APPLICATION AND ELIGIBILITY

HKUST-Sino One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition 2023

 

Application

  1. Application is open from 20 March 2023 to 13 April 2023.
  2. Teams must apply online (HERE). No paper entries will be accepted.
  3. Entries must be the original work of entrants.
  4. Team required to submit a 5-page Pitch Deck and a 1-min Product Introduction Video. Details please refer “Submission Rules”.

 

Team Eligibility for Application

  1. The Competition is open to all full-time and part-time students at all levels and post-docs, alumni, researchers, faculty and staff of HKUST (including Overseas HKUST Members).
  2. Anyone can apply for the Competition. From Round 2 onwards, the team must have at least one HKUST faculty or student or alumni or staff. This applies to mainland or international teams who wish to compete in this Competition.
  3. The size of each team must be between 1 to 8 members for application. Teams entered Round 2 can add more members (team size up to 10) and must have at least 2 people on the team. All team members must be registered members of the team.
  4. Each team must have at least 1 member with at least 20% ownership in the proposed company.
  5. Each team is ONLY permitted to submit a 5-page Pitch Deck and 1-min Product Introduction Video for Round 1 Assessment.
  6. Each participant can only join up to 1 team for Round 1 Assessment.  Each team can only join up to 1 regional competition.  Teams are encouraged to join the region that is at its approximated location.
  7. A team leader should be identified for each team, who will be point-of-contact with the Competition organizer.
  8. The team is not required to be a business registered company. The team can be an early stage company that had established no more than 3 years.  The company can be at inventor stage or seed stage where there is an idea, a concept, or even a product, with little or no income has been generated yet.   Team name has to be the same as company name and it is not allowed to be changed during the competition.
  9. Companies that have received prior investment or annual revenue or funding support from government or other institutions of more than HKD1,500,000, or ventures that have been in establishment / operation for more than 3 years, are NOT allowed to join the Competition.
  10. Top 3 awardees from previous years’ Competitions in any region are NOT allowed to join the Competition. Previous awardees will not be considered for the same award.
  11. The equity of the company should not be changed during the Competition.

 

Team Eligibility for Round 2 Assessment

  1. Top 25 teams from Round 1 will be selected to enter the Round 2 Assessment.
  2. Up to 5 winning teams from internal and external competitions recognized by the Entrepreneurship Center can be fast-tracked to Round 2 of the Competition.
  3. Team size in this round must be between 2 to 10 AND must have at least one HKUST faculty or student or alumni or staff. Teams should confirm the team list by 22 May 2023 and changes are not allowed by then.
  4. Teams which was not shortlisted in Round 1 can join into the shortlisted teams.
  5. HKUST faculty or student or alumni or staff who did not submit their applications can have their second chance to participate in the Competition by joining into one of the shortlisted teams.
  6. Teams which are composed of HKUST full-time students only will be considered for the Student Team Award.
  7. Each team is required to submit a Short Business Plan in PPT/PDF format and one Exhibition Poster in PDF/AI/TIFF format. Details please refer “Submission Rules”.
  8. Each team has a chance to give a 5-minute Pitch to the judges. The pitch will be video recorded.
  9. One or more member can do the 5-minute Pitch, but at least one HKUST member in the team should be involved in the pitching.  

  

Team Eligibility for Final Round Assessment

  1. Top 6 teams will be selected to enter the Final Round Assessment according to the 5-minute Pitch.
  2. It is strongly encouraged all members of each team to attend the Business Plan Presentation on June 7, 2023.
  3. Only registered member is allowed to speak in the Final Round, including presentation and Q&A session. One or more members can do the presentation but at least one HKUST member should be involved the presentation.

 

Important Note:

  1. By submitting a business plan, the team represents and warrants the team have all right, title and/or interest in the business plan submitted and the information it contains is accurate and complete, and that by submitting the document the team is not and will not be violating any contract or third party rights including any patent, copyright, trade secret, proprietary or confidentiality information, trademark, publicity or privacy right. In addition, the team must have the relevant IP usage right of the technology or innovation proposed to further develop the business. The competition committee reserves the rights to request at any time the appropriate proof from the team on the IP rights.
  2. Participants must not make any statement, comments or issue any materials that are political, violent, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful, sexually suggestive via the Competition or that are derogatory, defamatory or adverse to the reputation of any sponsor or partner of the Competition or the Competition Event.
  3. At least one HKUST member in the team should attend all compulsory events and presentations of the Competition.
  4. All teams are expected to abide by the rules enumerated above. HKUST reserves the right to disqualify any teams that fail to conform to the rules of the Competition.
  5. Teams entering Final Round Assessment must attend the exhibition to be held later in the year during the Grand Final. By submitting a business plan, the teams agree to share their information to Entrepreneurship Center for publicity and communication with the investment community. For materials that are highly confidential and proprietary, the team should make special note to EC for special handling of such information.
  6. Photos & videos taken during the events will be used in promotion & media coverage by HKUST.
  7. Depending on the situation, the events may be held face-to-face, mixed-mode or online events. 
  8. Entrepreneurship Center may change the event date and mode pending unexpected changes in the circumstances and will update/consult applicants if the need arises.