Introduction
Background
The Hong Kong ICT Awards aims at recognising and promoting outstanding information and communications technology (ICT) inventions and applications, thereby encouraging innovation and excellence among Hong Kong's ICT talent and enterprises in their constant pursuit of creative and better solutions to meet business and social needs.
The Hong Kong ICT Awards was established in 2006 with the collaborative efforts of the industry, academia and the Government. Organised by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, and led by Hong Kong ICT industry associations and professional bodies, the Awards aims at building a locally espoused and internationally acclaimed brand of ICT awards.
There are eight categories under the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2024 and 2025 respectively. For each edition, there will be one Grand Award in each category, and an "Award of the Year" will be selected from the eight Grand Awards by the Grand Judging Panel. In addition, in a bid to foster the innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI), each of the eight categories will establish a new distinguished accolade: the "Best Use of AI" award, magnifying and honouring outstanding achievements in harnessing the power of AI in respective areas.
Prizes and Benefits for Winners
The remarkable achievements of the Awards winners (Gold / Silver / Bronze) will be recognised by customers, organisations, the ICT industry practitioners and across the community. Winners will be entitled —
- to receive trophies (Gold / Silver / Bronze) of the Hong Kong ICT Awards;
- to display the official logo of the Hong Kong ICT Awards in their promotional materials;
- to participate in various promotional campaigns to publicise their achievements;
- to be supported for entering into other regional and international awards and competitions;
- to 3 months free access to Lion Rock 72 (co‐working space in InnoCentre) or co-working space in Hong Kong Science Park Incubation Centre for SMEs[1];
- to participate in investment matching activities co-organised by the Hong Kong Business Angel Network (HKBAN) and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTPC);
- to 3 months free access to Flexi Space in Cyberport Smart-Space for SMEs[2];
- to receive Green Channel Interview (conditional [3]) offer of “HK Tech 300 Seed Fund” by City University of Hong Kong (CityU). The awardee will receive up to HKD100,000 in funding and other support from the programme (https://www.cityu.edu.hk/hktech300/about-hk-tech-300/hk-tech-300-seed-fund) (For Student Innovation category, only Stream IV “Higher Education” winners are eligible) after passing through the interview; and
- to free participation in some large-scale local ICT events (e.g. InnoEX) for marketing exposure.
Remark1 – HKSTP offers 1 free seat access to Lion Rock 72 in InnoCentre or co-working space in Hong Kong Science Park Incubation Centre for 3 months (assigned by HKSTP, subject to availability) to SMEs who are HKICT Awards 2024 Gold, Silver or Bronze award winners.
Remark2 – Cyberport offers 1 free Flexi Space in Cyberport Smart-Space for 3 months to SMEs who are HKICT Awards 2024 Gold, Silver or Bronze award winners. The number of flexi-desk offered to ICT Winners is capped to 32. Given the quota, flexi-desk will be offered on a first-come-first-served basis and subject to the availability. Winner shall submit application to Cyberport for the offered flexi-desk on or before 31 Mar 2025 after the announcement of results. Any submission after the deadline will become ineligible.
Remark3 –1. Either one of the startup's founders is associated with CityU, such as a student / alumnus / research assistant; or 2. The team could identify at least one CityU’s intellectual property (IP) for evaluation if there is no associated founder: (https://www.cityu.edu.hk/hktech300/cityu-intellectual-property)
