City University of Hong Kong (CityU) teams received a total of 19 awards in the recent 8th Hong Kong University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition (the Competition). The winning teams will represent Hong Kong in widely recognised national competitions, allowing their innovative technologies and ideas, as well as CityU’s outstanding scientific research capabilities, to shine on the Mainland stage.

The Competition was hosted by the Hong Kong New Generation Cultural Association. The selected winning teams will form a representative Hong Kong team to participate in prominent Mainland innovation and entrepreneurship contests for tertiary students, such as the China International College Students’ “Internet Plus” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition and the “Challenge Cup” National College Students’ Extracurricular Academic Science and Technology Contest.

Out of more than 260 participating teams this year, 39 teams from CityU scooped one “Grand Prize”, three “First Prizes”, two “Second Prizes”, four “Third Prizes” and nine “Merit Prizes”. This outstanding performance in terms of the number of prizes and the level of the awarded prizes resulted in CityU receiving the only “Outstanding Organization Award” in the Competition, reaffirming our efforts to promote innovation and entrepreneurship.

Among the awardees, “Structured Thermal Armor” was selected as the Grand Prize winner and took First Prize in the Innovation stream. Two other projects, “Intelligent and Thermal-responsive Window for Indoor Thermal Management and Energy-saving in Buildings” and “Cryomicroneedles for Transdermal Cell and Drug Delivery”, won First Prize in the Innovation stream and Entrepreneurship stream (Start-up), respectively.

HK Tech 300 strives to foster innovation in young entrepreneurs

CityU’s HK Tech 300 is a large-scale flagship innovation and entrepreneurship programme, with an allocation of HK$500 million, whose mission is to support entrepreneurs among CityU students, alumni, research staff and others to launch start-ups and ignite their entrepreneurship journey,.

Since its launch in March 2021, over 1,300 people have participated in entrepreneurship training, more than 440 teams have been awarded a seed fund of HK$100,000 each, and over 300 teams have joined the Ideation Programme offered by Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation and were awarded another HK$100,000 seed fund. Over 90 start-ups were selected to receive angel fund investment of up to $1 million each. These start-ups cover various fields, including Deep Tech, ICT & AI, Biotech & Health, Fintech, and EduTech & EviroTech.

HK Tech 300 has received enormous support from over 70 strategic partners, including the Innovation and Technology Commission of the HKSAR Government, InvestHK, the four major chambers of commerce, and other supporting organisations and professional services partners. In addition, more than 120 seasoned industrialists and entrepreneurs have guided teams on their entrepreneurship journey through the HK Tech 300 Mentorship Scheme.

Moreover, CityU and China Resources Enterprise Limited co-established an innovation and entrepreneurship platform with an allocation of HK$100 million in the first phase. CityU has also built co-investment partnerships with seven technology companies and venture capital funds. All these together provide HK$90 million in additional angel fund investment each year to selected start-ups incubated by HK Tech 300. Also, a number of start-ups have secured investment from various venture funds, totalling over HK$50 million.

Innovation – Grand Prize and First Prize: Structured Thermal Armor

CityU PhD students Mr Liu Fayu, Mr Li Mingyu, Mr Li Yuchao and Mr Zeng Yijun, all from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, won the competition with their project “Structured Thermal Armor (STA)”. The key elements of this multitextured new material have contrasting thermal and geometrical properties. The STA transfers heat energy through liquid evaporation and liquid superwetting, which does not usually occur at extremely high temperatures. This technology breakthrough achieves efficient liquid cooling at even 1,000°C or higher, and has application potential in aerospace engines and beyond, including improving the safety and reliability of next-generation nuclear reactors.

Innovation – First Prize: Intelligent and Thermal-responsive Window for Indoor Thermal Management and Energy-saving in Buildings

CityU’s Mr Liu Sai, Research Assistant, Dr Zhu Yihau, Postdoc, and Miss Du Yuwei, PhD student, all from the School of Energy and Environment, developed an intelligent, thermal-responsive window (ITRW) in their start-up HydroTech. The ITRW allows the passive regulation of solar transmittance in response to temperature without the need of electricity or other energy to assist in thermal management and energy saving in buildings. It can be applied in different climates and provides an energy-saving alternative to traditional windows.

HydroTech recently won the Gold Award at the China International College Students’ “Internet Plus” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition for their ITRW.

Entrepreneurship – First Prize: Cryomicroneedles for its Transdermal Cell and Drug Delivery device

CityU’s Mr Ng Chelon, Master’s student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences; Dr Zheng Mengjia and Ms Zhang Yuyue, Postdoctoral Fellow and PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering; and Ms Zhang Jitian, PhD student in the Department of Neuroscience, established start-up Greater Bay Biotechnology.

Based on CityU’s patented technology, the team developed cryomicroneedles (CMNs), an innovative microneedle device for the effective storage, transportation, and in situ delivery of living cells. They are now working on solutions for delivering insulin using the CMNs as a minimally invasive treatment option for diabetes patients, and expanding the application of microneedle technology in other cell therapy applications.