HKSTP Crowns Overall Champion Skyland Innovation at EPiC 2023 Pitching Competition Beating Over 610 Global Startups
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) today successfully held its 7th Elevator Pitch Competition (EPiC), naming Hong Kong startup, Skyland Innovation, as the overall 2023 champion, beating over 610 startups from 55 economies around the world. The signature event has partnered with the city’s leading corporations: Cathay, HSBC, MTR Lab, plus global accelerator Plug & Play, to become a true iconic mega event that has hit a global scale.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230428005353/en/
Mr Albert Wong, CEO of HKSTP (Centre), alongside EPiC 2023 Top 10 overall finalists. (Photo: Business Wire)
As Hong Kong’s flagship and largest pitching contest, 50 Grand Finale semi-finalists joined the city’s most eagerly anticipated pitch event this year at sky100 at the top of the International Commerce Centre in West Kowloon to re-create a real-life 60-second elevator pitch experience.
The EPiC 2023 judging panel of the region’s top entrepreneurs, investors and innovation ecosystem leaders selected Skyland Innovation from Hong Kong, as this year’s overall champion. The winner of the grand prize of US$ 90,000, helps property owners and contractors to coordinate and communicate seamlessly on construction sites through the use of robotics and AI. The local proptech is also a spinoff from the Hong Kong Center for Construction Robotics (HKCRC) within the HKSAR Government backed AIR@InnoHK research cluster located at Hong Kong Science Park.
Along with all 50 semi-finalists, Skyland Innovation also qualifies to be considered by the HKSTP Venture Fund for additional investment deals. If selected, each company can potentially receive up to a maximum investment of US$5 million.
EPiC 2023 competitors were split across the two themes of FinTech and PropTech with FinCrime Dynamics from the UK named as the overall FinTech category winner, and Skyland Innovation Company Ltd named the overall PropTech winner from Hong Kong. This year, Canvasland, a FinTech startup from Hong Kong was also voted by the public as the “My Favourite Pitcher" winner, taking away US$10,000 and 200,000 Asia Miles. The top 10 overall finalists also won US$10,000 each (Full winners and finalists list below).
Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of Hong Kong SAR, said: “Hong Kong has a strong, thriving startup ecosystem with 4000 startups, up more than 50% from 2018. Hong Kong is also a natural gateway to the GBA, which offers tremendous growth opportunities. Successful products and services will surely have an edge in the GBA, the whole of the nation and around the world. I am truly excited to be here at EPiC 2023 where startups strive to make their 60-second pitch truly count. I congratulate all the EPiC 2023 winners and invite startups from all over the world to join us in Hong Kong where the future is built.”
Sunny Chai, Chairman, HKSTP, said: “EPiC 2023 showcases the most exciting innovations from the world’s star-studded next-generation global tech ventures. Together with the Hong Kong Government's solid commitment, as reinforced by the Hong Kong I&T Development Blueprint, our city provides the ideal platform to expand into the vast Asian market. Hong Kong is also Asia’s world city and a bridge between the mainland and the world, making us a magnet for global innovation talent and enterprises.”
Albert Wong, CEO, HKSTP, said: “This year’s EPiC competition features a record international turnout and shows Hong Kong is truly back with a strong show of unicorns and soonicorns from around the world among this year’s finalists. But EPiC is more than just a competition, it is a prime example of Hong Kong’s unique ability to help startups grow fast and go beyond by providing a network of global investment opportunities and innovation talent to turn cutting-edge science, technologies, and ideas into game-changing solutions."
A magnet for global investors and innovation talent
EPiC 2023 surpassed all expectations, attracting over 610 entries from 55 countries and cities across five continents. Over 75% of contestants come from overseas, a record high proportion of overseas contestants and economies participation since 2016. Startups joining EPiC 2023 can fully leverage the largest I&T ecosystem in Hong Kong and HKSTP’s direct connections to over 1,000 investors and more than 300 corporate partners.
In addition to the EPiC final pitching contest, the 50 semi-finalists have also taken part in the "Grow Beyond Hong Kong" Immersion Programme. This exclusive 2-day programme ran from 25-26 April, immersed the EPiC 2023 semi-finalists directly into HKSTP’s innovation ecosystem. Participants will unlock growth opportunities through educational talks, business matching and networking with leading corporate partners and investors in our ecosystem.
Winners List:
|
Overall Champion |
Skyland Innovation Company Ltd. |
||
|
“My Favourite Pitcher” Winner |
Canvasland Limited |
||
|
FinTech Winner |
FinCrime Dynamics |
||
|
PropTech Winner |
Skyland Innovation Company Ltd. |
||
|
Top 10 Overall Finalists |
FinTech Finalists:
FinCrime Dynamics Homebase Ultipa VoiceAI Technologies
PropTech Finalists:
I2Cool Limited
Mimicrete VoltSafe, Inc. Skyland Innovation Company Ltd. |
Contestants Breakdown:
|
Category |
|
|
No. of applicants |
|
PropTech |
|
|
266 (43%) |
|
FinTech |
|
|
352 (57%) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No. of applicants |
|
Overseas |
|
|
465 (75%) |
|
Hong Kong |
|
|
153 (25%) |
A record high proportion of overseas contestants and economies participation since 2016.
For more information on EPiC 2023, please visit: https://epic.hkstp.org/
About Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) has for over 20 years committed to building up Hong Kong as an international innovation and technology hub to propel success for local and global pioneers today and tomorrow. HKSTP has established a thriving I&T ecosystem that is home to two unicorns and Hong Kong’s leading R&D hub with over 13,000 research professionals and over 1,300 technology companies focused on healthtech, AI and robotics, fintech and smart city technologies.
Established in 2001, we attract and nurture talent, accelerate and commercialise innovation and technology for entrepreneurs on their journey of growth in Hong Kong, to the Greater Bay Area, Asia and beyond. Our growing innovation ecosystem is built around our key locations of Hong Kong Science Park in Shatin, InnoCentre in Kowloon Tong and three modern INNOPARKs in Tai Po, Tseung Kwan O and Yuen Long. The three INNOPARKs are realising a vision of new industrialisation for Hong Kong. The goal is sectors like advanced manufacturing, electronics and biotechnology are being reimagined for a new generation of industry.
Through our infrastructure, services, expertise and network of partnerships, HKSTP will help establish innovation and technology as a pillar of growth for Hong Kong, while reinforcing Hong Kong’s international I&T hub status as a launchpad for global growth at the heart of the GBA innovation powerhouse.
More information about HKSTP is available at www.hkstp.org.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230428005353/en/
Contact information
Media Contact:
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation
Betsy Leung
Tel: +852 2629 2300
Email: betsy.leung@hkstp.org
Edelman Public Relations
Lisa Tse
Tel: +852 3756 8632 / 6347 2009
Email: Lisa.Tse@edelman.com / Edelmanhkstppr@edelman.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
New Study from UK’s Largest Virtual ADHD Service Validates Role of Objective Testing in Delivering Personalized, High-Quality Remote ADHD Care10.5.2025 13:45:00 EEST | Press release
As demand for virtual ADHD care increases, findings from a new study conducted with ADHD 360, the UK’s largest evidence-based digital service specializing in ADHD diagnosis and treatment, reveal how objective ADHD diagnostic and monitoring technology improves patient outcomes and clinical certainty. Presented at the 2025 ADHD World Congress in Prague, Czech Republic, the findings highlight the role of QbCheck, Qbtech’s remote testing solution, in enabling clinicians to make more confident, data-informed decisions, supporting a more personalized and collaborative care model. The tool allows for greater clarity when assessing symptoms and adjusting treatment plans over time, ensuring diagnostic accuracy and helping to improve alignment between clinicians and patients throughout the care journey. The results from ADHD 360’s implementation of this model showcase how a standardized approach to virtual ADHD care improves clinician confidence, reduces wait times, and enhances patient engageme
Ant International Partners with Barclays on Global Treasury Management with Proprietary AI-Powered FX Model9.5.2025 16:57:00 EEST | Press release
Ant International has entered a partnership with leading UK bank Barclays to enhance efficiency and resilience in global treasury management for businesses. Under the partnership, the two sides will combine innovative solutions, including Ant’s proprietary Time-Series Transformer (TST) AI FX Model, to help businesses reduce FX-related costs and risks against global volatilities. At the initial stage of the collaboration, Ant International has successfully completed the first batch of its intra-group FX transactions with Barclays. Ant International’s TST Model is a transformer architecture-based big data model with close to 2 billion parameters. By integrating the latest time series forecasting algorithms, the TST Model predicts patterns over time. Ant also created new pre-training and Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT) frameworks to train the model and improve its predictions over time. The TST Model now forecasts the company's cashflow and FX exposure on an hourly, daily and weekly basis, w
Monument Re Transfers €1.4bn Greycastle Portfolio to RGA and Strengthens European Life Insurance Consolidation Platform9.5.2025 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Monument Re Limited (“Monument”) announces today that it has transferred a legacy €1.4bn reinsurance portfolio, comprising annuity and other life insurance liabilities acquired as part of the 2020 Greycastle transaction, to RGA Americas Reinsurance Company, Ltd. (“RGA”). This transaction releases capital resources that Monument will redirect to its core strategy of consolidation in European life insurance markets. The transaction completed on 2May 2025 following approval by the Boards of Directors of both Monument and RGA and non-objection from the Bermuda Monetary Authority. Monument has taken significant steps in recent months to strengthen its business operations by consolidating its European group support functions in Dublin and by aligning with the recently strengthened regulatory regime in Bermuda. With its strong financial position and best in class capabilities in the Group, Monument remains ideally positioned to build on its success to date and grow its European footprint, del
IFF Completes Divestiture of Nitrocellulose Business9.5.2025 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
IFF (NYSE: IFF) today announced that it has completed the divestiture of its nitrocellulose business, including Walsrode Industrial Park in lower Saxony, Germany, to Czechoslovak Group (CSG). The business manufactures nitrocellulose strictly for industrial purposes, serving customers primarily in coatings and printing inks, and had been part of IFF’s Pharma Solutions business unit. “The divestiture of our nitrocellulose business builds upon our deleveraging journey and enables us to focus on our core businesses,” said Erik Fyrwald, IFF CEO. “I’d like to thank our nitrocellulose colleagues for their dedication and wish them continued success as part of CSG.” Welcome to IFF At IFF (NYSE: IFF), we make joy through science, creativity and heart. As the global leader in flavors, fragrances, food ingredients, health and biosciences, we deliver groundbreaking, sustainable innovations that elevate everyday products—advancing wellness, delighting the senses and enhancing the human experience.Le
CPAC Systems AB Announces Strategic Minority Investment in Flying Fish9.5.2025 13:33:00 EEST | Press release
CPAC Systems AB, a leader in advanced control systems and embedded vessel and commercial vehicle technology, today announced a strategic minority investment in Flying Fish Maritime Innovations B.V., a pioneer in advanced shared water mobility solutions and robust, cost-effective hydrofoil technology. The investment underscores both companies’ commitment to redefining water-based transportation through innovation, sustainability, and seamless integration. It marks the beginning of a deeper collaboration aimed at enabling smarter, cleaner, and more connected mobility on the water — for both recreational and commercial applications. “We are thrilled to support Flying Fish and their impressive work in redefining water mobility,"saidMarcus Wingolf, CEO of CPAC Systems. "Our investment in Flying Fish represents a strategic alignment of our technical proficiencies and innovative ambitions. This partnership opens exciting new possibilities for integration and sustainable transformation across
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom