FAQ

The City Innovation and Technology (I&T) Grand Challenge (“The Grand Challenge”) is an I&T competition that invites the participation of anyone from primary students, secondary students and tertiary students, to start-ups, research teams, entrepreneurs, the general public and people from outside of Hong Kong. Participants will submit solutions to solve two challenges that affect Hongkongers’ everyday lives, namely I&T for Nature (Yama) and I&T for Community (Community Wellness) . For people who enjoy tackling big picture issues, discovering creative solutions and moving the city forward into the future, the Grand Challenge is the perfect place to put creativity and innovative skills to the test. 

Submitted solutions will be assessed based on criteria including user & community benefits, technology innovativeness & uniqueness, feasibility of prototyping & trials, team’s capability & entrepreneurship  (Please refer to Terms and Conditions for details). Winners will have the chance to receive mentorship and shadow startups and advisors. Selected solutions may even be productised, featured in exhibitions and roadshows, and enter incubation programmes. The Grand Challenge will also organise a series of workshops, seminars and activities to promote I&T amongst a broader audience besides the participants.

Both Open Group and University/Tertiary Institute Group are open for international participation. For Secondary School Group and Primary School Group, participants must be attending any secondary or primary school registered in Hong Kong throughout the entire event period.

Yes. We accept participation from all walks of life. All students enrolling in full-time, half-day, part-time or evening courses are eligible to take part in the Grand Challenge. Part-time students aged 18 or above are advised to participate in the Open Group.

As long as all the requirements in your selected group(s) have been fulfilled, you are eligible to participate.

Participants can submit idea(s) as an individual or a team of up to 5 persons.

For Open Group and University/Tertiary Group, the team representative is allowed to change team member composition BEFORE submission. All team members are required to sign a declaration that they duly authorise the team representative to act on their behalf in relation to the Grand Challenge Application submission and agree to be bound by all actions taken by the team representative in relation to the Grand Challenge. 

The submission is considered qualified ONLY when all required information and documents are correctly included in the submission, including necessary declaration and consent forms from team members etc. Any incomplete or inconsistent information or documents may result in disqualification without further notice. 

As long as the idea in each submission are different, there is no limitation on the number of idea submissions each participant or team can submit.

There is no limitation on the number of teams you join. However, each participant can only participate in any ONE of the groups.

No, identical submissions will not be accepted.

No further modification will be allowed once submitted the submission forms.

Yes, we understand some solutions can be applied to multiple competitions and it is acceptable to submit the same ideas to the Grand Challenge.

If submissions (the proposals, products and/or ideas themselves) are PRESENTLY receiving any DIRECT financial support from any subvented organisations/institutions of the Government, participants will be required to submit supplemental information on the funding received and its details and scopes related to prototyping and trial at a later stage to explain whether there is any considerable difference in terms of the funding scope. In principle, identical submissions should not be doubly funded by the Government.

Besides, participation is accepted if the recipient of financial support is the company / start-up but is not the Competing Project. In other words, company / start-up under HKSTP Programmes such as Ideation, Incubation or Cyberport Programmes such as Micro Fund, Incubation etc. are welcome to participate.

For further details, please refer to T&C Section 3. Submission.

Projects or ideas that are presently receiving any direct financial support from any Government department or Government quangos shall not be eligible to participate as this would potentially result in the Government double funding the projects or ideas. However, project or ideas developed by staff of the Government departments or Government quangos with their personal resources and time are welcome to participate.

For further details, please refer to T&C Section 3. Submission.

Any solution is eligible to be included in the submission if the solution addresses at least one of the Grand Challenge’s sub-themes, and is either:
(a) based on a new and innovative technology in the concept or development stage; or 
(b) an innovative application of existing / mature technology.

Applications must comply with the specified formats and word limits. The Organiser and/or the Organising Partner reserves the right to exercise its discretion for assessment.

NO, Secondary School Group and Primary School Group participants can submit ideas through submission form directly. Account registration is ONLY required for Open Group and University/Tertiary Institute Group participants.

Please refer to “The Theme” page on Grand Challenge official website for detail description of Sub-themes and Scopes included in the competition. Ideas fall outside of the scopes will be disqualified.

Same idea can only be submitted once under 1 sub-theme. 

Each participant can only participate in any one of the Groups. Each email address can only be registered for one account under one group. Please ensure you have registered for your preferred group as it cannot be amended after registration. 

A confirmation email will be sent to the email address you provided after you have submitted the registration form.

Upon successful registration, a confirmation email will be sent to participants’ mailbox automatically. Your email provider may have mistakenly filtered our messages to your spam or junk folder; thus, you should check your spam or junk folder as well. If the confirmation email is not found, please contact us by email at enquiry.hkcitygc@hkstp.org

Each team can nominate ONE team member as representative to register an account, other member information will be input in team member(s) section in the submission form with email contacts for related consent and application confirmation use.

After registered an account, you can submit your ideas any time before the deadline.

All documents should be uploaded via the participant’s dashboard of the Grand Challenge website before the deadline.

Any participant under eighteen (18) years old must have the consent of his or her parent, legal guardian, or teacher to agree to his or her participation in the Grand Challenge. A consent form needs to be downloaded and filled out to complete the registration process.

You can email to admin@citytechgc.hk for any change or enquiry.

For Open Group or University/Tertiary Institute Group, please download “Declaration Form for Team Representative and Team Member(s)”, “Consent Form for Participants under 18 years old”.

For Secondary School Group or Primary School Group, please download “School Group Consent Form for Participants under 18 years old”.