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Cover HKSTP's ecosystem of innovators made up 11 out of 35 Gen.T honourees this year (Photo: Affa Chan / Tatler Hong Kong)

Hong Kong’s 2023 Leaders of Tomorrow event celebrated the power of community—and HKSTP’s supportive ecosystem of diversity and innovation

Possessing innate abilities and superb ideas might seem like a recipe for certain success, but without proper support, even the greatest venture can perish. This is why it’s extremely fortunate that Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) is such a supportive, dynamic, vibrant community for so many of Hong Kong’s budding start-ups, entrepreneurs and innovators.

In fact, when the Gen.T List for 2023 was recently announced, it came as little surprise that a fair share of this year’s Hong Kong honourees—11 out of 35—had been part of HKSTP’s ecosystem, a figure that has more than doubled since last year. This year's list also featured several women innovators, recognised for their outstanding contributions to the industry, demonstrating HKSTP's commitment to supporting women in the field, promoting gender diversity and creating a more inclusive innovation ecosystem.

The wealth of companies and organisations under HKSTP is wide and deep. It currently hosts more than 1,400 companies, employing more than 20,000 people in innovation and technology. Its facilities in Hong Kong, which cater to a smorgasbord of industries, include the Science Park in Pak Shek Kok, the InnoCentre in Kowloon Tong, and InnoParks in Tseung Kwan O, Yuen Long and Tai Po. That those 11 honourees represent such a range of fields, from health tech to robotics and artificial intelligence, demonstrates the diversity in innovation being fostered by this community, making it the perfect greenhouse for budding Gen.T talent to blossom.

This relationship between the HKSTP and Gen.T communities is also exactly why HKSTP acted as a sponsor for this year’s Leaders of Tomorrow gala event in Hong Kong, where the city’s Gen.T honourees for 2023 were celebrated for the impact they have made locally and abroad. One can only imagine how many more new HKSTP innovators will follow them into the ranks of the Gen.T list in the years to come.

Roy Lim

Tatler Asia
Above Roy Lim, founder and CEO of Robocore

Cleaning floors, caring for elderly relatives and disinfecting your home—these are all tasks the world’s first truly intelligent personal robot can take care of. Roy Lim’s company Robocore develops applications for robotics platforms in areas that include home, hospitality, retail, medical and industrial, as well as a variety of smart sensors.

Wun Chi Lam

Tatler Asia
Above Lam Wun Chi, co-founder and CEO of Spaceship

With Spaceship, Lam Wun Chi is trying to make global logistics easy to use and accessible to everyone. The company offers a smart, end-to-end online logistics platform that uses big data and AI to save on international shipping costs and time.

Daniel Lo

Tatler Asia
Above Daniel Lo, founder and CEO of GoGoChart

The ways in which companies reach their customers are changing fast, and Daniel Lo is helping these brands navigate the transition. GoGoChart, the advertising technology company he founded, offers a range of services including Web3 marketing, brand strategy, search advertising, interface design, PR, video and animation.

Leo Wong

Tatler Asia
Above Leo Wong, co-founder and COO of imBee

ImBee bridges the communication gap between companies and customers. Co-founded by Leo Wong, the company creates chatbots to guide companies’ customers across a range of different communication channels, providing those companies with a single central inbox to coordinate all their messages.

Florence Chan

Tatler Asia
Above Florence Chan, co-founder and CEO of AI Guided

With the goal of helping visually impaired and elderly people to better navigate the world, robotics and automation expert Florence Chan used AI, haptic-reflex actuation and environmental visualisation to build the Guidi device—a gadget that detect objects within five metres and alerts the wearer to their presence.

Anushka Purohit

Tatler Asia
Above Anushka Purohit, co-founder and CEO of Breer

Breer turns one thing people like, bread, into another one, beer. Co-founded by Anushka Purohit with the aim of reducing food waste in Hong Kong to zero, it has worked with local bread manufacturer and restaurant group Maxim’s to brew more than 25,000l of craft beer from 500kg of leftover bread.

Jason Yuen

Tatler Asia
Above Jason Yuen, co-founder and CEO of Socif

Back when Jason Yuen was a student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, it was frustrating for him to rely on public transport, keeping on top of bus schedules in order to arrive on time for lectures. That's when Yuen was struck by the idea for Socif, a smart transport and mobility company that currently provides ETA solutions to the city’s entire minibus industry.

Edwin Wong

Tatler Asia
Above Edwin Wong, co-founder and CEO of Fancee Labs

Combining media, marketing and technology, Edwin Wong had a vision to build the largest community of digital creatives, offering AI-powered marketing for influencers and content creators. Cloudbreakr now offers solutions ranging from audience analysis to campaign management.

Kyle Wong

Tatler Asia
Above Kyle Wong, co-founder and CEO of PanopticAI

Not all students have access to essential health services at university. With this in mind, Kyle Wong created a digital health company to allow people to take charge of their own well-being. Using camera-based monitoring, PanopticAI makes affordable healthcare services available through everyday devices.

Andy Li

Tatler Asia
Above Andy Li, co-founder and CEO of VisionNav

From loading and unloading trucks to high-level put-away and picking, VisionNav has been instrumental in automating the world’s factories. Using 5G networks, AI and machine learning, robotics expert Andy Li created the leading global supplier of unmanned industrial vehicles and intralogistics automation solutions.

Kelvin Tang

Tatler Asia
Above Kelvin Tang, co-founder and CEO of Pons.AI

Creating marketing-ready photos and images for a brand can be time-consuming and expensive. Kelvin Tang’s company Pons.ai aims to solve that with its generative product marketing software, which uses technology to turn smartphone photos into usable marketing shots at a hundredth of the usual cost.

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