Lean Launcher

Lean Launcher programme

HKSTP Lean Launcher is a 12-week experiential learning programme (3 hours/ week) targeting scientists and researchers to help them develop entrepreneurial mindset and technology translation skills. The programme, to be delivered in the format of thematic tracks, will be led by experienced trainers, industry practitioners and mentors who are domain experts.

The curriculum is centred on the key principles of the Lean Start-up methodology and will enable participants to develop viable business models for startup formation and commercialisation stemming from fundamental discoveries in science and engineering.

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PROGRAMME FEATURES

12-week highly experiential learning programme

targeting scientists & researchers

Experienced industry practitioners as mentors and trainers

Train and develop participants’ entrepreneurial mindset and technology translation skills

Guest lectures / workshops on core subjects / topics

Key Modules

Lean Startup, Business Model Design & Hypothesis Setting

Incubation & Investment Fundraising

Market Analysis & Validation Process

Pitch Deck & Business Plan

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

IP/ Technology Licensing

Customer Discovery & Interview Skills

Programme Timeline

Pre-programme

Briefing Session

Team Application

Participating team submit an expression of interest with preliminary project information

Meet Our Trainers and Mentors

Organisers meet with individual applicant teams

Lean Launcher Programme

Pitching Day & Graduation

MEET OUR TRAINERS AND MENTORS

Chief Trainer Prof. Poh Kam Wong

Professor, Strategy & Policy Dept, NUS Business School

Track Trainer
Mr. Albert Au

Founder, acesobee limited

Track Trainer
Ms. Marina Chan

Senior Director and Head of Education, MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node

Track Trainer
Ms. Yina Chan

Principal, Saltagen Ventures

Track Trainer
Mr. Michael Tsui

Chairman, Deltason Medical Limited

Mentor
Mr. Alex Cheng

Co-Founder / General Partner, Ooosh Tech Lab

Mentor
Mr. Raymond Chow

Director, Marketing & Strategy Asia, Merit Medical Asia Co. Ltd

Mentor
Mr. Tom Chui

Founder and Director, Inclusive Impact

Mentor
Dr. Leon Lam

Senior Vice President of Asia and Vice President of Asia Pacific Strategy, Merit Medical Systems, Inc.

Mentor
Dr. Patrick Lam

Vice President, Listing Division (Biotech and Medical Gatekeeper), Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited

Mentor
Dr. Simon Law

Assistant General Manager (Innovation), Sino Group

Mentor
Mr. Stephen Lee

Head of Innovation Medicine Business Unit, Commercial Excellence & Access, Merck Healthcare

Mentor
Mr. Eric Leung

Founder and General Manager, Vee Care Asia Limited

Mentor
Dr. David Li

Director, Great Bonus Development Limited

Mentor
Mr. Leo Lo

Founder & Managing Director, EuroMed Technologies Co. Ltd.

Mentor
Ir. Dr. Jacky Ng

Principal Engineer, FUJIFILM Business Innovation Hong Kong Limited

Mentor
Prof. Dicky Shek

Vice President, GBA Business School

Mentor
Mr. KY Tan

Director, Business Development, Asia Pacific, Brainlab

Mentor
Mr. Mingles Tsoi

CXO, ParticleX

Mentor
Mr. Alvin Wong

Owner, Central Project Development Ltd

Mentor
Dr. Alwin Wong

Board Member, Alliance of Technology Transfer Professionals

Mentor
Mr. Phil Woo

Co-founder and Product Director, PREN

Mentor
Mr. Michael Yung

Strategic Advisor, Google Cloud

Project Showcase

In the order of cohorts and teams

TIMELINE

14 March 2022
Talent application opens

24 April 2022
Talent application closes

Early May to Late July 2022
Assessments and interviews

Late July 2022 Programme starts for 1st batch
Early September 2022 Programme starts for 2nd Batch

week
HKSTP Internship and
2-week Innovation Training

• HKSTP innovation challenge
• HKSTP project experience
• Innovation and leadership training
• Executive shadowing and career guidance

months
Full-time R&D role
at Partner Company

• On-the-job R&D training and mentoring
• Soft skills training
• Career guidance
• Networking opportunities

TESTIMONIALS

Prof. Benjamin Thompson
Centre CEO, CEVR

Within the Centre for Eye & Vision Research, our main goal is preserve and restore healthy vision. To achieve that goal, we need to be able to translate the research into real world, and The Lean Launcher Programme can provide the tools to make that transition.

Prof. Benjamin Thompson
Centre CEO, CEVR

Dr. Michael Chan
Principal Investigator, C2i

The trainers and mentors provided a lot of information on how to start up a new company, and this was actually very important to us because we had no idea on how to do that. If we didn’t have this programme to provide us with all this information, we would have to spend much more time to achieve this.

Dr. Michael Chan
Principal Investigator, C2i

Mr. Stephen Lee
Mentor of Cohort I Team 9 from Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health (D²4H)

I appreciate the design of the programme and the bi-weekly team presentation. The frequency of reporting back helps the team develop a sense of urgency to interview different stakeholders and make adjustments accordingly.

Mr. Stephen Lee
Mentor of Cohort I Team 9 from Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health (D²4H)

Mr. Leo Lo
Mentor of Cohort I Team 3 from Centre for Immunology & Infection Limited (C2i)

This programme provides a very good mix of having lectures and also the validation process. By attending the lectures, most of the participants can have a very solid foundation on the concept of how to validate their hypotheses.

Mr. Leo Lo
Mentor of Cohort I Team 3 from Centre for Immunology & Infection Limited (C2i)

Dr. Hoi Lam Li
Team Lead of Cohort I Team 5 from Centre for Eye and Vision Research (CEVR)

The HKSTP Lean Launcher Programme gives us a bit of lectures on the thinking pathways from the ideas to how to get our product into the market. It helps us identify our target customers and also the end-users.

Dr. Hoi Lam Li
Team Lead of Cohort I Team 5 from Centre for Eye and Vision Research (CEVR)

Dr. Kenrie Hui
Participant of Cohort I Team 3 from Centre for Immunology & Infection (C2i)

Lean Launcher not only gives us the knowledge or the theories behind how we are looking at our product or setting up a company, it also really helps us to tackle all these technical issues.

Dr. Kenrie Hui
Participant of Cohort I Team 3 from Centre for Immunology & Infection (C2i)

Mr. Tom Chui
Mentor of Cohort II Team 6 from Centre For Intelligent Multidimensional Data Analysis Limited (CIMDA)

This program provided all participants with fundamental elements and strategies for merging innovation and commercialisation, ultimately enhancing and refreshing their skills and knowledge. A team of highly competent mentors and trainers with extensive industry expertise is the secret bonus ingredient and formula for success, which is exceedingly difficult to replicate and organise for other programme providers in the market.”

Mr. Tom Chui
Mentor of Cohort II Team 6 from Centre For Intelligent Multidimensional Data Analysis Limited (CIMDA)

Mr. KY Tan
Mentor of Cohort II Team 15 from Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence in Design (AiDLab)

The key tenet of Lean Launcher is de-risking any entrepreneurial pursuit in technology translation. The program is designed to inculcate entrepreneurial mindset and imbue real world feedback from the market and industry to the participants, enabling them to focus, refine or pivot, as the case maybe, their endeavour. As a mentor, the satisfaction is derived from a sense of civic duty to advance Hong Kong as both the innovation and commercialization hubs.

Mr. KY Tan
Mentor of Cohort II Team 15 from Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence in Design (AiDLab)

Ms. Kathy Lee
Participant of Cohort II Team 1 from Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence in Design (AiDLab)

I learnt to understand customers’ need and provide a suitable product for them. Apart from technology, I need to consider the packaging, format and UI design. I have learnt a lot on technology translation, including VPC, BMC, licensing, etc. as well as pitching.

Ms. Kathy Lee
Participant of Cohort II Team 1 from Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence in Design (AiDLab)

Mr. Gilbert Cheng
Participant of Cohort II Team 9 from Hong Kong Industrial Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (FLAIR)

This programme helps me understand that customer consideration is necessary during product design, and doing interviews is one of the best ways of gathering customer’s thought.

Mr. Gilbert Cheng
Participant of Cohort II Team 9 from Hong Kong Industrial Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (FLAIR)

Our mentor provided many ideas, like how to transform our technology into different form. He also gave us direction in how to change our target customer and how to package our products.

Participant of Cohort II

Weekly presentation session is very useful and interesting. Other participating teams and their mentors who are experienced businessmen or domain experts can provide lots of useful insight and feedback.

Participant of Cohort II

OUR PARTNER COMPANIES

The talents are highly self-motivated and have good attitude, they can grow fast with more industry knowledge and experience in the future.

SenseTime
Partner Company

TLT is a good match for our technology development, the talents are proactive about their projects and we are satisfied with their performance.

UMEC
Partner Company

As a FinTech company in an emerging industry, we found it particularly hard to find experienced and creative talents in Hong Kong. TLT trainees are extremely passionate with great potential and autonomy and have injected new ideas and forces into the company.

Intact Financial (HK) Limited
Partner Company

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• Part A: About HKSTP Lean Launcher

• Part B: Entry Requirements & Team Composition

• Part C: Application & Attendance

Part A: About HKSTP Lean Launcher

What is HKSTP Lean Launcher? How is it different from other entrepreneurship training?

Originated from a similar programme in the US, HKSTP Lean Launcher aims to turn scientific research into business with a curriculum structured based on lean startup methodology and tailored for supporting business model development, market exploration and commercialisation of research and innovation.

Why HKSTP Lean Launcher? How can I benefit from the Programme?

HKSTP Lean Launcher helps participating teams explore target markets and customer segments in order to define their business models and achieve product / technology market fit before committing any serious resources. Through this Programme, participating teams can de-risk their startup process, and also gain access to a wealth of industry networks and resources from HKSTP to support the commercialisation and their research and innovation ventures.

Who is teaching in the Programme ?

The programme’s instructors, trainers and mentors are all academia-industry practitioners. From time to time, we will engage suitable industry experts to join the teaching team. You may refer to the list of trainers and mentors here. In addition, experienced entrepreneurs will also be invited as guest speakers to share their stories and insights with the participants.

How can I be connected with industry mentors?

We will recruit mentors from industry who are practitioners / experts in related industry domains, investors or from university technology transfer offices. Each participating team will be paired with an industry mentor with relevant background and experience in the sector which the team is targeting for their commercialisation. In addition to the team’s assigned mentor, participants will also be able to seek advice from the pool of mentors in this Programme to gain further insights from different experts.

Will I need to disclose confidential information of my research in the Programme?

No. While you should have a research / innovation project for the Programme, we do not expect you to disclose any detail or confidential information about your research / innovation. You just need to elaborate on how your technology works and the core technology edge of your research / innovation.

What is the expected time commitment for this Programme?

We look for teams’ active participation and commitment so that they can get the most out of the Programme. Timing-wise, teams should expect to spend at least 3 hours per week to attend the Programme sessions and to conduct market research / explorations.

Is there any further support from HKSTP during and after the Programme?

Absolutely. In addition to the HKSTP Lean Launcher, we will bridge you to other HKSTP resources (e.g. business / industry networking, online training / learning, funding and incubation, etc.) that shall be made available to you. We shall connect and fast-track the participating teams to HKSTP Ideation Programme at the end of the HKSTP Lean Launcher so that the teams can pitch for up to HK$100,000 grants and other supports to kick off their startup process.