A humanoid robot with dexterous five-finger hands, a wearable exoskeleton training device, and panoramic cameras were among a series of innovative gadgets and technologies on display at the Shenzhen final of the One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition on Wednesday.
Initiated by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2011, the competition launched in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in 2016. This year’s event, which officially kicked off on May 28, received 122 entries, of which 82 percent were in the field of hardware technology, including next-generation information technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, smart manufacturing, biomedicine, medical health, and new-energy materials.
Three startups in the chip-design and development, new materials, and medical-care sectors topped the competition.
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Yang Jinglei, general director of the HKUST SZ-HK Collaborative Innovation Research Institute, said at the finale that HKUST’s Shenzhen platform closely follows the university’s lead in continuing to invest more efforts in scientific innovation.
From exploring business models to shaping team development, the platform is dedicated to providing more in-depth incubation services for startup teams, striving to excel in scientific innovation, he said.
As one of the earliest Hong Kong-based university research facilities to establish a presence in the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, the institute has established an innovation laboratory cluster between the two cities, and the Blue Bay entrepreneurship incubation platform to facilitate the transformation of scientific and technological research achievements.
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The Blue Bay has so far transformed 29 projects from professors’ scientific research achievements and incubated 167 firms, with a cumulative funding amount exceeding 1.15 billion yuan ($161.7 million).
Contact the writer at grace@chinadailyhk.com
