Ten innovative Hong Kong startups have advanced to the five-month mentorship phase of the Empowering Young Entrepreneurs Program (EYE Program).
The program, being run by Google and CUHK's Center for Entrepreneurship, aims to transform Hong Kong's startup ecosystem and encourage creativity and mobile technology entrepreneurship among the city's youth. It is based on the theme of living in the mobile-first world.
Startups selected to proceed to the mentoship phase include Sam the Local, developers of an app designed to connect visitors to locals for interest-based outings, and Clozetto, which creates mini-blog mobile apps for online shoppers.
Also on the list are music creation tool developers MyPlayback.co, peer-to-peer car sharing platform Carshare.hk, reporter info-finding app developer HelloReporter and Sesame, designer of an app to turn smartphones into personal language tutors.
Personalized watch developers EONIQ, mobile shop front designing platform Boutir, anti device loss app R-Guardian and 3D interior decoration visualization tool Studio-R round out the list.
The teams will head to Taiwan in October to connect with startups, accelerators and investors and look for potential collaborations.
“In Hong Kong, mobile first is very much a reality, and there’s a new trend emerging – mobile only,” Google Hong Kong managing director Dominic Allon commented.
“But simply acknowledging this fact isn’t enough. Startups need to take this opportunity to be creative with mobile technology and make a difference to Hongkongers lives - and we’ve found ten that are doing just that.”
“The EYE Program offers young Hong Kong entrepreneurs opportunities to test out their business ideas and connect with various stakeholder groups. We’re now one step closer to our goal and continue to provide Hong Kong with creative ideas and talent,” added professor Kevin Au, director of the CUHK Center for Entrepreneurship.