News & Stories

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

A 30-second scan can get your vital signs before you see the doctor. The upheaval wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world and businesses have had to quickly pivot in response to the new normal. Hong Kong start-up PanopticAI was one, seeing a demand for new methods of remote diagnosis and self-diagnosis in a time of social distancing.  Monitoring health with smartphones The company developed a fully remote wellness monitoring app with AI-enabled smart technology. Unlike existing wearable health-monitoring watches which use LED sensors, the app simply connects to the camera on a smartphone, tablet or computer to capture subtle changes of coloration in the skin due to changes in blood flow to obtain the user's health readings. 

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has long had a global vision on campus as it invites – for the first time ever – both local and overseas participants to compete in the 12th annual One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the University, additional prize bonuses will be awarded at the event in a bid to enhance diversity, boost public engagement and better the overall experience of the participants.

People who suffer from diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration would usually be treated with intravitreal eye injections — a procedure to deliver drugs directly to the eye using a thin, tiny needle. This invasive treatment involves a certain degree of risk and the scary-looking procedure is surely not for the fainted heart. Langston SUEN and his fellow researchers at HKUST explored an alternative method of non-invasive drug delivery using ultrasound as part of his PhD studies at the University. Now he is working with pharmaceuticals to bring the technology to market. 

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. 

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. 

Four HKUST students brew craft beer from waste bread to save the world.

Seeing how Alzheimer’s disease has turned her beloved aunt from a sprightly 75-year-old to a confusing mind, Dr. Fanny IP Chui-Fun says the experience is frustrating for her as a neuroscientist because the disease remains incurable. The team spent over two years to identify the best source of each herbal ingredient for the quality is easily affected by environmental and weather conditions. “My aunt was a secondary teacher who had a sharp mind. She used to help me with my homework, but now she can’t remember things and always says something that makes little sense,” says Dr. Ip.