Press Release 

For immediate release – 

Nan Fung and The Mills are excited to announce a sponsorship of $300K HKD for the HKUST-Sino $1M Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition 2018.

HKUST is one of Asia’s leading universities when it comes to technology and innovation.  From providing world-class education to nurturing global technology powerhouses like DJI, HKUST is committed to supporting and growing the next generation of innovators. This competition acts as a catalyst platform to inspire and support HKUST students and alumni to form teams (within their own network and with members from other local and foreign universities) to take new ideas and technologies forward as startups and businesses.

To that end, Nan Fung & The Mills are excited to partner with HKUST for this competition in the hope of encouraging entrepreneurship and facilitating innovation among the brightest minds in Hong Kong. Nan Fung & The Mills will be sponsoring $300K HKD for the competition as a platinum sponsor, of which $200K HKD will be dedicated towards supporting 5 Focus Area Awards:

• $50K HKD Nan Fung Life Sciences/ Health-tech prize: The life science and biotech field have seen rapid advancements be it in deep-tech involving genome sequencing, AI or genetic repair tools like CRISPR to health-related technologies in the form of software or hardware. Former Google Ventures CEO Bill Maris believes if done right, we have huge potential to “help people suffer less” and live better lives.
• $50K HKD Nan Fung Smart City prize: The Hong Kong government unveiled a “smart city” blueprint last year, to help create a more livable and connected city. This revolves around various innovations in creating a more digitized and connected living environment for Hong Kong. One key application is in property-related technologies for the residential and commercial buildings across the city.
• $50K HKD The Mills Fabrica techstyle & design prize: One of Hong Kong’s key characteristics has always been “constant self-invention”, specifically in taking historical advantages and reimagining it for the future. Hong Kong used to be the world’s major textile/ manufacturing hub, but in recent years this scene has seen a revitalization in the form of “techstyle” (the intersection of technology and style), where innovations in materials/supply chain process, wearables & IOT or new forms of retail like ecommerce/ VR/ AR have started to create a new model for Hong Kong and the world.
• $25K HKD Nan Fung social innovation prize: The emergence of the social entrepreneurship field has sparked off a changemakers movement where the power of business can be leveraged for social good through designing innovations to address social challenges.
• $25K HKD The Mills Sustainability prize: Former US Vice-president Al Gore spoke recently at Web Summit about the climate crisis and challenges we face in sustainability. And sustainability is not just about the environment but the wider factors and stakeholders involved, including working conditions for staff, materials usage and of course changing consumer mindsets. As Al Gore puts it best “our will to change is itself our best renewable resource.”

The past few years have seen Hong Kong’s startup scene grow rapidly with a huge focus on one of Hong Kong’s key advantages:  fintech. This has resulted in a domino effect; spurring on innovations in other industries including the ones mentioned above. It is the hope of Nan Fung and The Mills that we can continue to push Hong Kong forward by diversifying our economy through embracing a wider array of innovations that benefit society and play to the city’s strengths. We hope that through supporting the HKUST-Sino $1M Entrepreneurship Competition, we can create an even more innovative Hong Kong for tomorrow.

The Mills Fabrica Co-director Alexander Chan and ORII Co-founders Kevin Wong and Marcus Leung-Shea announced the sponsorship at mixer event and shared some advices on the competition. 

ORII, The Mills Fabrica incubatee, shared their experience on the competition with students.