HKSTP
After a pretty short night (at least for some of us who had to adjust some final details on their pitches and project handouts) we went to visit the Hong Kong Science Park (HKSTP) today. Nathan met us at the bus station right outside the HKSTP and led us to the meeting room where we would have to pitch our projects for the competition later today. But first things first…
First of all we had a short introduction to what the HKSTP is all about by Marian, who also introduced us to Frank Eggmann, Head of the Swiss Business Hub Hong Kong, which helps Swiss companies getting into contact with the Hong Kong business ecosystem. After that we began our journey into the HKSTP.
The introduction session
HKSTP
HKSTP was founded in 2002 and currently accomodates around 200 companies in three different categories:
- Incu-App: A co-working space which accomodates app development start-ups for up to 18 months and helps them to test their applications while providing them with equipment such as any imagineable smart phone or tablet to test their application on
- Incu-Tech: A program which offers office space to a selection of the best technology start-ups of today
- Incu-Bio: Offering office space as well as wet-labs to companies that want to become big in the biotechnology scene
Currently 90% of their office spaces are taken, but if you feel like starting your business in Hong Kong HKSTP is definitely the place to be! We were shown around some of the labs like for example the IC and RF testing facilities and the 3D printing area and also got some insight into TecOne, a facility designed to help you with all the management, financing and marketing that’s needed to kickstart a business!
Open workspace
After an amazing lunch where we could talk to people working “for” the HKSTP we went to our afternoon session, meeting people who work “in” the HKSTP. Each of our groups was assigned to one business that currently has its headquarters in the HKSTP and we all were excited about the possibility to speak to entrepreneurs who have already gone through the incubator programs or are currently profiting from it. We got some insight in 3D printing (3DP for dory), dairy product distribution (Valfoo for fimi) and wearable devices (Well Being Digital for vesta) and learned first hand what is important when starting a business in general or in HK in particular.
After all the learning and exchange we now needed to do some work on our own: pitching time! Each team had prepared a 10min + 5min (questions) pitch in front of real investors and were shooting for one of the three prices: Most Innovative, Most Social Impact and Most Marketeable. While the teams were able to train their pitching skills they could also profit from the remarks from the jury which finally had to decide on how to assign the prices. The final results are:
- Most Innovative: Dory
- Most Marketeable: Vesta
- Most Social Impact: Fimi
After some images of all the winners had been taken we had to speed off, back to HK Central to meet up with Brinc for a second round of pitches. We definitely appreciate the great experience that the HKTP team made possible for us, and talking to some of the CHIC people I can tell you that for some today will definitely not have been the last time at HKSTP!
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Philippe Gannagé, Florian Maushart