Dr Miranda Lou, PolyU’s Executive Vice President (seated, right) and Mr Albert Wong, CEO of HKSTP (seated, left), signed a strategic MoU to form the joint entrepreneurship programme, witnessed by Chief Executive Mrs Carrie Lam (back row, centre); Mr Alfred Sit, Secretary for Innovation and Technology (2nd from right); President Prof Jin-Guang Teng, PolyU (1st from right); Dr Sunny Chai, Chairman of HKSTP (2nd from left) and Prof Wing-tak Wong, Deputy President and Provost, PolyU.Zoom In
PolyU’s President Professor Jin-Guang Teng said the collaboration will greatly empower young talent in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area.Zoom In

PolyU and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) will join hands to facilitate entrepreneurship education and offer full-strength support to students and graduates to accelerate their growth at the start-up ideation and incubation stages.

 

The signing of a strategic memorandum of understanding to form the joint GBA-focused entrepreneurship programme was witnessed by Chief Executive Mrs Carrie Lam as she visited HKSTP on 26 August.

 

“Talent is a key element in the success of innovation and technology,” said Mrs Lam. “Hong Kong's innovation and technology development is entering a golden era. I encourage different sectors of the community to join hands with the HKSAR Government to seize the valuable opportunities to contribute to the development of our country into a science and technology power.”

 

PolyU’s President, Professor Jin-Guang Teng, said the University has been strongly committed to supporting entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer to maximise the impact of PolyU’s research.

 

“By integrating PolyU’s entrepreneurship initiatives with HKSTP’s vibrant innovation and technology ecosystem, the collaboration of the two parties will greatly empower young talent in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area to translate their research ideas into pioneering real-world solutions that deliver positive societal impact,” he stated.

 

The PolyU-HKSTP programme combines the co-nurturing of innovative ideas with entrepreneurial training, coaching and mentorship to maximise the conversion of research into viable commercial success.

 

Furthermore, a GBA Maker Express programme – a combination of the PolyU Maker Fund scheme with the HKSTP iDM-Square hardware acceleration platform – will help Hong Kong hardware innovators turn their creative ideas into market-ready products.

 

HKSTP will also collaborate closely with PolyU to deepen and grow the support for PhD graduates in PolyU’s GBA Startup PostDoc programme to pursue entrepreneurship while continuing translational research.

 

Mr Albert Wong, CEO at HKSTP, said they will work closely with PolyU and other stakeholders to unleash the great potential of young talents. “HKSTP’s partnership with PolyU is a signal of our commitment to turning Hong Kong’s world-class academic and R&D talent into future generations of pioneering entrepreneurs and innovators,” he said.