HKUST One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition Guangzhou cum 2024广州科技创新创业大赛港澳台赛 

HKUST One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition Guangzhou cum 2024广州科技创新创业大赛港澳台赛 themed 创在广州 is calling startups from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas to join and showcase their cutting-edge research outcomes. The total prize purse for this year is up to 4.5 million RMB. Participating teams who are shortlisted for the semi-finals and finals will gather in Nansha, Guangzhou to engage in exchanges with representatives from local government, universities and high quality tech companies, collectively exploring opportunities for scientific research collaboration and business development.

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Competition Track Settings

The competition features three tracks, the GBA Track, the International Track, and the University Student Track. Each participating team can only choose one track to register. Teams participating in each track must meet the eligibility criteria of the individual track as below, otherwise the registration will be deemed invalid.

the GBA Track

This track welcomes startup teams from any country or region that possess cutting-edge technologies and innovative business models to join. This track's participants are expected to share their unique insights into their innovation fields, and demonstrate their business development plans in the GBA market.

the International Track

This track welcomes Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas startup teams to fill in the registration form and submit their business plan in either Chinese or English language. Teams participating in this track can also choose to give presentations and complete Q&A sessions in Mandarin, Cantonese or English during the semi-finals and finals.

the University Student Track

This track is only open to startup teams composed of full-time undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students from one or more domestic and foreign universities.

Competition Entry Requirements

1. The participating startup team must consist of at least 2 members, and team member information cannot be modified once the registration is submitted. Each person can only join one team in this year's competition, otherwise it will be considered as an invalid registration;

2. For participating startup sign up with its business entity, the entity must be operated in a legal and ethical manner, with a maximum annual revenue of no more than 200 million RMB in 2023 and no public listing;

3.For participating startup sign up with its business entity, the entity must have good credit and no record of serious scientific research misconduct during the punishment period and no record of being listed on the relevant social credit “blacklist”. The entity must also comply with the relevant rules and requirements of the competition;

4.Startup teams that have won the top three in the previous HKUST One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition regional events are not eligible to participate in this year's competition;

5.In addition to meeting the above conditions, the participating startup team being defined as a team from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan must also meet one of the following conditions to be eligible to enter the semi-finals and finals, competing for the prizes of 2024广州科技创新创业大赛港澳台赛:

• A team includes individual who is a resident of Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan (valid government-issued identity documents must be provided).

• A team includes individual who has a degree certificate by a university in Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan (the degree certificate will serve as proof).

• A team includes individual who has studied or worked in Hong Kong, Macao, or Taiwan for more than one year (the duration of study or work will be judged based on the proof of enrollment issued by university and the employment certificate provided by employer).

• A team sign up with its business entity registered in the Mainland with investment or equity participation from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan (this is determined based on the information on the business license).

• A team sign up with its business entity registered and established in Hong Kong, Macao, or Taiwan (Company registration certificate and registration number must be provided).

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Competition Event TIMELINE

The competition event schedule includes registration, preliminary round, semi-finals (the first round of startups pitch open to public), and finals (the second round of startups pitch open to public), as well as post-event due diligence. The specific time and date for each event will be adjusted and determined by the organizing committee and announced in due course.

Online Registration：From now till September 15, 2024

Eligible startup teams must register via website https://1m.hkust.edu.hk/login (select "Guangzhou Region广州赛区" for the first question) providing complete, accurate, and genuine description of their startup projects. For participating startup sign up with its business entity, the entity must affirm the uncontested ownership of patents and technologies used, and take responsibility for the veracity of submitted information. Valid online registration will be confirmed upon receipt of a notification via SMS/email from the organizing committee.

Preliminary Round：From September 15 till late September, 2024

The organizing committee will arrange a panel of judges to assess and score all the valid submissions from participating startup teams. Each submission will be evaluated by five judges, and the average score will be used as the participating startup team's preliminary round score. There will be no on-site presentation or Q&A session in the preliminary round.

Semi-finals：10 November 2024

Based on the scores of participating teams in the preliminary round, at least 45 teams will be shortlisted for the semi-finals (The initial shortlist announcement will feature the top 45 teams based on judges' scores. Should the count of teams from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan fall short of 45, the highest-scoring qualifying teams from these territories will be incrementally included from the remainder of the list until the quota of 45 teams from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan is met.) Teams being shortlisted for the semi-finals will be required to register a business entity in Guangzhou. Members of each participating team should hold no less than 20% shares in the registered entity. A representative from each team is required to to attend the semi-finals in Nansha, Guangzhou.

In the semi-finals, all shortlisted teams will be randomly divided into 3 or more groups, and each team will be required to give 8-minute project presentation and complete 7-minute Q&A session. For each individual group, three judges will be assigned to evaluate and score the performance of teams within the group. For each participating team, the average score from the three judges will serve as its semi-final score.

The semi-finals competition will be live-streamed online and open to public.

Finals：11 November 2024

Based on the scores of shortlisted teams in the semi-finals, at least 18 teams will be shortlisted for the finals. (The initial shortlist announcement will feature the top 18 teams based on judges' scores. Should the count of teams from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan fall short of 18, the highest-scoring qualifying teams from these territories will be incrementally included from the remainder of the list until the quota of 18 teams from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan is met.) The finals will be held on the next day of semi-finals.

In the finals, a minimum of five judges will be assigned to evaluate and score the 8-minute project presentation and 2-minute Q&A session performance of all the shortlisted teams. The order of appearance will be determined by teams’ semi-final scores in descending order. For each participating startup team, the average score from the all judges will serve as its final score.

Award Ceremony：11 November 2024

For the HKUST One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition Guangzhou, awards will be determined by the final ranking score from highest to lowest. The results and announcements will be made immediately after the finals.

For 2024广州科技创新创业大赛港澳台赛, its first prize, second prize, and third prize will be determined by the final ranking score from highest to lowest among the teams from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan being shortlisted to the finals. The recipients of award of excellence shall be selected from teams that did not qualify for the finals, with awardees being ranked in descending order based on their semi-final scores. All awardees will be announced immediately after the finals.

Any team withdrawing mid-event or failing due diligence will be disqualified, with no award reallocation to subsequent teams.

Due Diligence：15 November 2024

The organizing committee will conduct due diligence on relevant award-winning teams, review all information and documents provided by them during the competition period of time.

The award-winning teams shall promise to initiate substantial entrepreneurial activities in Guangzhou. Any team found to have provided false information will have its participation and winning qualifications revoked upon verification. Teams found to have engaged in scientific misconduct, scientific fraud, or other similar behavior will be dealt with in accordance with relevant national, provincial, and municipal regulations. Not accepting due diligence will be considered as withdrawal from the competition.

Evaluation Mechanism

Judges for the preliminary round, semi-finals, and finals will score the projects in five different weighted categories: technology and products (25%), industrialization feasibility (25%), industry and market prospects (20%), team member qualifications (15%), and financial analysis (15%).

a. Technology and products: assess whether the team's core technology is at the forefront of the industry;

b. Industrialization feasibility: evaluate the feasibility of the project's technology transfer and industrialization process based on the development plan proposed by the team;

c. Industry and market prospects: evaluate whether the project has commercial prospects and can create social value;

d. Team member qualifications: consider whether the team members’ education and research direction are the types of talent needed for the project's development;

e. Financial analysis: evaluate whether the team's management ability includes ability to identify, assess, and manage risks are associated with its operations and capable of sustainable long-term development.

During the judges’ scoring process, the score for each category is from 1 to 10, without decimal points, and the system will score based on the weight of each category. The scoring can be referenced as follows:

a. Limited ability, recommended score of 1-3;

b. Needs improvement or is at market average level, a score of 4-6 is recommended;

c. Exceeds market average level, a score of 7-9 is recommended;

d. Has the best performance in market, a score of 10 is recommended.

Awards

HKUST One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition Guangzhou

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2024广州科技创新创业大赛港澳台赛奖金

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Terms for Award Redemption

1. Prizes of HKUST One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition Guangzhou will be awarded to winning teams with a business entity registered in Guangzhou after January 1, 2020. The top three winning teams for this competition will have the opportunity to advance to the National Grand Finals of HKUST One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition to compete for its million-dollar prize.

2. Prizes of 2024广州科技创新创业大赛港澳台赛will be awarded to winning teams with a business entity registered in Guangzhou before the date of semi-finals.

3. Prizes of 2024广州科技创新创业大赛港澳台赛 can be stacked with the prizes of this year's HKUST One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition Guangzhou, but not with the prizes of 2024年广州市科技创新创业大赛行业赛. The prize distribution rules and the final interpretation right belongs to the organizing committee.