Twenty-six projects, mostly from startups from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, joined an acceleration program run by Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub (Ehub) on Thursday.
The program is part of the special economic zone’s broader push to promote technological and innovation cooperation between the neighboring cities.
The “What’s Next? NextU Camp” program aims to nurture the next “unicorns” — startups valued at more than $1 billion. The companies will receive various services ranging from resource connection to financing.
The 26 projects cover artificial intelligence, embodied intelligence, smart manufacturing and digital healthcare as well as similar fields.
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Startups face multiple challenges in their development in Hong Kong, including staffing, financing, and marketing, noted Peter Mok, general manager of Shenzhen Qianhai Ehub Operation Co Ltd.
“The startups can leverage Shenzhen’s strengths to address these problems. Meanwhile, we also hope to bring Hong Kong’s scientific research capabilities to Shenzhen, helping the city’s companies enhance their research capacity,” he said.
Mok added that a range of services will be offered to startups that have joined the program. “In the initial stage, they may spend a lot of time on research and development and preparing to launch products. During this period, we will connect them with their target customers,” he said.
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“We will also help them expand their team by hiring staff and introduce venture capital and angel investment to help with their funding.”
Maggie Kam, business director of Spaceship, one of the Hong Kong startups that joined the program, said her team — 80 percent of whom are from Hong Kong — hopes to expand its presence and establish connections with venture capitalists, industry peers and customers on the Chinese mainland through the program. Spaceship specializes in providing one-stop logistics solutions for cross-border e-commerce.
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Kam praised the exceptional efficiency of Qianhai. “Whenever we meet with difficulties, Qianhai would quickly help. The efficiency here is much higher than that in Hong Kong. We have got a lot of policy support and everything is moving fast,” she said.
“We are confident that we can grow more swiftly in Qianhai.”
