Technology inventions help people around the world live longer and healthier, spur our economy and solve our social problems. As the Co-founder and CEO of a Robotic HealthTech start-up with the focus to tackle the problem of healthcare accessibility and improve the quality of life of the disabled, not only do we design and develop affordable robotic products for physical rehabilitation, but also provide solutions to tackle emerging problems in the elderly and healthcare industries.
Dr Ricky Chiu has been recognised as being one of the top leaders in the biotechnology field in Hong Kong. He is driven by his passion to serve humanity. Born in Hong Kong and trained in the United States, he has developed a proprietary sample preparation technology which significantly increases the speed and accuracy of diagnostic testing, enabling earlier detection of cancers and infectious diseases and reducing the excess deaths associated with these diseases.
Dr Chiu is dedicated to promoting a sustainable world for tomorrow. The PHASE Scientific team will continue to focus on diagnostic innovations to assist in the detection of different diseases. Additionally, they will implement smart manufacturing processes and incorporate the use of biobased materials to improve the production efficiency and environmental friendliness of their end products.
Having engaged in information technology since 1990s, Dr. Tenny Lam (PolyU DBA) had served as the senior management of MNCs for many years. In recent years, he took over his family business of a conventional chemical manufacturer and has been determined to leverage his rich experience in innovative technology to drive reform and pursue technology breakthroughs.
They leverage each other’s strengths and decided to find a Bio-Tech startup to recycle bio-based materials and applications to provide greener and safer materials to address the sustainable global challenges.
During the company startup stage, they were in the COVID-19 pandemic. People are more concerned about hygiene than ever. However, commercially available antimicrobial solutions predominantly contain heavy metals and chemicals that may pose health risks upon prolonged exposure and contaminating water and other resources. In light of this, they invented a bio-based long lasting anti-microbial coating that has multiple features such as no release of toxic chemicals; no toxic chemicals leaked into the ecosystem; prolonged protection, and recycling bio-materials.
The team is developing the next generation of edible coating for fruit shelf-life extension to reduce food loss and infection risk during the logistic and delivery stage.
Ms Juliana Lam is the Founder and President of INNOTIER. With “Business with a Purpose” as the company’s core principle and ESG as the brand’s values, she has created several innovative anti-viral products under the new normal. Under the short span of 2 years, INNOTIER has been granted with 4 patents, including the silver yarn fabric and UVC disinfection system, and has since worked with numerous international brands and has accomplished remarkable achievements such as being recognised as a Certified Sustainable Development Corporation (CSDC) presented by UNESCO.
Juliana is also the founder of Julius Group, with 60 years of family manufacturing experience in gloves and accessories. Julius Group is a forward-thinking company with strong beliefs in transforming the conventional manufacturing business with ESG as their core values. With the vertical setup from manufacturing to retailing, Juliana has used this to her advantage and has worked tirelessly to establish her business in the sustainability industry.
Dr. William Lee is a Co-founder of i2Cool Limited. I2Cool limited is a start-up with a vision to achieve zero-carbon emission for the built environment. William spares no effort to develop novel technologies for sustainability and carbon neutrality. The signature electricity-free cooling paint can effectively reduce electricity consumption and the energy saving can reach 40%. The electricity-free cooling paint won Gold with Congratulations of the Jury in Inventions Geneva Evaluation Days 2021.
When Kelvin first arrived in Hong Kong back in 2008, investment was not particularly a popular phrase to the general public thanks to the financial crisis. Seven years later, as the vice president at Deutsche Bank Hong Kong, Kelvin felt the quality of traditional wealth management still left a lot to be desired, and they were not accessible by customers outside of private banking. At that moment Kelvin decided to leave the corporate world behind and co-founded AQUMON with Doctor Don Huang, with one goal in mind – to empower everyday investor to participate in wealth creation and bring about real social progress.
As a first-time entrepreneur, being able to create a company with meaningful impact has always been my number goal. With Great Bay Bio, an innovative AI enabled bioprocessing platform, we can really achieve this goal via multiple dimensions:
• ESG – Synthetic biology is said to be the next scientific revolution with profound positive impact on our environment. GBB’s technology aids the commercialsation of scientific discovery of this field, allowing important products, such as culture meat, to hit market earlier and at an affordable price point.
• HK I&T Ecosystem – The boom of HK’s biotech start-up scene is unprecedented. However, an ecosystem needed to support a sustainable growth of the industry is still lacking. GBB is an important addition to the HK biotech ecosystem, enabling local startups to scale up manufacturing of their biotech discoveries.
In the short 3 years since founding, GBB has raised over US$30M from top institutional investors, including TigerJade, Hillhouse, AEF, and a large MNC. The company currently has a commercial reach of over 100+ biotech companies. Finally, GBB is part of 3 top accelerators (Nvidia, Merck and Microsoft), and won various innovation awards in the GBA.
Recognised as one of world’s most outstanding and highly-cited clinician-scientists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prof Siew Ng’s discoveries have revolutionised human health. By using a tiny stool sample, she decodes the trillions of bacteria DNA inside your gut and utilizes AI-driven algorithms to predict risk of diseases.
In under 18 months, she has launched 3 novel diagnostic and therapeutic products in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Southeast Asia. Used by millions of people globally, her immunity formula is tailored for Asians and has benefitted the general public at times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In recognition of her achievements, she was awarded Croucher Professor of Medical Sciences and Gold Medal Awards at International Inventions of Geneva 2022.
“Health is life’s greatest asset. My dream is to bring hope and health to our next generation,” Siew says.
Ivy has 15 years of regional management experience in several Fortune Global 100 companies, including ICT, cloud services & the logistics industry. Most recently held various leadership roles in program delivery, client implementations and compliance. She is also an ISO 9001 auditor, awarded as 2021 Deloitte Tech Fast Female Award Winner and a member of the Hong Kong Logistics Development Council since 2021.
William Yeung is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries with solid experience in digital commerce and insurtech applications. He is the co-founder & CEO of MediConCen Limited, which is an insurtech company which utilises blockchain to automate insurance claim and the company launched the first-in-Asia blockchain medical ecosystem with leading insurers.
He is co-inventor of 1 Blockchain design patent and 1 medical consultation via hardware patent. Under his leadership, MediConCen is formed with only USD0.3m capital and he convinced ex-Chief Marketing Officer and ex-CEO of insurer to join. MediCenCen launched with the first insurer client in just few months. MediConCen enables insured to use the insurance in a cardless, paperless and cashless basis. The blockchain technology eliminates the need of reconciliation of results and allows automation to be done to the extreme with all parties trusting the results.
Scaling the team from 4 ppl to 28 ppl in 4 years, contracted with 13 insurers and raised US$5.6m to date. William has built a strong tech team and also contributed back to the world’s development of blockchain technology through code contribution. In fact, MediConCen is top 10 contributors to Linux Hyperledger among Greater China in 2020Q2.
*Candidates are presented by surname, in alphabetical order.