Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) content management system today announced that it has brought its strongest delegation of 25 Park companies to showcase their latest innovations at the RISE Conference in Hong Kong, held from July 9 – 11, 2019. Organised by Web Summit, the RISE Conference brings together the world’s leading founders, Fortune 500 CEOs, investors, media, and startups from over 100 countries. Hrtech

As a key supporter and incubator of start-ups in Hong Kong, HKSTP has been actively driving the development of the city into an innovation-led economy. By participating at RISE, HKSTP helped its incubatees and Park companies to demonstrate their innovative solutions, network with potential investors, exchange ideas with other attendees and explore collaborations and opportunities in other markets.

Albert Wong, CEO of HKSTP, said, “This is the fifth year HKSTP has participated in the RISE Conference, and this year’s number of 25 companies is a record high for our contribution to the event. This figure is testimony of the progress we’ve made at the Park in nurturing our start-ups. Some of these companies have even expanded overseas already. This is also a positive reflection of how much Hong Kong has progressed as a hub for I&T.

But more importantly, our participation in RISE and other similar high-profile tech events around the world gives us an avenue to attract overseas talent, top-notch researchers, and other high potential, deep tech technology companies to come to Hong Kong. This will further add even more value to our I&T ecosystem and propel us even more towards becoming the leading I&T hub in the world,” Albert added.

Applying a range of emerging technologies such as AI & Robotics, fintech and medtech, the participating Park companies showcased solutions that can potentially drive digital transformation, create new or enhanced business processes and models. These technologies help to address challenges faced in many sectors of the economy such as manufacturing & construction, healthcare, education, travel & hospitality and logistics^*.

HKSTP has been actively showcasing Hong Kong incubatees and Park companies at other major tech and start-up conferences around the world for exhibition and business matchmaking missions. These included the Innovate Finance Global Summit London in April, and the VivaTechnology France and the Collision Conference Toronto in May.

^* Please see Appendix for list of companies involved at RISE Conference 2019.

Global Acceleration Academy 2.0 – acceleration programme for corporate innovation

At the event, HKSTP announced an expansion of its international business acceleration programme, the Global Acceleration Academy (GAA). The 13-week long programme is open to high-potential local and overseas start-ups, including non-Park companies, to connect them with world-class enterprises and transform their technologies into practical solutions that have commercial and local value for Asia.

Based on increased demand and positive response from all parties involved, GAA 2.0 will evolve to focus more on industry-based programmes, working with vertical sectors to offer comprehensive solutions for the corporate partners. HKSTP will work closely with the partners to identify the innovation needs in their digital transformation journey or operational challenges. They will then be partnered with the relevant start-ups in a business matching process. Both parties work hand-in-hand to co-create the solutions together. At the end of the programme, a Demo Day will be held, where the teams focus on planning and implementation. HKSTP will produce market insights reports resulting from the interactions and findings during the co-creation process.

For 2019/20, four industry sectors have been earmarked for the GAA programme – real estate, travel & hospitality, healthcare and finance. The GAA 2.0 will kick off with two accelerator themes, Smart Airways and Smart Operation, which support five corporate partners, namely Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Airport Authority, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Regal Hotels International and MTR Corporation.

Peter Mok, Head of Incubation and Acceleration Programmes, HKSTP, said, “The GAA acceleration programme is a win-win for both parties. HKSTP helps corporations review and rethink their strategy on corporate innovation, be an early adopter of emerging technologies while supporting young I&T talent. For the start-ups, they get insightful data specific to the problems they aim to solve, and better support from HKSTP in customising and commercialising their innovations.

Especially for overseas start-ups, they will receive opportunities to learn business practices in Asia, China and the Greater Bay Area, and explore future expansion of their business here. The proof-of-concept innovations they develop can be strong testimonials for them to build reference cases for future business development too.”

The first GAA programme was initiated in April 2017, and over the years it has involved 145 start-ups and companies from all over the world, with 25 corporate partners on board.

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About Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation

Comprising Science Park, InnoCentre and Industrial Estates, Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) is a statutory body dedicated to building a vibrant innovation and technology ecosystem to connect stakeholders, nurture technology talents, facilitate collaboration, and catalyse innovations to deliver social and economic benefits to Hong Kong and the region.

Established in May 2001, HKSTP has been driving the development of Hong Kong into a regional hub for innovation and growth in several focused clusters including Electronics, Information & Communications Technology, Green Technology, Biomedical Technology, Materials and Precision Engineering. We enable science and technology companies to nurture ideas, innovate and grow, supported by our R&D facilities, infrastructure, and market-led laboratories and technical centres with professional support services. We also offer value-added services and comprehensive incubation programmes for technology start-ups to accelerate their growth.

Technology businesses benefit from our specialised services and infrastructure at Science Park for applied research and product development; enterprises can find creative design support at InnoCentre; while skill-intensive businesses are served by our three industrial estates at Tai Po, Tseung Kwan O and Yuen Long. More information about HKSTP is available at www.hkstp.org.