EASE Fund and HKSTP Co-Ideation Programme support FLASS start-ups

EdUHK held the “Final Pitching of the Education and Social Entrepreneurs Fund (EASE Fund)” on 9 March to determine the six winning start-up teams for this year’s competition. The six winning teams, made up of EdUHK students, staff or alumni, and including three teams from FLASS, will receive a wide range of entrepreneurial support measures worth HK$2 million in funding in the forms of seed capital, professional guidance, training and resources, to help the entrepreneurs bring their dreams to life.

Organised by EdUHK’s Knowledge Transfer Sub-office, the competition saw a record number of 39 participating teams this year. It also features the University’s first-ever collaboration with the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) on the “Co-Ideation Programme”, in which 10 start-up teams were selected to be based at the Hong Kong Science Park. The 10 winning teams will also be provided with comprehensive entrepreneurial mentoring and advice, in addition to guidance on writing a business plan, and practical tips on how to make solid pitches and investments.

EdUHK Vice President (Research and Development) Professor Chetwyn Chan Che-hin applauded the outstanding performance of the participating teams. “The start-up teams have come up with many innovative ideas, covering a diverse range of social issues, including EdTech, mental health, arts and culture, environmental sustainability, and social services,” he said. “Not only have they demonstrated their compassion and humanistic care for such societal issues, but they have also applied an innovative way of thinking in an effort to address them.”

Project Vividize is owned by two Finnish men: Mr Felix Leminen, a student taking the Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence and Educational Technology programme at the Department of Mathematics and Information Technology (MIT), and Mr Samuli Nordberg, Chief Technical Officer of the project. It was awarded funding support from the EASE Fund and was selected to join the EdUHK-HKSTP Co-Ideation Programme. Vividize also won the Award for Best Presentation. Team MotorUp, with all three team members from MIT, and cross-faculty team New Chance Career Education were selected for the EdUHK-HKSTP Co-Ideation Programme.

“I failed the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi Level 5 (HSK5) test. The failure prompted me to think of a new way to learn Chinese characters. Instead of learning by repetition, Samuli and I believe learning Chinese characters through visual stories will be more entertaining, and will stick to the learners’ memory like glue. We then came up with the idea of creating a smartphone application for learning Chinese characters: Vividize. We are thrilled to have been selected as one of the winners. Vividize will launch soon, with versions for both the App Store and Play Store available to learners,” Felix said.

Miss Li Hiu-nam, a student of the Bachelor of Education (Honours) (Secondary) - Information and Communication Technology programme, is a member of MotorUp. She said, “The EASE Fund has given our team the opportunity to participate in the EdUHK-HKSTP Co-Ideation Programme. This is a great chance for us to learn and grow as a team. The support provided by the programme will put the launch of our final product on the fast track. I hope this challenging and exciting journey will motivate us to make more positive impacts on society.”

The product MotorUp is developing is an iPad game that integrates learning and physical exercise elements. It aims to encourage students to do more exercise through a gamified environment so as to enhance students’ motor skills and physical fitness. Throughout different chapters and levels of the game, users are required to do different exercises to beat monsters and gain rewards. “We believe that the game reward system, including tokens, gems, cards, a hall of fame and so on, can motivate students to exercise and maintain their health,” Hiu-nam said.

The project team behind New Chance Career Education is composed of three student members: Mr Dong Zhaoyang from the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts (CCA), Miss Hu Yufei from the Department of Asian and Pacific Studies (APS), and Mr Chen Jinghe, a student of Master of Education programme.

Mr Dong Zhaoyang said, “Even though I had practical experience in starting a business before coming to study at EdUHK, advisors from the EASE Fund prompted me to think about different approaches, including running our start-up with a different business model. I have gained friendships, perspectives and abilities during my few months working on my project under the support of the EASE Fund. I will continue to work hard as a recipient of the Co-Ideation Programme to make this project even better.”

The New Chance Career Education project aims to help secondary school students, especially students from mainland China, in discovering what they are really interested in for their university studies before they choose their major. “By providing students with Professional Experience Courses which use a course kit with online guidance, students and schools will find it more convenient, cost-effective, and specific to their needs than similar traditional courses for interest identification,” Zhaoyang said.

Miss Hu Yufei, another member of the New Chance Career Education project, said: “The key product of our project is a course kit containing a career manual, handcrafting materials, a student self-evaluation form, and online learning resources. There is a lack of career education for middle school students in mainland China. Our project would fill this gap. It will also help students to gain a clearer view about their future careers, and help them plan their future career path.”

Miss Hu Yufei said her team is very grateful for the support and guidance they received from the EASE Fund. “They have provided valuable feedback and resources that have helped us refine our project and prepare us for the final pitch. More importantly, it has given us the confidence and motivation to continue pursuing our social mission and to influence our society positively,” she said.

Established in 2018, the EASE Fund provides seed funding to students, staff and alumni to nurture entrepreneurship as a means of transferring knowledge for the betterment of society. The fund has supported a wide range of projects covering education technology, education innovation, social innovation, and more.

Teams with FLASS students as members: