News & Stories

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Sino Group are committed to nurturing the next generation of innovative talents. The "HKUST-SINO One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition 2024“, organised by HKUST and Sino Group, aims to empower young individuals with entrepreneurial aspirations to turn their ideas into reality. This platform enables future entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions that contribute to sustainability and global advancement. A record-breaking 340 teams from Hong Kong and around the world participated in this year’s competition, with a new track introduced for overseas university students. This initiative promotes collaboration and the exchange of ideas between local and international universities.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)'s annual Unicorn Day returned today (May 31) with an expanded scope and scale. Featuring an impressive exhibition of over 100 HKUST’s cutting-edge technologies spanning Electronics, AI and Smart Systems; Material, Energy and Sustainability, and Bio-Medical and Healthcare and a series of activities, the event attracted over 1,000 distinguished guests to campus, including 6 legislators, representatives from 9 consulates general, as well as many business leaders, government officials, potential investors, and other key stakeholders. 

Health and environmental safety were a focus for the winning teams of the competition this year.

Patrick TU (right) and other cofounders of Dayta AI navigated through failures and challenges with resilience and determination. Resilience is a survival trait for start-up entrepreneurs. Patrick TU and his teammates, all aged 26, knows well how to hustle out of setbacks, one after another, in their four-year entrepreneurship journey. Every failure points a new direction – that’s the belief that helps them bounce back and eventually build a start-up recognized by Forbes’ 30 Under 30. 

Addressing societal issues has become a topic of common interest for the HKUST-Sino One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition  this year, with two of the three winning teams proposing solutions hoping to help save the planet.  With Hong Kong striving to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, two winning student groups came up with plans to help reduce the city’s waste by upcycling bread scraps and making cutlery that can be savored together with the food. Meanwhile, another team created a real-time, non-invasive, and easily accessible technology to monitor athletes’ stress and muscle fatigue level to keep them from possible injuries induced by overtraining.  All three winning teams have been working with their industrial partners on commercializing the products.

Defying circumstances and overcoming challenges, HKUST undergraduate Kevin LEUNG sets an example by winning himself an incredible 15 scholarships.

Don and Kelvin co-founded AQUMON in 2015 with the vision of democratizing financial services. In 2015, when Dr. Don HUANG was still teaching financial engineering at HKUST, he received a call from his former bank colleague Kelvin LEI, asking whether he would be interested in starting a business with him. The answer was an instant “Yes!” “Kelvin told me his vision of democratizing wealth management so that more people could enjoy better services. It wasn’t easy for the algorithms and financial modeling involved, but I immediately felt it was a great opportunity,” says the HKUST alumnus. 

Patrick TU and Alex CHU, alumni of the BBA program and co-founders of Dayta AI, are selected for the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list under the Retail and E-commerce industry.