HKSTP Entrepreneurship Symposium 2015

The “Entrepreneurship Symposium 2015” was coorganized by Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) and Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) on 3rd July 2015. The theme named “How to start up Start-Ups? You can Make A Difference! Be Inspired!” Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) was one of strategic partners

In the beginning, Mrs Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun, GBS, JP (Chairperson, HKSTP) gave welcome speech. She said one of secrets of success startup was Mentor. She also pointed out that Hong Kong needed to adopt local innovation (e.g. First@SciencePark program to test innovation concept). In addition, most important things of startup founder were Super-hardworking and passion.

Ms. Janet Wong Wing-chen, JP (Commissioner, Innovation and Technology Commission, HKSAR) gave an opening remark. She quoted seven questions from the book “Form Zero to One” for opening as below:
i) Can you create breakthrough technology instead of incremental improvements? (Engineering)
ii) Is now the right time to start your particular business? (Timing)
iii) Are you starting with a big share of a small market? (Market Share)
iv) Do you have the right team? (People)
v) Do you have a way to not just create but deliver your product? (Distribution)
vi) Will your market position be defensible 10 and 20 years into the future? (Durability)
vii) Have you identified a unique opportunity that others don’t see? (Secret)

The first speaker was Prof. Li Ze-xiang (Director, Da-Jiang Innovations Science and Technology Co., Ltd.; Professor, ECE Dept., HKUST) and his topic named “Coach to Win: Creating an Ecosystem for the Hong Kong Robotic Industry and Beyond”. Firstly, Prof. Li introduced background of HKUST and his Entrepreneurship Experience such as his first startup company – Googol Tech. 

Then Prof. Li introduced the Automation Technology Centre which established in 1992 and spinoff four successful companies including DJI, Googol, QKM and ePropulsion.

After that Prof. Li briefed the “Tech Transfer” Model they employed and it separated into 3 tiers from HKUST to ASTRI and then to Hong Kong Industries.

Using this model, Prof. Li explained a new ecosystem for Hong Kong Robotic Industry. In Tier 2 & 3, we needed to collaborate with Shenzhen. So Prof. Li concluded to create a mini ecosystem that leveraged strength from both HKUST and Shenzhen, it was possible to foster world class technology companies. Robotics presented a rare and grand opportunity for both Hong Kong and the Region. Lastly, he told student to be “Dream Big, Start Small and Move Fast”.

The second speaker was Mr. Jason Chiu (CEO, Cherrypicks) and his presentation topic named “My Startup Hacking Journey”. Mr. Chiu said “Ordinary Person Trying to Do Extraordinary Things” and then briefed his company, which established in 2000, to be a regional leader in mobile marketing, shopping and commerce. His statement called “Think Global, Dream Big, Start Small, Take Risk”.

Mr. Chiu said “Success is often merely seizing the opportunity with a prior foresight and long preparation; to be focused and be persistent in building core competence to support your vision… then, when the opportunity arises, you will get lucky”. Then he shared his company up and down seriously from fund rising to reduction of staff.

Some tips Mr. Chiu pointed out below.
i) Think validation, not valuation. Most of the time, what you need is not funding, but product or business model validation.
ii) When something looks clearly feasible and certain, it is usually wrong.
iii) Lean and starved makes you more creative. Don’t take the money before tipping point. Because too many battle lines; too many investors.
He concluded that “Do Something Difficult and Different” and “Fail Big, Fail Fast, Fail Forward”. He used Dragon Boat told us their management philosophy. Lastly, he said culture for Innovation supported by IP policy, internal reward and external award.

Panel Discussion: Hatching the Golden Egg.
Left: Mr. Peter Mok (Head of Incubation Programmes, HKSTP), Mr. Herman LAM (CEO, Cyberport), Dr. Alwin Wong (Director, Institute for Entrepreneurship, PolyU) and Mr. Theodore Ma (Co-Founder, CoCoon) and Moderator – Ms. Yana Robbins (Editor-In-Chief, JampStart Magazine))

The third speakers were Mr. Johann Wong (Deputy Commissioner, Innovation and Technology Commission, HKSAR) and Mr. Constant Tang (Senior Manager, Corporate Development, HKSTP) and their topic named “Fund as Fuel”. Mr. Johann Wong introduced different ITC funding especially the new one named “Enterprise Support Scheme (ESS)”.

Mr. Constant Tang introduced Corporate Venture Fund (CVF), which initially HK$50M formed from HKSTP; it aimed to help high potential early stage technology companies to overcome the difficulty to get seed to Series A funding. Since it was co-invest with private investors up to 1:1 ratio, it could attract more Angel and Venture Capital investors to invest in technology start-ups in Hong Kong in order to spur more private funding into the ecosystem, especially at the early stage.

The CVF would be managed according to investment industry best practices. HKSTP would form Investment Committee (IC) to oversee the fund. The assessment criteria of the CVF were showed in the following diagram.

Mr. Nick Alter (Global Wealth Management Technology Lead, Asia Pacific, J.P. Morgan Private Bank) was the fourth speaker and his topic was “Investing in Game Changing Technologies – Innovation is coming!” He quoted head of JPMorgan Intelligent Solutions (JPMIS) that “the opportunity for our firm is inspiring, including facilitating better customer, outcomes, more efficient execution, improved productivity and new ways for the firm to grow”.

Mr. Alter briefed “What is Innovation”. He said innovation means different things to different people. Then he discussed Fintechs which was importantly to bring innovation to Fintechs so as to leverage new technology advances. The first element Mr. Alter considered was “Innovation Culture”. Fintech could improve productivity for clients and staff.

Mr. Alter also identified three tech trends below.
i) US adults now spend a third of their waking hours with digital devices
ii) About 70% of the world’s population will be using smartphones by 2020
iii) Global data will grow by 50 times over the next decade
The challenges engaging with Global Fintech was show in the following diagram.

The last keynote speaker was Mr. Po Chung (Co-founder, DHL International) and his presentation was “From Zero to Global”. In the beginning, Mr. Chung briefed his relevant story. Then he introduced the development of DHL from USA and Hong Kong in 1969 to China in 1980. Then he told us the most important elements for Start-up Success were Idea, Team, Business Plan, Money and Timing. Timing is the key!

Mr. Po Chung shared three key DHL Secrets below.
i) Push decision to the lowest level. Distributed Leadership.
ii) Educate every member to think strategically. Critical and independent thinking can be taught and must be taught at all levels of management.
iii) You can make any mistake once but tell everyone else.
The management evolution was also mentioned.

Lastly, Mr. Po Chung shared three entrepreneurial things Hong Kong was able to do through One Belt One Road below.
i) Hong Kong Needs a Vision
- “Where there’s no vision, the people will perish.” (The Bible)
- “Differentiate or Die.” (Jack Trout)
- “Go where our competitor cannot go or will not go.” (Anita Roddick, Body Shop)
ii) Hong Kong’s Killer App
- Be trustworthy and respectable by the world so others will follow.
- Think critically and independenly so we can provide superior service and manage the unpredictable (執生).
- We are different. They are Makers & Builders; we are Traders and Service Providers (行商坐賈).
iii) Hong Kong’s Positioning
- Help the Mainland to learn the rights things when going global.
- Identify “Mustn’t Have” elements when going global and explain why.
- Explain to the Mainland’s “local” service is not good for “global”.

Mr. Chung concluded that Hong Kong provide service upto Global standard to Mainland after “One Belt One Road” constructions finished. He quoted James McNerney (Former CEO of Boeing) statement that “Making planes is not difficult. Servicing them around the world is difficult.” There are things that Makers cannot see about Service: 看不見, 看不起, 看不懂.

There are two panel discussion sessions. The first one was Fire-side Chat: How We Did It? Mr. Allen Ma (CEO, HKSTP) chaired the session. Guests were Prof. Ronald Li (Director, Novoheart), Mr. Fracis Kwok (CEO, Radica) and Mr. Isaac Mao (Co-founder, Aivvy) (From Left).

The second panel discussion named “Hunting for Deals”. Mr. Duncan Chiu (Managing Director, Radiant Ventures) was the moderator. Guests included Dr. Samson Tam (Chairman, Hong Kong Business Angel Network) and Mr. S.C. Mak (Vice Chairman, PRC Committee, Hong Kong Venture Capital & Private Equity Association).

Some demonstration booths were located in the hall. DJI was showed their product.

The eNano our former incubatee was also here. (Our service to eNano is shown at http://enewsletter.hkstp.org/66/en-us/news/2 )

Reference:
HKSTP - http://www.hkstp.org
HKSTP Enterpreneurship Symposium 2015