding award will not be backfilled.

Post-Competition Visit

October 22-23(Thu-Fri)

We will organize site visits and research tours for the winning projects to examine outstanding enterprises and industrial parks across various districts in Guangzhou, providing them with an in-depth understanding of the local settlement policies in each district.