How might we leverage government policies and advance technologies to build a startup for the Greater Bay Area (GBA) market? 48 students from the Dual Degree Program in Technology & Management (T&M-DDP), the University of Bayreuth (UBT) in Germany and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in the USA traveled to our HKUST (Guangzhou) campus from Jan 3 to 12, 2024, competing for the best tech business idea for the GBA market.

During the 10-day competition, the students conducted field research, including visits to the headquarters of tech giants in China, namely DJI and Pony.ai, to learn about the latest technology developments. They also visited iMakerspace, an incubator to gain insights into the startup scenes in the GBA. Apart from the field experience, the students received daily coaching from Prof. Betty LIN (course instructor), Prof. Chi Ming CHAN, Mr. Daniel CHUN, and faculty of UIUC and UBT, as well as industry subject matter experts to refine their ideas. Each team presented their innovative tech startup idea for the GBA in front of our honorable judges from different industries on the final presentation day.  

While working hard on the business plan, the students and faculty had the opportunity to sightseeing in Guangzhou Downtown and Shenzhen during the trip. This not only allowed them to foster collaborative relationship with their teammates from different cultural backgrounds, but also to enhance their understanding of the latest social-economic landscape of China. 

This unique learning offered the students an immersive international culture experience, enabling them to hone their cultural competence and nurture their entrepreneurship. 

We’d like to express our sincere gratitude to Prof. Jingshen WU, Vice-President (Teaching & Learning) of HKUST (Guangzhou) and his team for the unwavering support to the IBPC!