The Hong Kong X Foundation (Hong Kong X Foundation) produces an innovation and technology "unicorn" program, introducing a total of 18 innovation and technology companies with "Hong Kong genes", including DJI Innovation and SenseTime Shangtang Technology.
At least nine companies have set Hong Kong as their global headquarters or core office, and cities in the Greater Bay Area have set up R&D/production bases.
The Innovation and Technology Hong Kong Foundation and CGTN jointly launched the "Innovative Harbor 2021 INNO BAY" special program, which will be broadcast on Monday (22nd). The Horned Beast was selected, and the foundation said it would break the situation of zero unicorn companies in Hong Kong before 2017.
The unicorns on the list include those founded in Hong Kong, early incubation, headquartered in Hong Kong, or a Hong Kong resident; they are all invested by private equity funds, have not yet been listed, and are valued at US$1 billion (about HK$7.8 billion) and The above are in line with the international standards of unicorns. They have the largest number of unicorns in the fields of high-end manufacturing, robotics, and artificial intelligence, including the drone technology company DJI Innovations, which specializes in artificial intelligence. SenseTime Shangtang Technology, Lalamove and Lala.
Unicorns valued at over one billion US dollars include Airwallex, EcoFlow Zhenghao, SmartMore, etc., and their businesses include financial technology, medical and pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, logistics, cultural consumption, and new energy tracks.
The foundation pointed out that these Hong Kong genetic unicorns have many things in common. First of all, they are very "young". For example, KLOOK was founded in 2014, the financial technology company Airwallex was founded in 2015, and the energy storage technology company EcoFlow Zhenghao and the intelligent driving research and development company Xidi Zhijia were both established in 2017. The computer vision company SmartMore was founded in 2019 by Jia Jiaya, a tenured professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Chinese University.
DJI DJI Innovation, EcoFlow Zhenghao new founder is Hong Kong Piao
Many Hong Kong unicorns have made full use of the incubation space and supporting policies of various university entrepreneurial incubators, government science parks or Cyberport. At least 9 companies have set Hong Kong as their global headquarters or core office, and the Greater Bay Area cities have branch offices. The R&D/production base opens up the whole process from samples to industrialized mass production, and finally sells the products to the whole country and even the world.
Among the unicorns on the list, in addition to the local founders in Hong Kong, many of the founders are "grow up in the Mainland, study in Hong Kong". For example, Wang Tao, the founder of DJI Innovation , Transferred to the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and carried out the legendary story of R&D drones occupying the global market.
The founder of EcoFlow Zhenghao Wang Lei studied at the Polytechnic University and the University of Hong Kong. After that, he has been responsible for battery research and development at DJI. In 2017, he founded EcoFlow Zhenghao in Shenzhen, focusing on mobile energy storage and clean energy.
Unicorns from the University of Science and Technology account for one-third of SenseTime's origins in CUHK
Among the 18 unicorns on the list, 6 of them are from the University of Science and Technology, known as the "Godfather of Hidden Entrepreneurship in China". Professor Li Zexiang of the University of Science and Technology participated in five unicorns, including the establishment of companies such as DJI.
The foundation stated that he and HKUST students formed an academic entrepreneurial group, encouraging students to actively start their own businesses, finding funds and providing technical assistance for them. With the help of the strong manufacturing foundation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, he continued to incubate and invest in his students’ startups. high tech company.
The world’s largest AI unicorn, SenseTime Shangtang Technology, originated in Chinese University. The then Information Engineering professor Tang Xiaoou led the doctoral research in deep learning in his laboratory in 2011. From this, the founding team of Shangtang Technology was born. In 2014, the global headquarters was established in Hong Kong.
Zhou Shengfu, the founder of Lalamove, was the first high school student in the New Territories and graduated from the Department of Economics of Stanford University in the United States. In 2013, he seized the opportunity of an Internet platform for freight transportation without taxis and established EasyVan (啦啦快送) in Hong Kong. After entering the mainland market in 2014, it was renamed Lalamove Huolala.
Airwallex, a cross-border digital payment, established a Hong Kong branch in 2016, and later entered Europe and North America. It has nearly 1,000 employees in 19 office locations around the world and has an annual transaction volume of more than 20 billion U.S. dollars.
The foundation quoted co-founder Lucy Liu as saying that Hong Kong's convergence of financial talents and an international market are conducive to global promotion of products.
Xue Yongheng: Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone
In his speech, the Director of the Bureau of Innovation and Technology Xue Yongheng said that he is working with the Shenzhen Municipal Government to build the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Park on the opposite shore into a Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, realizing "one zone, two parks" and assisting Hong Kong's start-ups. Enterprises expand their business in the Greater Bay Area.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said that the government has invested nearly US$17 billion in helping the innovation and technology industry and is happy to see many "unicorn" companies trained.
Liang Zhenying, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, encouraged young people to have ambitious ideas, imagination and ambitious actions, and pointed out that promoting the cooperation between government, industry, university and research on both sides of the Shenzhen River is the only and best way to realize the great potential of the Greater Bay Area.
In his speech, the chairman of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Cha Smirn, said that Hong Kong is the most vibrant innovation and technology city in Asia. In just six years, the number of local start-ups in Hong Kong has tripled to 3,422, of which a quarter of the start-up founders are from overseas. Hong Kong welcomes international entrepreneurs to settle down very much.
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Under the epidemic, the e-commerce industry is developing rapidly. Lalamove: orders have increased by 10 times so far. Lalamove is listed on the Hong Kong list at the end of the month. CCB International Bank of America is the sponsor. Two drones passed the review of the Pentagon and recommended the U.S. government to use U.S. sanctions. DJI responded List of entities listed: Can still sell drones in the U.S. Giant DJI’s dominant position has been eroded, and the loss of employees in North America has been severe