This just in – Hong Kong gaming startup Phonejoy wins the very first “ICT Best Startup Award!”
Today’s Hong Kong ICT Awards is one clear indicator that our ecosystem is growing up. For the first time ever since the ceremony launch in 2006, the industry, academia and government backed event added the “Best ICT Startup Award” category to recognize exemplary startup companies in Hong Kong.
We spoke to Ping Wong, secretary-general of Internet Society Hong Kong (also the chairperson of the Organising Committee of the “Best ICT Startup Awards”), the leading organisers for the awards, on the topic. She said that although the startup community isn’t unanimous on the validity of an award concept, 76 startups have applied for the new category this year.
“In the startup community, there are two groups of people. One group doesn’t think awards are necessary because a successful startup isn’t judged by a group of people,” Ping said. “But the other group wants to join the awards because if they win, they’ll get exposure and connections – and that’s what the awards can give them.”
(ICT Awards 2014 Judging Panel)
Besides the new “Best ICT Startup Award” category, Ping says that the government has created a specific allocation for startups in the budget for the very first time this year. She says the catalyst for change has to do with the growth of Hong Kong’s ecosystem.
“In the past two to three years, there hasn’t been much support from the government for startups, but now we’re seeing organic growth in the community,” she said. “The government is getting involved because they want to encourage startups and innovation – and also because it’s good for the economy.”
Besides Phonejoy taking the grand award title, other Hong Kong startups also won Gold, Silver, Bronze and Certificate awards for Consumer, Business and Social categories. See below for a complete list of winners in the Best ICT Startup Awards.
Winners:
Grand Award: Phone Joy Solutions Ltd.
Consumer Market Gold: Phonejoy Solutions Ltd.
Consumer Market Silver: Muku Labs Limited
Consumer Market Bronze: Viss Me Co. Limited
Consumer Market Merit: GoGo Tech Limited
Consumer Market Merit: Blitz Global Capital Limited
Consumer Market Merit: Studio-R Co., Ltd
Business Market Gold: Service Technology Partners Limited
Business Market Silver: Avrio Solutions Company Limited
Business Market Bronze: EventXtra Limited
Business Market Merit: Sensbeat Limited
Business Market Merit: Opencart Limited
Business Market Merit: Kites Limited
Social Innovation Gold: No winner
Social Innovation Silver: dewPT Limited
Social Innovation Bronze: CardApp Limited
Social Innovation Merit: Cloudtech Group Company Limited
Social Innovation Merit: Leido Technology Limited
Judging Panel
Chief Judge: Mr. Raymond Cheng, COO for Asia Pacific of HSBC
Business Market Chief Ambassador: Felix Lam, managing director of Red Chapel Advisors
Consumer Market Chief Ambassador: Eric Yung, founder and CEO of Playnote
Social Innovation Chief Ambassador: Dominic Chan, founder and partner of Dark Horse Investment
