FinTech 2024 FinTech 2024

FinTech Trailblazers Competition 2024

  1. A. Summary

    1  Registration and Proposal submissionBy 31 Mar 2024
    2 ScreeningEarly Apr 2024
    • Screening by the organiser per judging criteria
    • Up to 20 teams will be selected into final round
    3 AnnouncementMid of Apr 2024
    • Announcement of finalists
    4 Mentorship20 Apr 2024
    • Finalists will meet mentor(s) to seek professional advice
    5 Final CompetitionLate May 2024
    • Final competition in hybrid mode
    • Presentation by finalists
    • Results announcement

  2. Project Proposal Format Suggestion

    Proposal presentation in PDF format, with max. 20 slides (in English):
    Cover
    • Team name
    • Project name
    • One sentence description about your project idea
    Problem
    • What problem
    • Faced by who
    • In what scale
    Market Analysis
    • SWOT/ PEST
    • Competition/ substitution
    Solution
    • Product/ service description
    • Unique selling points
    Business model
    • Financial projection
    • Development plan
    • Regulatory and risk factors
    Impact
    • Measurable benefits to target beneficiaries
    • Short/ long term impact
    Team Profile
    • Team members’ academic background, passion, strengths & experiences
    Email to: fintech.trailblazers@cityu.edu.hk

  3. B. Objectives

    As a competition participant, you will be able to:

    • Develop your talents, using FinTech to create values for social and economic advancements
    • Showcase your creativity and disruptive ideas to deliver positive impacts and changes to the society
    • Broaden your network across different universities in the Greater Bay Area and to enhance teamwork and leadership skills
    • Grow and transform yourselves into creative problem-solvers, effective communicators and future leaders

  4. C. Winners’ Rewards

    • Awards with prize money (per team) include:
      • Gold Medal: HK$100,000
      • Silver Medal: HK$50,000
      • Bronze Medal: HK$30,000
      • Social Impact Award: HK$10,000 x 2
    • Networking opportunities with HSBC experts
    • Exposure in FinTech Trailblazers website and press release
    • Certificate of the award
    • ASTRI FinTech Future Leader Academy1
    • CityU HK Tech 300 Seed Fund: Green Channel Interview Entry2

  5. D. Eligibility

    • Current post-secondary students or recent graduates within 3 years from all disciplines
      Participants can participate as an individual or as a team of 2 to 6 people (at least one from GBA)
    • One participant can participate in only one team
    • Team representation: each team must nominate one representative academic institution in GBA if any of the team members are from different academic institutions.
    • One team can submit only one project
    • The project must be related to financial technology

  6. E. Judging Criteria

    a. Relevance and Impact (20%)
    1. Identifying a pain point or problem
    2. Recognising the key stakeholders and their specific concerns
    3. Evaluating the competitive landscape and providing solutions to address it
    4. Considering and managing risks, including regulatory and other various factors
    b. Originality & Market Innovation (25%)
    1. Desirability: A unique value proposition that clearly states the benefits that the target customers or beneficiaries will receive
    2. Viability: Whether the product or service could become a sustainable business, including an understanding of the costs involved and how they will be covered
    3. Feasibility: Whether the product or service can be developed considering technical, financial, and operational constraints, as well as estimated time-to-market
    c. Creativity and Applicability (20%)
    1. Creativity: In relation to the product or service itself and/or its unique or revolutionary approach to solving the problem
    2. Applicability:Effective use of financial technology to address the problem
    d. Sustainability (25%)
    1. Explanation of how the project aims to have a positive impact on the community or specific groups
    2. Assessment of both the short-term and long-term impacts, which should contribute towards a better world.
    e. Communication and Presentation Skills (10%)
    1. Demonstrating the team's passion, ambition, and vision
    2. Showcasing the team’s ability and expertise in developing the solution
    3. Ability to utilise external networks and resources
    4. Effective presentation and communication skills

  7. F. Competition Arrangements

    1. Proposal submission
      1. Competition teams should submit their proposals online, including:
        1. Presentation (suggested 15-20 slides) to introduce the project, which can demonstrate teams’ capabilities per the judging criteria
        2. All materials should be in English language
    2. Screening
      1. The screening will be processed by the organiser
      2. Qualified teams (Up to 20 teams) will be shortlisted to the final round

        Finalists of FinTech Trailblazers 2024 Competition
        TeamRepresenting
        AcePolyU
        AttofundCityUHK
        AXHKUST
        BayGuardiansMacau University of Science and Technology
        Bridge ImpactEdUHK
        Cerebras SystemCityUHK
        EaseiptCityUHK
        EdgeSkyCityUHK
        esg cityuerCityUHK
        FinCatchCUHK
        IMHOTEPCityUHK
        Kirisame RegtechCityUHK
        LETSAPP LimitedCityU SCOPE
        LM QUANTHKUST (Guangzhou)
        MetaGreenXHKUST
        Nut.XCityUHK
        PayPilotPolyU
        Production 606CityUHK
        THEOCityUHK
        WanZai PartyMacau University of Science and Technology
    3. Mentorship for finalists
      1. Finalists will meet mentor(s) to seek professional advice
      2. Format: hybrid (face to face in CityU for local teams; online for non-local teams, subject to pandemic situation)
      3. Mentors' background: experienced business leaders and FinTech experts
    4. Final Competition
      1. Each finalist team will be given 5-10 minutes to present their ideas, followed by Q&A session by the judging panel
      2. All pitching sessions will be recorded (and/or publicly released online)
      3. Each finalist team will be given a booth to showcase their projects (tentative)
      4. Judges will evaluate finalist teams and result will be announced on the same day
      5. Final competition will be held in hybrid mode (face to face in CityU for local teams; online for non-local teams, subject to pandemic situation)
      6. Language: English

  8. G. Judges

    • Experienced business leaders & FinTech experts
    • Academic professionals

  9. H. Enquiries

    Email: fintech.trailblazers@cityu.edu.hk

Remarks

  1. ASTRI internship opportunity will be offered to max. 6 students (on individual basis not team basis), final decision subject to selection by ASTRI committee. Students will gain invaluable R&D hands-on experience in one of ASTRI’s six core areas, including Smart City, Financial Technologies, Reindustrialisation and Intelligent Manufacturing, Digital Health, Application Specific Integrated Circuits and Metaverse. They will have the chance to partner with ASTRI’s senior management and work alongside professionals to dive deep into the I&T process and technology development, participating in R&D projects that employ Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Analytics, Blockchain, Digital Asset, 5G and IoT, etc., to maximise value and impact. [details: FinTech Future Academy internship]
  2. Winners will be entitled to a Green Channel Interview Entry (conditional *) of "HK Tech 300 Seed Fund" by the City University of Hong Kong (CityU). The awardee could receive up to HK$100,000 in funding and other support from the program (details) after passing through the interview with HK Tech 300.
    The conditional offer will be: either one of the startup's founders is associated with CityU, such as student/alumni/research assistant; or the team could identify at least one CityU's intellectual property (IP) for evaluation if there is no associated founder (details).

Updated 15/4/2024