TecHKU » Careers Intel https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU The HKU Community of Technology Tue, 12 Jun 2018 08:03:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2 HKU’s Seed Fund for Student and Staff Start-ups https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/10/24/hku-announces-sponsorship-scheme-for-hku-start-ups/ https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/10/24/hku-announces-sponsorship-scheme-for-hku-start-ups/#comments Fri, 24 Oct 2014 02:33:55 +0000 http://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/?p=2489 by Natalie Lung | Photo credits: TSSSU@HKU | 25 October 2014

Many of HKU’s mature start-ups by students and alumni embark on their professional journey with the help of angel investors and funding schemes created by third parties like the Government and Cyberport. For start-ups at the idea stage, there are only few options of funding support offered to university students apart from the technology-related departments in their own universities. This problem may be even more evident to HKU students when it is said that there are no centralized support systems for student start-ups.

Starting from this year, however, as one of the six local universities to receive support from the new Technology Start-up Support Scheme (TSSSU) set up by the Government’s Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC), HKU is implementing a seed fund scheme named TSSSU@HKU to support home-grown technology start-ups by current full-time staff and students, and graduates for no more than 3 years for the very first time.

Overview

TSSSU@HKU aims to promote entrepreneurship at the University by transforming ideas into business operations with the maximum annual amount of $1.2 million that will be awarded to successful applicants. A start-up can be supported by TSSSU for a maximum of 3 years.

Deadlines

Interested parties should submit an application form and relevant supporting documents before 5 pm, 31st October, 2014 to be considered for the 30th November, 2014 to 31st March, 2015 funding period.

The deadline for applying for funding between 1st April, 2015 and 31st March, 2016 is 15th February, 2015.

Read on to find abridged details of the scheme.

Eligibility

The start-up must be a company of not more than 2 years and registered under the Companies Ordinance before ITC’s cut-off date—14th November, 2014. Its team can be a mix of current students, professoriate staff and alumni; Professors and graduates can also be invited on board to give R&D or business-related advice.

Priorities

As stated in the Operation Plan for TSSSU@HKU, priority will be given to start-ups using inventions and technologies developed by HKU and those by HKU and its collaborators. Start-ups based on technologies developed by students or alumni as coursework at HKU (e.g. Final Year projects, research projects) and technology innovations by staff or students resulting from employment or studies at HKU will also be given priority.

As there is a limited amount of government funding available to the University, TSSSU@HKU should not be considered an investment to sustain a business. This seed fund would give priority to those who may already have additional funding and won’t need funding for a long duration.

Funding Scope

Funding will cover the costs of essential items for setting up and operating the start-up, expenditure on research and development, and promotion and marketing of the start-up and its outputs. The University has also compiled a list of items that will not be funded in the Operation Plan.

Though interested parties are required to base their start-ups in Hong Kong, up to 50% of the TSSSU funding provided to them in a year can be incurred overseas.

Assessment criteria

Each team’s applications will be assessed according to the following criteria:

  • Quality of the business plan (HKU-specific)
  • Innovation and tech content
  • Commercial viability
  • The team’s capability of R&D and management of the company
  • Social/community impact
  • Company’s potential to attract additional investment

Awardees of TSSSU@HKU who wish to be supported by the scheme again after one year will need to re-apply the next year. Those who are able to complete the milestones set up in their own business plan will be at an advantage when reapplying.

For more HKU-specific details, check out these presentation slides from the information session held earlier this month.

Please visit TSSSU@HKU’s official website for complete information.

Natalie Lung

A final-year Journalism and Computer Science student at HKU. News and Internet junkie with deep appreciation for the performing arts. Favourite music genre: retro, house.

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]]> https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/10/24/hku-announces-sponsorship-scheme-for-hku-start-ups/feed/ 0 How to Start a Successful Start-up: Tips and Support from Cyberport https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/10/21/how-to-start-a-successful-start-up-tips-and-support-from-cyberport-2/ https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/10/21/how-to-start-a-successful-start-up-tips-and-support-from-cyberport-2/#comments Tue, 21 Oct 2014 13:45:30 +0000 http://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/?p=2473 by Natalie Lung | Photo credits: Natalie Lung | 21 October 2014

As the leading ICT hub in Asia, Cyberport has been very active in supporting local developers and start-ups. Whether your start-up is at the seed stage or the mature stage (or anything in between), Cyberport has assistance programmes that can cater your needs. Jenny Lam, Business Development Manager at the Cyberport Entrepreneurship Centre, filled HKU students in on the details of those programmes and shared tips on coming up with good ideas at a briefing session on campus in September.

Cyberport Creative Micro Fund (CCMF)

So you have an idea, say for a website or an app that has a potential market for it. You aspire to be among the tech giants at Silicon Valley. What’s next?

CCMF is a 6-month programme to help creative ideas realize their potential. A total of $100,000 will be granted at different stages of the programme as a seed fund for your idea. Though only 10% of applicants were admitted after the vetting period in previous years, it is relatively easy to graduate from it and be granted the funding.

“Those who couldn’t graduate had either no end product produced or team issues,” Jenny Lam said.

Read more about the programme, funding scheme, application details and vetting criteria here. The deadline for the October 2014 recruitment is 5pm on 22nd October, 2014.

Cyberport Incubation Programme

If you already have a prototype, a start-up or even a registered company in Hong Kong, you could consider the Cyberport Incubation Programme.

With a 24-month incubation period and funding up to $530,000, you will be able to gain investment and business connections, industry recognition and validation as an incubatee.“It will be easier for you to gain support from other programmes, earn trust from clients and partners since you’ve gone through a strict vetting process [for this Programme],” said Jenny.

For programme details, eligibility requirement and vetting criteria, visit Cyberport’s website here. The deadline for application is also 5pm on 22nd October.

Notable beneficiaries from HKU

Two projects by HKU alumni, iClass by IT Wake Ltd. and Snapask by Appedu Co., have benefitted from these programmes and are currently based in Cyberport. Read our interview with the iClass team.

Tips on writing a good CCMF proposal: The essentials of a successful start-up

Jenny Lam told interested students to work on three points—a creative idea, a balanced team, and business viability in the long run. One point often overlooked by candidates is whether the team behind the start-up is balanced. You need different people who know tech, design and business to make a good team.

Jenny added that applicants should do market research to understand the current trends and highlight how they are better than their competitors. Finally, they should bear in mind that the length of the proposal does not necessarily reflect its quality.

Coming up with good ideas

“If my idea is searchable on Google, is it still considered a creative idea?”

Anything that does not get caught in the web of Google’s omniscient spider is either non-existent or so insignificant that it slipped through its tightly woven threads.

When asked the above question at the briefing session, Jenny posed the following response: “It is extremely normal for your ideas to be thought of already. If no one has thought of that idea, it probably has no market. You would want to launch something among weak competitors.”

What you want to avoid doing

Developing an app that is inspired by the flaws of apps you use daily may not be the best idea. Let’s say you want to improve OpenRice’s table-booking feature, so you write a detailed CCMF proposal for an app to complement OpenRice for booking tables, only to find it rejected by the vetting panel.

“Consider this — OpenRice is an established app with a considerable amount of loyal users. They could easily release another version of their app with a powerful booking system. Your app start-up would be done in a few weeks,” Jenny said.

Most creative ideas stem from our daily observations with a pinch of imagination, and they do not come by easily. But fear not, with two recruitment periods each year, Cyberport plans to recruit 50 CCMF grantees and 50 incubatees every year in its 3-year strategic plan for 2014-15 to 2016-17. There are plenty of opportunities for you to realize your entrepreneurship dreams.

Natalie Lung

A final-year Journalism and Computer Science student at HKU. News and Internet junkie with deep appreciation for the performing arts. Favourite music genre: retro, house.

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]]> https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/10/21/how-to-start-a-successful-start-up-tips-and-support-from-cyberport-2/feed/ 0 Credit Suisse Internship & Coding Competition https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/09/29/credit-suisse-internship-coding-competition/ https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/09/29/credit-suisse-internship-coding-competition/#comments Mon, 29 Sep 2014 13:14:33 +0000 http://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/?p=2379 by Lisa Utley | Photo Credits: Credit Suisse | September 29, 2014

Internship Opportunity at Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse Hong Kong, a leading global financial services company, is seeking students interested in technology for its Summer Analyst Programme. To be eligible you should be graduating between December 2015 and June 2016, and strong performance in this program could lead to a full time position after graduation.

The internship centers around technology in banking, and combines tech skills with financial information management. Interns become involved with many stages of a project’s life cycle, including application development and infrastructure. As well, there are opportunities to team up with traders and bankers to help solve their business problems.

Credit Suisse relies on new technology to improve the quality of the final product delivered to customers. This means successful internship applicants would be working with Big Data, Cloud Computing, and Mobile Development among others.

All interested candidates MUST complete an application on or before midnight, November 13, 2014 on the Credit Suisse website for consideration. You can view full details of the internship here.

“CodeIT Suisse” Coding Competition

For students graduating later, or anyone interested in coding, Credit Suisse is organising a competition in Hong Kong on the weekend of October 10-12, 2014! Participants will get a chance to interview for an internship with Credit Suisse Information Technology and win prizes worth a total of HKD 10,000.

If you are interested in joining the competition, all you need to do is…

1) Form a team of three to five eligible people. Each team must decrypt the following message and apply as per the below instructions by Thursday, October 2, 2014:

■ The following is encrypted with AES-256 and in base64, and the key is the last name of the person who said the quote below. Try to break it!
■ The base64 codes:
LbXS5WUSPUPwmbf1/EaQZ4Ex3aNlcszMGBVqjJk8OZ2e7FsVEHWeFil4v5KfMopbbWbSnhmxSObKywpWjx8F2g==
■ The quote: “They’re not birds! They’re keys! Winged keys.”

Once decrypted, instructions will be provided in the decrypted message on where to apply for the Competition. Each team member must submit an application by Thursday, October 2, 2014 including the following information:
■ Attach your CV and on the top of your CV, include the full names of all your team members.

2) Once you have decrypted the message and applied for the competition, you will be sent another more challenging message to decrypt for bonus points. Further information on this will follow upon application.

By entering the Competition you agree to the Terms and Conditions.

You can view full details of the competition here.

For enquiries, please contact- campus.recruitment-ap@credit-suisse.com

Good luck coding!

Lisa Utley

Lisa Utley is a first year journalism student at HKU. Born and raised on Canada’s west coast, she loves going skiing and hiking with her friends and family.

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]]> https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/09/29/credit-suisse-internship-coding-competition/feed/ 0 Join Startup Classes @ HKU https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/09/27/join-startup-classes-hku/ https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/09/27/join-startup-classes-hku/#comments Sat, 27 Sep 2014 12:42:58 +0000 http://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/?p=2348 by Natalie Lung | Photo Credits: Wikipedia, TecHKU and others | September 27, 2014

Got a burning passion for starting your own startup? You can now learn business strategies from professors at Stanford University and experts from leading firms like Facebook, Yahoo, PayPal, LinkedIn, Jawbone and more at HKU for free.

“How to Start a Startup” (CS183B) is a class that Sam Altman is teaching at Stanford. He and his team at Y Combinator, a company that funds startups at their early stages, believe these classes can help more people start their own companies. That’s why he is allowing hundreds of universities and organizations worldwide access to this course.

Be the first to know when you can attend video lectures and discussion sessions with other aspiring entrepreneurs from HKU by joining the How to Start a Startup @ HKU group on Facebook.

For detailed information on course schedule, reading materials and assignments, please visit the course site here.

Natalie Lung

A final-year Journalism and Computer Science student at HKU. News and Internet junkie with deep appreciation for the performing arts. Favourite music genre: retro, house.

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]]> https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/09/27/join-startup-classes-hku/feed/ 0 Register Now – Interbank Women in Finance Event https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/09/21/register-now-interbank-women-in-finance-event/ https://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/2014/09/21/register-now-interbank-women-in-finance-event/#comments Sun, 21 Sep 2014 14:02:16 +0000 http://www.engineering.hku.hk/tecHKU/?p=2330 by Sundararaja N. Valiyapan and Mary Lee | Photo Credits: Financial Post, Credit Suisse | September 21, 2014

With competitions getting fiecer nowadays, many businesses are starting to realise that not having half of the world population as talents leading their company is preposterous. That’s right, I’m talking about women in the workforce. Although the number of women working in the finance industry is increasing, it is still not on par with that of the male workers.

However, ten titans of the finance industry including Credit Suisse, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and many others are coming together to make a change.

The Interbank Women in Finance Event provides an excellent opportunity for students to discuss their future career path with a panel of successful females from all levels of Finance, and to broaden their network with representatives from the ten market leading firms.

If you are interested in attending the event all you need to do is submit your CV and cover letter to your university career services below by Tuesday, 23 September, 2014.

HKU – please visit http://apps.cedars.hku.hk/applyjob
HKUST – please email saibankwomen@ust.hk
CUHK – please visit http://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/osa/cpdc/online-application.php

For all female students at HKU, HKUST or CUHK having a keen interest in a career in finance, please don’t miss this great opportunity to learn more about the industry from the top leaders!

Mary Lee

A first year journalism student at HKU. Not a tech junkie but owns an iPhone 6 by chance.
leelokchingmary@gmail.com

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    Sundararaja N. Valiyapan

    Second Year, Energy Engineering
    Malaysian Mochaccino, Tesla Fanatic, Film Buff, Android Acolyte, Hakuna Mattata
    sunthar9@connect.hku.hk

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