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CityU and Pacific Coffee announce crossover collaboration for fostering innovative, entrepreneurial spirit in the community

13 Dec 2022

City University of Hong Kong signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Pacific Coffee to collaborate on innovation and technology development. Front row, from left: Professor Michael Yang, Vice-President (Research & Technology), CityU, and Mr Jonathan Somerville, Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Coffee; back row, from left: Professor Michael Tse, Associate Vice-President (Strategic Research), CityU; Dr Laura Lo, Associate Vice-President (Mainland Affairs & Entrepreneurship), CityU; Dr Raymond Leung Siu-hong, CityU Council Member; Mr Li Nan, Vice President, China Resources Enterprise Limited, and Director, Pacific Coffee Company Limited; Mr Zhu Lei, General Manager, Smart and Digitalization Department, China Resources Enterprise Limited, and Director, Pacific Coffee Company Limited; and Mr Terry Yip, Director, Research and Corporate Development, China Resources Enterprise Limited, and Director, Pacific Coffee Company Limited. — CityU signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Pacific Coffee to collaborate on innovation and technology development. Front row, from left: Professor Michael Yang, Vice-President (Research & Technology), CityU, and Mr Jonathan Somerville, Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Coffee; back row, from left: Professor Michael Tse, Associate Vice-President (Strategic Research), CityU; Dr Laura Lo, Associate Vice-President (Mainland Affairs & Entrepreneurship), CityU; Dr Raymond Leung Siu-hong, CityU Council Member; Mr Li Nan, Vice President, China Resources Enterprise Limited, and Director, Pacific Coffee Company Limited; Mr Zhu Lei, General Manager, Smart and Digitalization Department, China Resources Enterprise Limited, and Director, Pacific Coffee Company Limited; and Mr Terry Yip, Director, Research and Corporate Development, China Resources Enterprise Limited, and Director, Pacific Coffee Company Limited.

City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and Pacific Coffee, owned by China Resources Enterprise Limited (CRE), jointly announced on 13 December that they will collaborate on fostering an innovative entrepreneurship culture, and thus contribute to innovation and technology development throughout Hong Kong.

Pacific Coffee cafés in targeted districts throughout Hong Kong are set to become venues for networking and knowledge exchange activities for the flagship innovation and entrepreneurship programme, HK Tech 300, run by CityU.

CityU launched HK Tech 300 in March last year to encourage aspiring entrepreneurs among CityU students, alumni, research staff and general public to develop their innovative ideas into start-ups. The programme aims to create 300 start-ups in three years.

The crossover collaboration between CityU and Pacific Coffee announced today will step up efforts to foster a technological and entrepreneurial culture across communities, echoing HK Tech 300’s theme “Venture Beyond Boundaries”.

Pacific Coffee will become one of the designated venue partners under the collaboration framework for HK Tech 300’s outreach and networking activities over the following three years. By leveraging its retail network, Pacific Coffee can offer venues and corresponding support for innovative and technological activities on the programme, thereby extending the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit from the CityU campus to the community, and encouraging young people to develop their innovative ideas into start-ups.

Pacific Coffee will provide catering and free venues in some of its cafés for HK Tech 300 start-ups for discussion and knowledge exchange, which will not only support the development of innovation and technology industry, but also drive foot traffic in the stores, achieving a win-win situation.

Since its launch, more than 440 project teams have been awarded a HK$100,000 Seed Fund and over 90 start-ups have been awarded HK$1million from the Angel Fund investment for developing and validating their business models. These start-ups specialise in multiple domains, ranging from biotech and health technology, deep tech, information and communications technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and to fintech and environmental and educational technology.

CityU’s collaboration with Pacific Coffee marks another strategic cooperation with CRE. An agreement signed last October by CityU and CRE co-established a HK$100 million innovation and entrepreneurship platform for nurturing start-ups.

HK Tech 300 provides a range of support for start-up teams, including entrepreneurship training and business networking. The teams will be coached by seasoned entrepreneurs, industrialists, representatives from chambers of commerce and professionals through a mentorship scheme. CityU has also set up co-working space at its main campus in Kowloon Tong and in the business district in Admiralty to facilitate start-up teams’ interactions and business engagement.

Collaboration on AR game between HK Tech 300 Angel Fund Start-up and Pacific Coffee

Pacific Coffee and Radiance Tech International Limited (Radiance Tech), a HK Tech 300 Angel Fund start-up, have embarked on a joint digital marketing project with the latter’s Augmented Reality (AR) solution. Radiance Tech has developed an AR game to allow customers of Pacific Coffee to take pictures of rich animation and media content for sharing on social media, fostering online‐offline interaction, and providing customers with a brand-new catering experience.

The two companies are on the lookout for further collaboration opportunities, including the expansion of Radiance Tech’s VR Content Creation Platform. CityU is pleased to witness HK Tech 300 start-ups actively exploring opportunities with companies in different industries, enriching their entrepreneurial experience and injecting new impetus into various industries.

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