HONG KONG SAR – -The Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), alongside 25 partner companies, has taken part in Asia’s leading annual innovation and technology (I&T) event, InnoEX 2024, and the world-class electronics industry event, the Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Spring Edition). Under the theme: From Smart Vision to Intelligent Future, HKSTP presents cutting-edge R&D achievements from 16 partner companies in fields such as Smart City, AI and Robotics, Digital Business, and Marketing Tech, further showcasing the region’s research strengths.
HKSTP has been steadfast in its commitment to nurturing innovative enterprises that advance the development of Hong Kong as a smart city. On the exhibition’s opening day, HKSTP arranged two start-up showcase sessions, which provided opportunities for business matching and investment opportunities. The sessions were conducted in a competitive format, with the winning start-up scheduled to participate in the Techsauce Global Summit in Bangkok, Thailand, in August, with HKSTP to achieve potential business expansion in Asia.
Ir Dr HL Yiu, Chief Corporate Development Officer of HKSTP, said: “China is focusing on the development of ‘new quality productive forces’, with I&T serving as the core driving force. Our participation in InnoEX presenting market-ready solutions to both local and overseas buyers is expected to capture their attention and garner brand exposure. HKSTP will continue to refine its support for nurturing startups, accelerating the process from R&D to commercialisation, thus fostering the development of intelligent living.”
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Global Frontier Technology Readiness Index in 2023, Hong Kong has ascended from 13th to 9th globally in the capability to utilise cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT. This significant leap underscores a marked enhancement in Hong Kong’s application of innovative technologies. As technological products are now closely intertwined with AI, several partner companies have integrated AI into their offerings for greater intelligence, customisation, and optimisation of efficiency, which in turn significantly enhances the user experience. For example, smart building solutions employ sensors to gather environmental data for subsequent analysis. The integration of AI improves the volume, speed, and precision of data processing. Additionally, some startups have incorporated AI into digital marketing tools, refining the advertisement production workflow, enabling the creation of more targeted and cost-efficient advertising strategies.
In collaboration with global universities, the 14 research AI and robotics laboratories under InnoHK’s “AIR@InnoHK” will show case some of the most advanced solutions at InnoEX.
This year’s InnoEX gathers world-class innovative solutions, featuring science and technology enterprises from over 13 countries and regions, including Hong Kong, Mainland China, Canada, France, India, Poland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and more.
HKSTP’s flagship start-up pitching competition, EPiC, will also culminate with its Grand Finale on the 26th of April at the top of Hong Kong’s iconic International Commerce Centre. The top 74 global start-ups reaching the final round will compete for potential investments totalling USD 45 million. This includes venture capital investment of up to USD 5 million, cash prizes totalling USD 240,000, and opportunities for commercial collaborations. Participating start-ups can benefit from HKSTP’s unrivalled ecosystem as a springboard to tap into the vast opportunities in Mainland China, Asia, and other overseas markets.
Some of the latest products and solutions exhibited by HKSTP partner companies at InnoEX include:
Smart City Solutions
Intelligent Transformation for Old and New Buildings: Comprehensive realization of smart buildings – Neuron Digital’s smart building solutions are tailored for a variety of applications, featuring specialised modules that can interface with 5G or IoT. These systems collect data on temperature, humidity, air quality, space occupancy, etc. By integrating AI with digital twins, Neuron Digital offers a detailed 3D virtual model of a building’s internal and external environments. This enables developers, building operators, and facilities management teams to easily monitor and optimise facility operations, leading to significant energy savings, enhanced building management efficiency, sustainability, and thus contributing to a better living environment.
Digitalised Transport Solutions for Smart Cities – Smart transportation is a pivotal component of smart cities, and Neuvix is at the vanguard with solutions that leverage edge computing, computer vision, AI, and digital twin. These solutions support the intelligent upgrading of transport infrastructure, analysing driving behaviour on roads, traffic flow, and vehicular data at stations to realise intelligent transportation systems and smart stations.
Digital Business
Creating Sterile Environments with 20kV – Apicem Technology Services Company Limited (ATS) has developed a patented Baal Decontamination system that utilises a 20kV high-voltage electric field to eliminate bacteria and viruses, thereby purifying the air. It represents a new green technology capable of one-off filtration of carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and the removal of dioxins, hydrogen sulphide, formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds, and odours. Its cloud-based Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) monitoring system can track improvements down to PM1.0 particulates and can be integrated with existing property management systems to achieve digitalised management and sustainable development.
Asia’s First “On-premise” AI Bot Development Platform – GPTBots.ai – empowers business enterprises to effortlessly custom-build and train their own exclusive AI bots within their networks. It is the first platform in Asia that enterprises can mitigate the risk of data breaches without using third-party AI platforms. By simply uploading their proprietary data to the internal knowledge base and connecting to large language models (LLM) of their choice, enterprises can seamlessly train the bots through interactive chatting. The versatility of these AI bots spans across a broad spectrum of applications, encompassing translation services, customer engagement, personal assistance, and knowledge retrieval, among others.
AI and Robotics
Hong Kong-developed robots target ESG implementation challenges – In a bid to address challenges such as staffing difficulties in property management and healthcare services, Novelte has launched a series of robots designed to tackle issues related to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). These robots are particularly focused on enhancing daily operations in property management and facilitating hospital deliveries. Established in 2019, the company specialises in the R&D of robotics and has since introduced a diverse range of robots tailored for various applications, including meal delivery, intelligent assistance, and security.
Marketing Tech
Asia’s Leading AI Advertising Platform Elevates Efficiency – GoGoChart has unveiled AppAura, a state-of-the-art digital marketing and ad management platform that utilises AI to optimise the ad management process and boost advertising effectiveness. Users can with ease create engaging advertising campaigns and content, enjoy the advantages of cross-platform integration and streamlined ad management across major online media platforms. This enhances work efficiency and cuts costs for users, granting clients a significant advantage in the highly competitive digital market.
AI SEO Tools Help Businesses Succeed in the Global Market – Capturing the attention of the target audience amidst the overwhelming information of the digital age, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial. The Hong Kong startup Aloha has unveiled its self-developed SEO tool, RankBot, which incorporates AI and real-time global search engine data, offering support for over 90 regions and 45 languages. RankBot’s cutting-edge technology empowers users to make precise, data-driven decisions, drastically cutting down the time needed to execute and manage SEO and improving their products’ global search engine rankings, thus aiding businesses in expanding their international presence.
InnoEX 2024
Date: 13-16 April, 2024
Venue: Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai
HKSTP Pavilion Booth No: 3C-B01
Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Spring Edition)
Date: 13-16 April, 2024
Venue: Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai
Elevator Pitch Competition (EPiC 2024) Grand Finale
Date: 26 April, 2024
Venue: Sky100 Observation Deck, International Commerce Centre
