This contest allows HKU undergraduates to present their project ideas and recruit prospective teammates. The process helps to improve students’ ability to effectively advocate an idea or proposal to a large group of audience. It also provides an opportunity and flexibility for students to form their own team and grow their community of interest and passion.
By taking part in the pitching events, students can:
- recruit prospective teammates to form student interest groups;
- link up with Faculty Supervisors and Advisors;
- improve your ability to effectively advocate an idea or proposal to a large group of audience;
- receive suggestions on areas of improvement for strengthening your soft and technical skills;
- gain support from Innovation Academy and Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing; and
- obtain a maximum of HK$100K funding support to further develop the idea.
- All HKU undergraduates are welcome to join.
- Only shortlisted proposals will be invited to join the pitching in March 25, 2026.
Students must select one of the following to be your pitching theme
1. Human–AI Collaboration
Exploring how human creativity and machine intelligence can work together, this theme focuses on how AI can enhance engineering and design by strengthening—not replacing—human ingenuity.
2. Water Sustainability
Exploring how advanced technologies support sustainable development, particularly in safeguarding water resources. This includes improving water quality, managing water‑related risks, and strengthening the resilience of water‑dependent ecosystems.
3. Design for an Aging Population
Focusing on creating inclusive, accessible, and user‑centered solutions that support the well‑being, independence, and dignity of older adults. This theme explores how thoughtful design and technologies can enhance safety, usability, and quality of life for an aging population.
- Interested students should submit the following documents via the link below:
- A one-minute video
- Cover Image
- A detailed proposal
- One-year budget plan
- Other information about your idea / proposal
- Submission deadline of proposal: March 1, 2026
- All proposals will be reviewed by an Assessment Panel and suggestions will be provided for improving the idea.
- All participants will be presented a “Certificate of Appreciation” in recognition of their participation in the activity.
- Only shortlisted proposals will be invited to pitch their idea in March 25, 2026, and will receive a Certificate of Merit.
- Potential Impact
- A clear value proposition for a clearly defined target group. Who is going to benefit from your innovation? What problem of theirs does your innovation solve? What need(s) does your innovation fulfill?
- Implementation
- A clear explanation of how you are able to solve their problem. How or why does your solution work? What enables your solution to fulfill customer needs better than anything/anyone else out there? Is the potential for the concept to grow, scale and sustain explained? Is there demonstrated product-market fit? Do you have evidence that your idea or prototype is desirable to, adopted by, or sought after by a market?
- Technology highlight
- Any technology breakthrough and edge? Its application and benefit to users? Any patent that can potentially be applied for and obtained
- Overall innovativeness
- Solves a problem in a new way: interesting, innovative, creative – clear value proposition
- Have addressed by key success factors: Clearly meet a need and identifies a target market, recognize and working on important challenges
- Is viable: sounds like it could work – technically, financially and conceptually
- Synergy with Innovation Wing
- Do the proposed ideas align with and create synergy with the Innovation Wing? Can the Innovation Wing’s venues, facilities, and expertise support and accelerate the project’s potential development?
- Only the shortlisted proposals will be invited to join the pitching in March 25, 2026.
- Each proposal will have 5 minutes to pitch his/her/their idea with up to 5 minutes for question and answer. The presentation and Q&A session will be conducted in English.
- Workshops will be organized in February 2026 to equip students with essential soft skills that are practical in pitching, as well as in academic and at workplace. Stay tuned for latest updates
| Date | Task |
|---|---|
|
Submission deadline of proposal |
By 11:59pm on March 1, 2026 (Sunday) |
|
Pitching Contest |
2:00-4:30 pm on March 25, 2026 (Wednesday) |
- A maximum of 3 proposals will be selected as winners and awarded a cash prize of HK$1,200. The winning proposals can further obtain a maximum of HK$100K funding support from the “Funding Scheme for student projects / activities by Tam Wing Fan Innovation Fund and Philomathia Foundation Innovation Fund” for development, subject to the approval by the Innovation Academy Steering Committee.
- “The Best Presenter” will be awarded a cash prize of HK$1,000.
- 6 proposals are shortlisted and they will give a 5-minute presentation and a 5-minute Q&A on March 25, 2026 (Wednesday) at Innovation Wing One, HKU
GUIDO Smart-navigation Cane with Built-in Navigation System
GUIDO is a smart assistant designed to help elderly people in Hong Kong walk more safely and easily. Since Hong Kong is aging fast with 23% now over 65, many residents are struggling with both poor vision and physical weakness.
Currently, these people face two big problems. First, GPS often stops working inside deep MTR stations or under big buildings. Second, walking is physically much harder for them. Research shows that elderly people burn 20% more energy just to walk the same distance as a younger person.
GUIDO solves this by using 3D Digital Twins, which are like accurate digital maps that work without any internet. Users can download your route ahead of time. GUIDO finds the flattest and safest one to save the user’s energy. It also uses vibrations (haptic feedback) to help them keep their balance, making sure they can get around the city with confidence.
More
What: An AI-supported platform connecting people to mental health professionals
How: Empathetic conversational intake → intelligent matching → “Notes for Your Therapist” summary → simple booking
For whom: Digitally active adults (18-55) who avoid clinical intake but engage daily with chat
Languages: Cantonese, English, Mandarin
Value: Users feel heard first; therapists receive qualified leads and reduced admin
Market: HK’s 2.5M target segment, scalable to GBA and Southeast Asia
Resture Smart Posture Pillow
Bad sleep posture affects millions of working adults and often causes neck and shoulder discomfort, yet existing pillows only provide static support. This problem is particularly acute among older adults around their 50s, whose decreased physical flexibility makes them more susceptible to posture-induced stiffness, pain, and sleep disruption.
The significance of this issue is underscored by recent data from Hong Kong. According to a recent survey by HKSH, 87% of the respondents experienced spinal pain in the past year, with neck pain (54%) and back pain (58%) being the most common. In addition, nearly half (48%) of them reported that spinal issues disrupted their sleep. The Resture Pillow is an intelligent sleep accessory designed to address this gap; it detects unhealthy neck and spine alignment during sleep and provides gentle vibration cues to alert the sleeper to adjust to a healthier position.
Unlike passive ergonomic pillows or anti-snore smart pillows, our solution focuses solely on posture correction and comfort improvement. In Year 1, we will build a functional proof-of-concept prototype, validate the posture detection algorithm with pilot users, refine physical design for comfort, and collect data to support future development and commercialisation.
This project aligns with real-life unmet needs in wellness technology and targets anyone who is experiencing sleep discomfort. With HK$100,000 funding support, we aim to complete a prototype and validation that prepares us for further product development and market commercialisation.
Silver Lining
Silver Linings 耆望 addresses a critical gap in Hong Kong’s healthy ageing journey: the lack of accessible, culturally-sensitive end-of-life planning support. Despite growing need, existing digital tools focus narrowly on medical directives, overlooking the emotional, relational, and legacy dimensions that matter most to older adults.
We empower users—from healthy elders to caregivers—to explore end-of-life wishes through a guided, reflective platform based on the validated “二人三囑” framework. An AI companion provides gentle, personalised prompts when users encounter difficult topics, creating a judgment-free space for exploration. Crucially, the AI serves as a facilitator, not a replacement for human connection—users can then bring their completed reflections to family or healthcare providers for deeper discussion.
Grounded in focus group research with Hong Kong elders and narrative therapy principles, our solution transforms a taboo topic into an empowering journey toward dignity, autonomy, and peace of mind.
The Development of an Autonomous Robotic System for Food Preparation – ICE (Intelligent Culinary Ecosystem)
ICE is an intelligent culinary ecosystem which aims to bring automation into the restaurant industry where manpower remains dominant in most applications. Quality, speed and consistency are the major challenges ICE aims to solve. Utilising pioneering machine learning algorithms and cutting-edge sensors and actuators, ICE is aimed at learning from the best chefs in the world, incorporating decades of culinary expertise, operating human tools so food tastes like it was made by a chef and not mass produced.
Vibe UI
The pitching team who receives the highest total scores in the “Structure of Pitch” and “Delivery of Pitch” wins “The Best Presenter” award.
Learn more about previous Pitching Contests
- Learn more about Pitching Event 2025
- Learn more about Pitching Event 2024
- Learn more about the Pitching Event 2023
- Learn more about the Pitching Contest for Engineering Undergraduates and InnoHub members 2022
- Learn more about the Pitching Contest for Engineering Undergraduates and InnoHub members 2021
