Fall Issue, 2014

Start it up: HOW Face-to-face with seasoned entrepreneurs: The Entrepreneurship Academy@HKU Since 2010, over 600 students, staff and alumni have joined the Entrepreneurship Academy (EA), a partnership between the Technology Transfer Office and the School of Business. This year Dr Saimond Ip, CEO of OnePort Limited, talked on the “5 Dynamics of Entrepreneurs”; K O Chia, President of HK Venture Capital & Private Equity Association spoke on “Transforming Technologies into Entrepreneurs”; and Dr Dominic Chan, Co-founder & Partner of Dark House Investment, talked about “Entrepreneurs in Action – How to Put Everything Together and Get it Started, with Limited Resources”. Since October 2014, EA participants have been able to join STEP@ CoCoon+HKU , a two-month ‘learning by doing’ programme with a CoCoon startup company. Fund It: Up to $1,200,000 x 3 years TSSSU@HKU is a new award scheme that leverages the Technology Startup Support Scheme for Universities (TSSSU) launched by the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC). It provides funding support to technology startup companies formed by HKU students, staff and alumni. Successful companies will be funded up to a maximum amount of $1.2 million per year for no more than three years. www.tto.hku.hk/public/tsssu / Professor Paul Cheung Associate Vice-President (Research) Programme Director of Entrepreneurship Academy Director, Technology Transfer Office Nowadays, everybody needs to have an enterprising spirit. In our work, we need to do something new and evaluate whether it can be a viable and successful idea. Then we have to get resources and support, market it and make it a success. This is not only for financial gain but something beyond economic benefits, something social.” Young people can afford to start up their businesses. They are daring, innovative, willing to take risks, and their ability to adapt to new things is higher. Cover Story 11