Passion and energy were out in force at Cyberport for the third Jumpstarter semi-pitch event on 27 July. As the would-be winners pitched their innovative ideas to the seven judges, their energy and enthusiasm leapt off the stage and into the hearts of the audience.
Covering three broad areas – wearables, IoT and edutech – the third pitch event in the Jumpstarter 2017 series hosted 12 short and snappy pitches which, according to judge Thomas Tsao, a founding partner of Gobi Partners, were “looking to solve the right problems” and create life-changing benefits for future users of their innovations.
The contestants arrived at Cyberport not just from Hong Kong and China, but from as far away as Austria, Canada and Israel. All twelve high-energy and high-quality pitches focused on visionary ideas – from an app that can help users practice and correct their spoken English, to a bespoke musical solution for retail shops, to a device which uses nanoparticles to create concentrated oxygen, to help “people who can’t breathe reach a little further in life”.
The enthusiasm of the three winners was contagious. Harry Chan, a self-described “civil engineer who is passionate about construction technologies”, made an impressive pitch for his companyBeeInventor’s smart construction helmet. Designed to reduce accidents, save lives and ensure construction workers remain healthy on the job, the Dasloop helmet comes equipped with biosensors and an alarm that detects vehicles in motion behind them. Harry’s dream, now one step closer to reality, is “to make changes to the construction market and help disrupt the last undisrupted industry.”
The passion of Jordan Cheng Man-fai of MAD Gaze lies in creating an innovative product and an ecosystem to market it. The MAD Gaze wearable combines the functions of a smartphone with augmented reality to give heads-up display functionality for everyday use. Based on an Android system, the product frees up people’s hands while they make calls, navigate, browse the web and game on the go.
Rustem Akishbekov of Robo Wunderkind delights in seeing children get excited about their robotic creations coming to life – robots that his innovation will help kids build less than an hour. His “next-generation intelligent platform” embeds sensors and motors into cubes; which through a simple app interface allows children as young as five to quickly build and program their own robots. For Rustem, since “kids love to see instant results, this is very motivating.”
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Winning both the Most Favourable award – decided by members of the audience who drop chips into a voting device – and the newly-introduced USD 10,000 Most Innovative Award – given to the pitch which scores highest in the “innovation and creativity” section of the judging criteria – was Steadiwear, a glove worn by people suffering from essential tremors and Parkinson’s disease to steady their hands and make daily activities like eating and drinking less challenging. VivaSpire Inc., a Canadian start-up seeking to build lightweight oxygen generators that “refill themselves from the air around them”, also received the Most Innovative Award.
The eagerness and passion of all the winners clearly impressed the judges, and the top three will now head to 21 Nov's final pitch event at the HKCEC where the three winning teams will each receive up to USD one million investment from Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund.
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Video of Jumpstarter 2017 Wearables|IOT|EduTech Semi Pitch(3rd)
Startup Pitch! (by the sequence of on-stage presentation)
Panel Feedback : Jumpstart & Beyond
Award Presentation : Wearables|IOT|EduTech Semi Pitch
