Business Wire

HKSTP

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

UAE announces Google Gemini Is Now the Most Culturally Accurate AI for Arabs28.11.2025 22:31:00 CET | Press release

The world’s first assessment to assess AI models’ alignment with Emirati identity and values The UAE’s Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications Office announced that Google Gemini has ranked first in the “AI in the Ring” Index, the world’s first benchmark designed to evaluate how effectively AI language models reflect Emirati culture, dialects, traditions, and national values through a challenge centered on cultural intelligence within the UAE context. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251128785463/en/ UAE announces Google Gemini Is Now the Most Culturally Accurate AI for Arabs (Photo: AETOSWire) Gemini earned the top ranking following a review of over 400 questions across 7 cultural dimensions and 5,200 generated responses from 11 major language models. A Committee of Emirati experts evaluated the outputs to identify which models demonstrated the strongest cultural understanding. F

GE HealthCare announces CE Mark for the Omni 128cm total body PET/CT system28.11.2025 12:00:00 CET | Press release

FOR USE IN CE-MARK EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ONLY GE HealthCare announces CE Mark for its Omni 128cm total body PET/CT,i a next-generation imaging system designed to advance precision care as well as cancer diagnosis, staging and treatment planning The new system is designed to accommodate head-to-thigh imaging in a single bed to improve workflow and efficiency, and enable a significant reduction in dose/scan time – all important factors, especially for populations like pediatric patients Built for both clinical and research excellence, the system may support the development and evaluation of new clinical pathways, novel PET tracers and emerging theranostic agents GE HealthCare today announced CE Mark for its next-generation Omni 128cm total body positron emission tomography / computed tomography (PET/CT) system,i a major milestone in its mission to advance precision care. Designed to advance cancer diagnosis, staging, therapeutic planning and treatment response monitoring, this innovative sy

King Abdulaziz Foundation Organizes the First Edition of the Forum on the “History of Hajj and the Two Holy Mosques” in Jeddah28.11.2025 10:53:00 CET | Press release

King Abdulaziz Foundation (Darah) held the first edition of the Forum on the “History of Hajj and the Two Holy Mosques”, convened as part of the program of the “Hajj Conference and Exhibition 2025” at the Super Dome Hall in Jeddah, in cooperation with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah and the Guests of God Service Program, during the period from 9–12 November 2025. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251128600368/en/ King Abdulaziz Foundation Organizes the First Edition of the Forum on the “History of Hajj and the Two Holy Mosques” in Jeddah (Photo: AETOSWire) The forum’s activities were inaugurated following the announcement by His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Special Advisor to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the King Abdulaziz Foundation, who declared the launch of the forum during the opening ceremony of the “Hajj Conference and Exh

VSO Unveils VCP v1.0, a First-of-Its-Kind Cryptographic Audit Protocol to Restore Trust in AI-Driven Markets28.11.2025 06:30:00 CET | Press release

New open standard replaces opaque server logs with mathematically verifiable evidence, helping market participants meet EU AI Act and MiFID II transparency requirements The VeritasChain Standards Organization (VSO), an independent international standards body, today announced the global release of VeritasChain Protocol (VCP) v1.0, an open cryptographic audit protocol designed to provide mathematically provable transparency for AI‑driven and algorithmic trading systems. VCP replaces mutable server logs with a tamper‑evident chain of cryptographic evidence, enabling regulators, brokers, exchanges and trading firms to move from trust‑based oversight to verification‑based supervision. Why This Matters Now The launch of VCP v1.0 comes at a pivotal moment for global market infrastructure: More than 80 proprietary trading firms collapsed between 2024 and 2025 amid regulatory scrutiny, opaque execution models and frozen payout disputes, leaving a trust gap between traders and platforms. Regula

Andersen Consulting styrker sine kompetencer med BMA27.11.2025 22:48:00 CET | Pressemeddelelse

Andersen Consulting udvider sine kompetencer inden for bæredygtighed og virksomhedsforandring gennem en samarbejdsaftale med BMA, der er et sydafrikansk firma, som arbejder for at styrke konkurrenceevnen i fremstillingsindustrien og fremme inkluderende industriel vækst. BMA, der blev etableret for mere end to årtier siden, arbejder på tværs af produktionsværdikæder – fra producenter til deres kunder – sammen med myndigheder og udviklingsagenturer for at fremme bæredygtig industriel konkurrenceevne. Gennem sine sektorfokuserede industrielle klynger leverer firmaet integrerede tjenester inden for industriel politik og strategisk udvikling, værdikædestrategi, produktionskonkurrenceevne og lean-rådgivning, reduktion af CO2-udledning samt udvikling af små og mellemstore virksomheder og samler interessenter omkring fælles prioriteter og skalerbare, langsigtede løsninger. "Bæredygtig produktion handler om mere end effektivitet. Det drejer sig om at skabe økosystemer, der er regenerative, resi

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