(Hong Kong, 12 April 2016) - The Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (“HKSTP”) announced today that Science Park companies have won 30 awards in seven categories at the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2016 (“the HKICT Awards”) including the Grand Award in three categories namely “Best Smart Hong Kong Award”, “Best Business Solution Award” and “Best ICT Startup Award”. In addition, HKSTP’s incubatee Holistic Technology Company Ltd. (“Holistic Technology”) took centre stage at the award presentation ceremony receiving the “Award of the Year” for its cloud-based SoldEazy platform.
Apart from the top honor, Holistic Technology’s SoldEazy also won the “Best Business Solution Grand Award” and “Best Business Solution (e-Commerce) Gold Award”. The cloud-based platform operates on the company’s proprietary “Universal Conversion Engine” that can help SMEs manage their product information, synchronising them in different marketplaces. Founder of the company and e-commerce veteran Calvin Ho said, “The awards represent the recognition SoldEazy has from the professional judges and our clients, and affirm the team’s hard work over the years. Thanks to HKSTP’s Incubation Programme, we have access to comprehensive supportive services and are able to interact with other Science Park companies, making it possible for us to hasten our research and development work. Looking ahead, we plan to speed up commercialising our R&D achievements that we may help our clients sell their products worldwide.”
Another incubatee Well Being Digital (“WBD101”), which received the Global Mobile Awards, the most prestigious recognition in the industry, from GSMA at the 2016 Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, won the “Best Smart Hong Kong Grand Award” and “Best Smart Hong Kong (Internet of Things Application) Gold Award”. Wallace Wong, its Chief Technology Officer and Cofounder, said, “We are delighted having just won an international wearable mobile technology award a few weeks ago, and now the honors at the HKICT Awards. It is proof that our research and development efforts are recognised and supported by the local technology industry and the society at large. We owe our achievement today to the Hong Kong government’s Small Entrepreneur Research Assistance Programme of the Innovation and Technology Fund which gave us the funding resources critical at the beginning of our endeavour. We are especially grateful also to HKSTP for its nurture and supportive provisions which have enabled us to accelerate turning our R&D achievements into commercially viable solutions.”
HKSTP’s partner company Metas Hong Kong Ltd. (“Metas”) also exceled in the competition winning the “Best ICT Startup Grand Award” and “Best ICT Startup (Hardware & Devices) Gold Award”. Its IO Bits intelligent electronic modules, like building blocks, inspire creativity in users and allow them to design and build their own technology prototypes. General Manager of Metas, Steven Tang, said, “HKSTP has put its full weight behind the government’s policy on developing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education and, sharing that same commitment, we are actively supporting related development. As a Science Park company, we have different technology companies as neighbours, and that has been a great help to us in developing our Internet of Things (IoT) teaching programme.”
Allen Ma, Chief Executive Officer of HKSTP, said, “HKSTP is committed to creating a world-class environment for technological R&D, plus bridging technopreneurs with investors and also providing technical, marketing and business development support to start-ups that they may turn the fruits of their R&D work into commercialised solutions and bring economic benefits to the society. At this year’s HKICT Awards, our Science Park partner companies and incubatees made us extremely proud yet again, and apart from earning awards, quite a lot of their technologies are already used by businesses and in everyday life. The innovation and technological capabilities of Hong Kong talent are certainly not to be slighted. We will continue to support the elites in the innovation and technology ecosystem, helping them develop more applications of their technologies in areas including Healthy Ageing, Smart City and Robotics, that Hong Kong may have a stronger yet foundation for building an advanced economic value chain.”
The annual ICT Awards is steered by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and organised by 10 innovative information and communications (“ICT”) industry associations and professional bodies. Its aim is to recognise and promote outstanding innovative ICT applications and solutions developed in Hong Kong.
Innovations winning the Gold Award and higher honours
Holistic Technology: “Award of the Year”, “Best Business Solution Grand Award” and “Best Business Solution (e-Commerce) Gold Award”
SoldEazy is a cloud-based platform that enables SMEs to start their e-commerce business fast and easy. Conventionally, to venture into e-commerce, a company has to build a web-store and invest considerably in search engine marketing only to see less than desirable result. The special “Universal Conversion Engine” developed by Holistic Technology can format product information to fit the different data structure of different online marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, Alibaba, etc. What SMEs need to do is to upload product information onto the SoldEazy platform and the information will be synchronized instantaneously in the different marketplaces. Today, SoldEazy is used by over 3,000 SMEs, local and in other regions, to manage over 5 million products daily, with these companies together achieved over HK$3 billion worth of product sales last year via different online platforms.
WBD101: “Best Smart Hong Kong Grand Award” and Best Smart Hong Kong (Internet of Things Application) Gold Award”
WBD101 is dedicated to the research and development of Human Internet of Things (HIoT) products. Its patented ActivHearts™ technology uses all-round multiple sensors couple with infra-red optical sensors with longer wavelengths, thus can better penetrate the human skin than green light for gathering more and in greater depth exercise-related biometric data. Just wear an ActivHearts™ incorporated device like an earphone when exercising, the user can enjoy music and at the same time check his heart rate. The company has 31 patents to its name now. And, exercise earphones using WBD101’s patented technology were launched respectively at the 2015 and 2016 CES, the world’s largest consumer electronics tradeshow, by the French technology firm Parrot SA and Muzik LLC which has the world famous social media company Twitter as a shareholder.
Metas: “Best ICT Startup Grand Award” as well as “Best ICT Startup (Hardware & Devices) Gold Award”
Metas IO Bits, the company’s core product, comprises intelligent electronic modules, basic as well as programmable. Simple circuits can easily be created with just a few of them connected together by magnets. The company also offers a series of retail fun products for children and teenagers to design and create their own technological prototypes by unleashing their imagination, and enjoy the experience of innovation in the technological realm.
Please find the “Hong Kong ICT Awards 2016” - List of Winners from HKSTP in the Appendix attached.
