StartmeupHK Festival 2020 – Ecosystem Summit | 9 July 2020 (Thu)
Developing Entrepreneurial Talent
As part of the StartmeupHK Festival 2020, The Mills Fabrica hosted the Ecosystem Summit on 9 July 2020 in collaboration with MTR and MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node. Marina Chan, Director of Education, MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node, moderated the discussion on people: finding, retaining and growing a sustainable talent pool of creative thinkers in Hong Kong. With panelists from Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks (HKSTP), DBS Bank, Esperanza and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the panel provided insights from corporates, the education sector and government. It is these different sides of the Hong Kong startup ecosystem that uplift, connect and support young entrepreneurs and sustain them in the city. Raymond Chu, Assistant Director of Institute for Entrepreneurship, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said that real education is done outside of the classroom, and the best way to learn is through practice. “The real-world battle is outside, not on the campus,” he said. This was echoed by Kosby Fu, Vice President of Innovation and Ecosystems, DBS Bank, who works closely with MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node and the Chinese University of Hong Kong to provide real business challenges for students to try and solve. The collaboration between universities and corporations will help build a sustainable talent pipeline in Hong Kong. This same approach can also be applied to attracting global talent, which adds diversity and different perspectives to the ecosystem.