HKUST Annual Report 2016-17

21 science and e-learning and advanced manufacturing. Over the year under review, the Consortium received a total of six new proposals from the advanced manufacturing cluster from local universities and MIT. Three highly recommended proposals were submitted to the Innovation and Technology Commission. Six projects from the Internet of Things and data science e-learning clusters with a total ITF funding of $52 million were approved in 2016-17. HKUST established a strategic alliance with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) to enhance development cycle support for technology start-ups. Joint entrepreneurship incubation programs have been designed and are due to move forward. The University will seek to build similar relationships with other incubation and acceleration organizations and companies. Ten HKUST start-ups received funding through the Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities (TSSSU) Program in 2016-17 and increased the total number of the funded start-ups to 29. Data related to the scheme showed that among the 29 start-ups, 60% of the University’s fledgling businesses utilize HKUST technology, 60% have obtained external funding, some 80% of the start-ups now had a ready-to-roll product or prototype while 70% were engaged in incubation programs at Cyberport, HKSTP, among others. TSSSU, launched in 2014 by the Innovation and Technology Commission, provides annual funding of up to $4 million to six local universities every year to support students and faculties’ technology start-ups. Internally, HKUST offers next-stage development for start-ups through its Proof-of-Concept Fund and two new acceleration programs: The U*STAR Fund, which encourages entrepreneurial technology transfer of University technologies and research output; and the Yeung Wing Yee Entrepreneurs Fund, which supports early-stage start-ups conceived by HKUST students. Further efforts are underway to encourage more private funding support for student entrepreneurship initiatives. ENERGIZING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND COMMUNITY LINKS The soft launch of the Knowledge Transfer Hub took place in April 2017. The hub is a one-stop information platform that links up all the University’s knowledge transfer units. Its goal is to provide user-friendly access and timely updates on HKUST knowledge transfer activities and research output for industrial collaborators and the community. To promote HKUST start-ups and connect them to the investment community and potential business partnerships, Start-ups X Investors was held on campus for the first time in November 2016, and HKUST Technopreneur Outreach Day was organized in May 2017, drawing almost 500 investors, HKUST start-ups and students. Research Development