Business Wire

HKSTP

6.11.2020 13:51:12 CET | Business Wire | Press release

Share
HKSTP’s First-Ever Virtual Elevator Pitch Competition 2020 Opens New Investment and Partnership Opportunities for Global Startups

Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) held its annual Elevator Pitch Competition 2020 (EPiC) virtually for the first time to unveil new and exciting pitching, investment and partnership opportunities as global startups face a challenging business landscape. US-based biotechnology startup, Mi Terro, topped other finalists to be crowned champion and claimed the top prize at the competition today.

HKSTP’s annual flagship event this year expanded to a week-long virtual programme. It garnered a great response with over 77,000 live views at today’s pitching competition. This year, EPiC attracted 476 entries from 37 countries and cities across five continents. A total of 170 contestants from 31 different markets entered the semi-final round, with nearly 70% of them coming from overseas.

Mi Terro, champion and winner of the Smart City category, is a company that upcycles and re-engineers protein food waste into plastic and cotton alternative fibres for the fashion, medical and packaging industries. The three Tech Category Winners, including UK-based AI & Robotics startup Arctoris, Philippines-based fintech startup PearlPay, and Portugal-based health technology startup RUBYnanomed, showcased their full potential as innovators in the competition.

Albert Wong, CEO of HKSTP, said: “This year’s successful staging of the 5th EPiC is a clear sign of our determination to provide a platform of unmatched opportunities to startups around the world to showcase their innovations and demonstrate their entrepreneurial spirit. The week-long programme is also a show of strength and resilience for Hong Kong’s rapidly-growing innovation and technology ecosystem which propels startups and their ideas to success in Hong Kong, Asia and beyond.”

Since inception in 2016, EPiC has drawn a huge number of international startups to make a live one-minute elevator pitch to leading investors and judges at the International Commerce Centre (ICC), the tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong. This year, our contestants switched modes to present their innovative business ideas, with a one-minute video pitch submitted to simulate the signature 60-second elevator ride.

The top ten finalists were given another opportunity to face the judges in a three-minute live pitch and two-minute Q&A, before announcing the overall champion, who took away a cash prize of US$100,000 while each of the category winners received a cash prize of US$10,000 and all ten finalists won US$6,000 each.

The competition marks a major progression for startups who gained valuable exposure among investors and industry leaders in their ongoing entrepreneurship journey. To further bolster the growth and development of local and overseas startups, this year’s EPiC provides a wider array of business opportunities to explore and acquire better understanding of the investment landscape in the region with the upcoming “Global Matching” programme from 9 to 12 November and the “Investment x Corporate Innovation Conference” on 13 November.

List of Winners

Award

Company Name

Market

Champion and Tech Category Winner – Smart City

Mi Terro

United States

Tech Category Winner – Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

Arctoris

United Kingdom

Tech Category Winner – FinTech

PearlPay

Philippines

Tech Category Winner – Health Technology

RUBYnanomed

Portugal

Other Top 10 Finalists

Augmented Bionics

Australia

 

D-Engraver

Hong Kong

 

FindOurView

United States

 

Pivotal Technologies Limited

Hong Kong

 

PurCity

Denmark

 

Qi Sensor Technologies Limited

Hong Kong

About Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation

Comprising Science Park, InnoCentre and Industrial Estates, Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) is a statutory body dedicated to building a vibrant innovation and technology ecosystem to connect stakeholders, nurture technology talents, facilitate collaboration, and catalyse innovations to deliver social and economic benefits to Hong Kong and the region.

Established in May 2001, HKSTP has been driving the development of Hong Kong into a regional hub for innovation and growth in several focused clusters including Electronics, Information & Communications Technology, Green Technology, Biomedical Technology, Materials and Precision Engineering. We enable science and technology companies to nurture ideas, innovate and grow, supported by our R&D facilities, infrastructure, and market-led laboratories and technical centres with professional support services. We also offer value added services and comprehensive incubation programmes for technology start-ups to accelerate their growth.

Technology businesses benefit from our specialised services and infrastructure at Science Park for applied research and product development; enterprises can find creative design support at InnoCentre; while skill-intensive businesses are served by our three industrial estates at Tai Po, Tseung Kwan O and Yuen Long. More information about HKSTP is available at www.hkstp.org .

Link:

ClickThru

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com

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

Carta Launches Unified Fund of Funds Solution to Automate LP Workflows and Portfolio Visibility24.3.2026 11:01:00 CET | Press release

New AI-powered offering closes the gap between investment data and investor reporting, bringing institutional-grade automation to complex Fund of Funds structures Carta, the world’s first fully interconnected system for private capital, today announced its solution for Fund of Funds, a new offering designed to help managers automate LP reporting, eliminate manual document processing, and gain clearer visibility into their underlying portfolio exposure. The product expands a critical link in Carta’s ERP for private capital, bringing LP investment data, fund accounting, and portfolio analytics onto a single platform, while more deeply connecting allocators with the GP ecosystem. Fund of Funds represents a critical and growing segment of the private capital ecosystem, projected to reach $450 billion by 2033 as investors seek diversified exposure to private markets. Yet, operating a fund of funds remains highly complex. Managers sit at a unique intersection of the ecosystem, investing as L

Meeting Rising AI Expectations and Removing Friction Key to Meeting Needs of B2B Buyers Across Europe24.3.2026 11:00:00 CET | Press release

8 in 10 buyers use AI in payments, but strategic integration remains uneven and caution abounds in France and GermanyPay by invoice, a core European expectation, a major growth lever in 2026, but payment preferences vary by country and company size According to a new European study1 of 550 business buyers commissioned by TreviPay, the global B2B payments invoicing and payments network, friction in the B2B buying process in the form of slow onboarding and inconsistent invoicing along with rising expectations for AI-enabled processes are where businesses are experiencing threats to loyalty beyond price. “Across Europe and the UK, finance teams are navigating economic pressure, regulatory complexity and rising buyer expectations,” said Inez Berkhof-Hollander, TreviPay’s Vice President of EMEA. “Our research shows payment and invoicing experiences now play a decisive role in supplier selection.” Top Three European Market Expectations in 2026 1. More AI-driven purchasing options vary by cou

OCTO and Volkswagen Group Info Services AG Form Partnership for Fleet Data Integration24.3.2026 10:00:00 CET | Press release

The partnership enables secure integration of vehicle data from six Volkswagen Group brands into OCTO’s platform, strengthening fleet data services across the European Union and supporting utilization, maintenance and geo-location use cases without additional hardware. OCTO, a leading company in the field of telematics, data analytics and AI-driven solutions for insurance and fleet management, announces a strategic partnership with Volkswagen Group Info Services AG. The goal of this cooperation is to expand data solutions for fleet operators by directly integrating vehicle data from the brands Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Škoda, Seat, Cupra and Audi. Through this partnership, OCTO gains direct access to vehicle data from fleet vehicles of these six Volkswagen brands. This enables innovative mobility services for fleet managers, including maintenance management, theft protection, damage management, fraud detection, driving behavior analysis, activity report

Wolters Kluwer-undersøgelse: Danske SMV'er er førende i Europa inden for AI-drevet omkostningsbesparelser24.3.2026 10:00:00 CET | Pressemeddelelse

Høj reguleringsparathed og pragmatisk teknologiimplementering hjælper virksomheder med at skabe afkast, selvom finansieringsbegrænsningerne vokser Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting har i dag offentliggjort sin første rapport Future Ready Businessder viser, at danske små og mellemstore virksomheder (SMV'er) er de mest tilfredse i Europa med AI-drevet omkostningsbesparelser. Blandt SMV'er, der bruger AI, siger 65 %, at det har overgået forventningerne til omkostningsreduktion, hvilket er det stærkeste resultat på tværs af alle EU-markeder, langt foran lande som Tyskland og Spanien. Undersøgelsens resultater tegner et kontrastfyldt billede af markedet, hvor danske SMV'er kombinerer høj reguleringsparathed og en stærk præference for strategisk outsourcing med et stigende pres fra stigende omkostninger og begrænset adgang til kredit. "AI i Danmark implementeres med et klart forretningsmæssigt formål, ikke som en teknologisk trend," siger Martin Tage, Country Manager, Wolters Kluwer Tax & Acco

Mosaic Therapeutics to Present Poster Highlighting Preclinical Data for Lead Program MOS101 at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 202624.3.2026 09:30:00 CET | Press release

First preclinical data on the Company’s lead program MOS101: a combination of ASTX295, a next-generation, clinical-stage MDM2 antagonist, and olaparib, an FDA-approved PARP inhibitor, in biomarker-selected solid tumorsAdditional data showcasing Mosaic’s Discovery Platform, PRIME, will be presented Mosaic Therapeutics, Ltd, (‘Mosaic’, or ‘the Company’) a clinical-stage oncology therapeutics company building the category leader in Synergistic Precision Oncology, today announced it will hold a poster presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2026, taking place April 17-22 in San Diego, CA. Poster Presentation Details: Title: "Combination of the MDM2 antagonist ASTX295 and olaparib as a novel treatment option for BRCA2 mutant, TP53 wild-type solid tumors” Abstract Number: 3053 Date and Time: Monday, April 20, 2026, 2:00PM – 5:00PM PST Session Category: Novel Targets and Pathways Session: PO.ET09.09 Location: Poster Section 15 For more information an

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
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye