HKSTP
13.1.2023 13:25:39 CET | Business Wire | Press release
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) has partnered with world-leading innovation platform, Plug and Play, to call on ambitious startups and entrepreneurs around the world to join the seventh Elevator Pitch Competition 2023 (EPiC 2023), one of the biggest pitch events in Hong Kong. The final entry deadline for the Competition has also been extended to 20 January 2023.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230113005179/en/
HKSTP CEO, Albert Wong, joins Plug and Play CEO, Saeed Amidi, to promote HKSTP’s EPiC 2023, calling all startups in the world to come to Hong Kong for a scale-up opportunity of a lifetime. (Photo: Business Wire)
This offers local and global startups the chance to join the combined HKSTP and Plug and Play eco-systems to launch their potential innovations onto the global stage. Interested parties on two technology tracks (FinTech and PropTech) only need to submit a 2-min video introduction to make a potentially life-changing decision. 50 shortlisted semi-finalists will have the golden opportunity to be considered by HKSTP Venture Fund for direct investment of up to US$5 million as well as market expansion support in Asia and beyond, plus the chance to win a cash prize of US$60,000 if crowned champion.
As the world’s leading accelerator, Plug and Play will leverage its global network to organise international competitions in Asia, Europe and Northern America throughout February to bring in overseas startups to the April final in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong provides the ideal platform to expand into the vast Asian market, being a gateway to both Mainland China and Asia. Startups joining EPiC 2023 can fully leverage the largest I&T ecosystem in Hong Kong and HKSTP’s direct connections to over 1,000 investors and more than 300 corporate partners.
Albert Wong, CEO of HKSTP, said: “This year, our flagship event EPiC is set to be the biggest and best-ever as we partner with world-renowned Plug and Play, elevating the investment platform to a truly global level. This collaboration cements HKSTP and Hong Kong as a unique global launchpad to rapidly scale up innovators on their growth journey, while achieving our mission to propel success and advance Hong Kong's I&T development.”
Saeed Amidi, CEO of Plug and Play, said: “Partnering with HKSTP on EPiC is a major step forward in our mission to harness the huge Asia opportunity to build the world’s leading innovation platform. We are partnering with changemakers like HKSTP to build a unique innovation ecosystem by connecting the brightest minds with world-leading corporations, VC firms, universities, and government agencies across multiple industries.’’
EPiC 2023 will take place at the iconic sky100 venue atop Hong Kong’s tallest building, International Commerce Centre, to create a genuine elevator pitch experience for startups.
Who can apply:
- Tech startups that are less than 10 years old
- Ideas should focus on one of the TWO technology tracks: FinTech and PropTech
Applications will close on 20 January 2023 at 23:59 (Hong Kong time).
Please visit the website (https://epic.hkstp.org/) for more information on EPiC 2023.
About Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) has for 20 years committed to building up Hong Kong as an international innovation and technology hub to propel success for local and global pioneers today and tomorrow. HKSTP has established a thriving I&T ecosystem that is home to three unicorns and Hong Kong’s leading R&D hub with over 12,000 research professionals and over 1,200 technology companies focused on healthtech, AI and robotics, fintech and smart city technologies.
Established in 2001, we attract and nurture talent, accelerate and commercialise innovation and technology for entrepreneurs on their journey of growth in Hong Kong, to the Greater Bay Area, Asia and beyond. Our growing innovation ecosystem is built around our key locations of Hong Kong Science Park in Shatin, InnoCentre in Kowloon Tong and three modern INNOPARKs in Tai Po, Tseung Kwan O and Yuen Long. The three INNOPARKs are realising a vision of re-industrialisation for Hong Kong. The goal is sectors like advanced manufacturing, electronics and biotechnology are being reimagined for a new generation of industry.
Through our infrastructure, services, expertise and network of partnerships, HKSTP will help establish innovation and technology as a pillar of growth for Hong Kong, while reinforcing Hong Kong’s international I&T hub status as a launchpad for global growth at the heart of the GBA innovation powerhouse.
More information about HKSTP is available at www.hkstp.org.
About Plug and Play
Plug and Play was established in Sunnyvale, California - a region within the renowned Silicon Valley. Although officially founded in 2006, the early stages of the business could be traced back to 1998. The company contains business functions, including tech investment, corporate innovation, and innovation space. Plug and Play now has 50 regional offices in over 30 countries and regions worldwide. With nearly 20 years of experience in early-stage tech investment, Plug and Play has successfully invested in and incubated numerous big tech companies, including PayPal, Google, Dropbox, LendingClub, Guardant Health, Rappi, N26, Honey, etc. It has invested in over 1,500 startups and accelerated over 17,000 programs globally. Each year, Plug and Play provides open innovation services for over 500 world-leading corporations through over 1,000 matchmaking activities with cutting-edge technology companies.
Formally established in 2016, Plug and Play China currently has 3 regional innovation hubs in Beijing (China HQ), Shanghai (Plug and Play Innovation Hub - Yangtze River Delta Area), and Shenzhen (Shenzhen Innovation Center). Plug and Play China also provides open innovation services in Nanjing, Wuhan, Wuxi etc.
There are 4 main business functions across Plug and Play China’s innovation platform including corporate innovation, city innovation, tech investment, and innovation space.
It has built China's leading international innovation ecosystem and created a multi-dimensional open innovation platform that includes corporations, startups, universities and research labs, government agencies, venture capitalist firms, and city innovation partners.
Since 2016, Plug and Play China has engaged with 100+ industry-leading corporations, accelerated over 1700 startups, and has invested in over 150 startups including ApplyBoard, AutoX, Flexiv, ZiFiSense, ROBOTICPLUS.AI, INGEEK, Hexaflake, Authing, Yours, etc.
Please visit www.pnpchina.com for more information.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230113005179/en/
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Miro Acquires Reforge to Help Organizations Navigate the Transition to AI24.3.2026 14:00:00 CET | Press release
Together, Reforge and Miro will provide a powerful and highly differentiated solution for teams that blends the tools and knowledge needed to innovate in the AI era Miro®, the AI Innovation Workspace for teams, today announced that it has acquired (subject to customary closing conditions) Reforge, an AI platform for product teams. The deal includes Reforge's team, learning platform, and AI-powered product development tools. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260324623461/en/ Organizations are grappling with how to leverage AI to its full potential. In many cases, the problem is not how to code faster, but deciding what to build. That's the bottleneck slowing companies down today. Miro and Reforge are both solving this challenge for customers – tackling the need to build both at speed and with clear strategic direction. Miro brings a collaborative AI workflows platform that brings teams and AI together to plan, co
Xsolla and Stevenage FC Launch Charity Campaign With SpecialEffect to Make Gaming Accessible for All24.3.2026 14:00:00 CET | Press release
Donation Of 50 Accessible Setups Reinforces Xsolla’s Commitment To Inclusive Gaming Xsolla, a global video game commerce company that helps developers launch, grow, and monetize their games, has partnered with Stevenage FC to launch a charity campaign with SpecialEffect in the United Kingdom, a charity dedicated to helping everyone to have the ability to enjoy video games. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260324722671/en/ Graphic: Xsolla Through the Official Partnership of Stevenage FC, Xsolla is donating the kit for the April 6th match vs Blackpool. SpecialEffect will be the primary kit brand for the match and will receive a percentage of the jersey sales leading up to the match and throughout the rest of the season. Xsolla will match donations from jersey sales, with the goal of using the funds to provide up to 50 Accessible Setups to disabled gamers at the end of the 2025-2026 season, and to support programs
SES Taps K2 Space to Accelerate Next-Gen MEO Satellite Network, meoSphere24.3.2026 14:00:00 CET | Press release
Next-generation Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) network is a multi-mission constellation targeted at meeting fast growing commercial and defense needs with flexible scaling approach. SES, a space solutions company, today announced it will deploy meoSphere, a next-generation medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite network targeted for operation by 2030 and designed to significantly boost the company’s MEO network capacity. The program launches with a close collaboration designed for efficient satellite production. SES will pair its own software-defined payloads, being developed and manufactured in Luxembourg, with an initial 28 high-power satellite platforms developed by K2 Space, representing the first phase of the broader meoSphere rollout. The collaboration gives SES tighter control over key supply-chain elements, compresses the build timeline, and allows the company to manage schedules and costs with precision, laying the foundation for future scalability. meoSphere is SES’s next generation MEO
Rimini Street Wins Multiple Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service Excellence24.3.2026 14:00:00 CET | Press release
Company honored for Best Use of AI in Customer Service, Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year in the Technology Industry and Best Customer Satisfaction Strategy Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), the Software Support and Agentic AI ERP Company™, and the leading third-party support provider for Oracle, SAP and VMware software, today announced wins in three categories of the 20th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260324281990/en/ Rimini Street Wins Multiple Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service Excellence Considered a top industry honor for customer service, contact center, business development and sales professionals, winners were selected based on the average scores of 150 industry experts worldwide across eight specialized judging committees. Rimini Street distinguished itself among more than 2,100 nominations. “These Stevie Awards affirm what our
MariaDB Completes GridGain Acquisition to Power the Next Generation of Agentic AI24.3.2026 14:00:00 CET | Press release
The acquisition creates the industry’s first AI-Ready Operating Platform – unifying transactions, analytics and in-memory speed to eliminate infrastructure fragmentation MariaDB plc today announced the successful completion of its acquisition of GridGain Systems, Inc., the pioneer of in-memory computing and the force behind Apache Ignite. This strategic acquisition marks MariaDB’s move towards delivery of an AI-Ready Operating Platform, a unified system designed to handle the extreme-velocity data requirements of autonomous AI agents. As enterprises transition from simple AI assistants to autonomous agentic systems that reason and act, traditional data layers are reaching a breaking point. By integrating GridGain’s in-memory technology, MariaDB now provides a single, high-velocity, persistent grounding layer that supports the entire AI lifecycle – from real-time data ingestion to complex reasoning. “For the last 18 months, we have been building MariaDB for the agentic era,” said Rohit
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom