City I&T Grand Challenge spotlights new ideas from Hong Kong’s next generation of innovators
- Competition debuts amid the Covid-19 pandemic to emphasise the role innovation plays in solving the challenges that arise in daily life
- Winners are selected in 4 categories covering student and open groups, with concepts focusing on environmental sustainability or social connectivity
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In this fast-changing world, innovation has become the key to solving new challenges that arise in our everyday lives. Hong Kong has the growing pool of talent and fresh ideas needed to succeed on this front.
The city has emerged as a regional hub for innovation and technology (I&T). As of 2021, more than 3,700 start-ups were based in Hong Kong, and that number continues to rise.
To help nurture future growth in this area, the City I&T Grand Challenge debuted last year. Organised by the Innovation and Technology Commission together with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), this competition gives budding innovators the chance to pitch their ideas and turn them into impactful solutions.
Themed “Innovating for Hong Kong’s New Normal”, the competition recognises the lifestyle changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the importance of helping people adapt to them.
Commissioner for Innovation and Technology Rebecca Pun explains: “The Covid-19 pandemic is affecting each and every one of us, and we have to accept it as a new normal. The major purpose of this Grand Challenge is to encourage everyone to think out of the box, and to propose innovative solutions to address the problems that we encounter in our daily lives.”
Under this theme, entries to the City I&T Grand Challenge focused on two issues in Hong Kong that have been magnified by the pandemic: environmental sustainability and social connectivity. Environmental sustainability was chosen due to the high levels of waste generated by increased food delivery and takeaway orders for at-home dining, according to Pun.
Meanwhile, social connectivity has become particularly relevant amid concerns over the physical, mental and emotional impacts that social distancing may have on the city’s elderly, disabled and underprivileged populations. “Because of the social-distancing requirements, we are not able to see our friends and relatives as often, and some of them will feel lonely,” Pun says.
In addition to generating innovative solutions to these issues, the competition provided encouragement and guidance to young I&T talents. “It’s a very good experience for young people to learn from each other and explore the real world outside their campuses,” Pun says.
The competition also offered training sessions and advice from industry experts to help shortlisted participants develop their pitching skills in order to present their ideas more effectively. “I&T is very important to Hong Kong’s economic development. We see a lot of talents, and they just need opportunities to grow and shine,” Pun says.
Dr Sunny Chai, chairman of HKSTP and judge for the City I&T Grand Challenge, says: “It’s definitely a great platform for the community to demonstrate their innovative ideas.”
The competition received more than 740 entries from over 1,250 contestants in and outside Hong Kong, either as an individual or a team in primary school, secondary school, university/tertiary institute and open group categories. A total of 120 proposals were eventually shortlisted to move on to the Grand Pitch event and vie for a spot in the finale.
The Grand Pitch finale took place on October 16 at Hong Kong Science Park, where each of the 24 finalists was given three minutes at most to pitch their ideas to the judging panel.
Chai explains the judging process: “For the primary and secondary school categories, we focus on the relevance and uniqueness of their ideas, I&T application and deployment, their impact on society and effectiveness. For the university/tertiary institute and open categories, we add one more judging criteria, which is feasibility and commercial viability of the ideas.”
Two winners were selected in both the university/tertiary institute and open group categories – one for environmental sustainability, and one for social connectivity. They will be given the opportunity to further develop their solutions by receiving training from HKSTP, as well as support to help them develop proofs of concept to test their ideas in public organisations or government departments.
Anthony Ma, a green living and innovation consultant, was a member of the team that won the open group category for environmental sustainability. He is excited about implementing their winning solution, the Food TranSmarter, which liquefies food waste so it can be easily transported to facilities for biogas production.
According to Ma, the team chose to focus on environmental sustainability because Hong Kong is seen as lacking practical solutions for dealing with environmental challenges. He believes that the team’s victory in the competition will lead to more institutions and government departments adopting the Food TransSmarter.
“We hope that one day, Hong Kong can be a role model in food waste management,” Ma adds.
Another winner in the City I&T Grand Challenge was PanopticAI, which emerged as the champion of the university/tertiary institute category for social connectivity with its remote health monitoring system.
This software solution uses cameras on smart devices and computers to conduct contactless detection and measurement of a person’s vitals. Kyle Wong, co-founder of PanopticAI, explains: “Our project uses proprietary software to extract a person’s vital signs like their heart rate, respiration rate and even stress level, at an accuracy that’s comparable to a medical-grade device.”
He adds that the all-in-one system not only eliminates the need for bulky monitoring devices, but it also allows people to access their health status more quickly and easily.
Wong is excited about the possibilities opened up by his team’s victory. “Not only do we get monetary support from the award, but we also hope to have some future collaborations with different institutions to grow our technology,” he says.
Events such as the City I&T Grand Challenge play a crucial role in advancing Hong Kong’s I&T development and ecosystem. Chai points out that a number of participants in the university/tertiary and open group categories are already well into their innovation journeys, with their ideas currently available in the market.
He offers the winners some advice for the future: “Keep going, and look for what’s available to you in Hong Kong’s I&T ecosystem.”
Wong says taking part in the competition helped members of his team, who are engineers and researchers by training, learn much more about business development and how to pitch their idea to sell the technology.
Ma agrees that learning how to make a pitch was useful, as it helped his team organise their ideas and hone their presentation skills. “This competition encourages the whole innovative spirit,” he says.
Going forward, Pun expects that Hong Kong’s I&T ecosystem will continue to flourish. “The potential is very bright,” she says. “We have to seize this opportunity in order to create a better future for Hong Kong and our young people.”