The enterprising spirit inspired by studying at the School of Engineering was on full display in the HKUST One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition in May, with engineering students and alumni winning the first three prizes and many others from the School among the 12 teams to reach the finals.

The first prize was secured by Neoid Ltd for its high-performance RFID tagging solutions. The company includes Mechanical Engineering and Electronic and Computer Engineering alumni. The first runner-up was Green ACE, comprising Mechanical Engineering PhD alumni and students. The team put forward a proposal to build energy-efficient cooling systems for buildings and industrial applications powered by solar and waste heat. The second runner-up was iTorr, made up of Mechanical Engineering PhD students. This group focused on diagnostic and treatment devices for the eye, and the production and marketing of patented products to clinical professionals.

In total, the competition attracted 89 teams made up of faculty, staff, students and alumni from the Schools of Science, Engineering and Business & Management. More than 50 leading executives, professional investors and entrepreneurial academics formed an international judging panel to select the finalists after rounds of rigorous competitions. Total awards in the competition amounted to HK$1 million.

Among other accolades for engineering students, the Student Prize went to Abacus Ltd, a cloud service provider for scientific computing problems. The company is led by an Electronic and Computer Engineering PhD student, with a Computer Science and Engineering MPhil student as the Chief Technology Officer.

The competition was supported by a number of sponsors, including the Shui On Group, Sonivy Technology Ltd, Googol Technology Ltd, DJI Innovations and WebNova Ltd.