The HK Tech 300 International Start-up Competition kicked off Friday at the City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), with the program extending its reach to nascent countries, such as Hungary, Turkiye, and Kazakhstan to attract top-tier talent and innovative start-ups to Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

HK Tech 300, first launched in 2021, is a large-scale flagship innovation and entrepreneurship program devised by CityUHK. With an allocation of HK$600 million ($77 million), this program has cultivated over 900 entrepreneurship teams. Among them, over 200 start-ups have been awarded angel fund investment of up to HK$1 million each to facilitate their business development.

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CityUHK has organized the HK Tech 300 National Start-up Competition since 2022, and expanded it to Southeast Asia with the launch of HK Tech 300 Southeast Asia Start-up Competition in 2023. This year, the event will be held in partnership with 11 universities and five local partners, including business chambers and incubators from nine countries and regions, namely Brunei, Hungary, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkiye, Vietnam and Hong Kong, aiming to attract global innovation resources, and enhance international exchanges and cooperation.

Along with the launching ceremony is the opening ceremony of the HK Tech 300 Expo, an event held on Friday and Saturday. It gathered about 300 start-ups incubated by CityUHK, showcasing the program’s achievements in transforming innovative ideas into practical products.  

Speaking at the event, Sun Dong, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, noted that interactive collaboration between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, industry, academia, research, and investment sectors is essential for the city’s I&T development.

It is necessary to continue the efforts to work together to support young entrepreneurs and provide them with the necessary resources, mentorship, and opportunities they need to turn their ideas into impactful solutions, further bolstering the development of Hong Kong as an international I&T hub, Sun added.

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Sun said that the program has an instrumental role in supporting young talent and nurturing deep-tech start-ups, and it is encouraging to see the program has expanded its footprint into the mainland, Southeast Asia, and beyond.

To attract more venture capital to co-invest in local I&T start-ups, the government launched the Innovation and Technology Venture Fund enhanced scheme recently by redeploying up to HK$1.5 billion to set up funds jointly with the market, also on a matching basis, to invest in start-ups of strategic industries, thereby empowering start-ups with more financing support, Sun said.

The HK$1.5 billion Research Matching Grant Scheme was first proposed in Hong Kong’s Policy Address 2024 as a measure for increasing research funding.

E3A Healthcare, a Singapore start-up specializing in non-invasive, home-based solutions for new-borns’ and women’s healthcare, was one of the winning start-ups of the “HK Tech 300 Southeast Asia Start-up Competition” in 2023.

Harry Chen, co-founder and CFO of the company, said Hong Kong can serve as a gateway for the company to further develop the mainland market.

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“When we took part in the competition in 2023, there were only about 20 people in our team, and currently, we have expanded to around 60 people,” Chen said, adding that the competition has helped the company to attract strong investors such as CR Enterprise. Currently, the company has set up its factory in Shenzhen, and over 120 hospitals all over the world are using its products.  

Echoing Chen, Ken Ching Chun-ho, founder of Locolla, a HK Tech 300 angel funding start-up, said that HK Tech 300 can serve as a credible brand on expanding network and promoting cooperation. The company operates Hong Kong’s sole locally founded bike-sharing service, and jointly held a 12-month trial on shared use of electric mobility devices with the Transport Department in 2023.  

HK Tech 300 has provided not only funding, but also patent resources, business matching and co-investment opportunities. Start-up companies in various fields are involved in this project, such as biotech and health, fintech, information and communications technology and artificial intelligence.

Contact the writer at atlasshao@chinadailyhk.com