HKU Startups Sweep Top Three Prizes at Maker in China Hong Kong Contest

Three startups from The University of Hong Kong claimed the Champion, First Runner-up, and Second Runner-up awards at the 2026 Maker in China SME Innovation and Entrepreneurship Global Contest — Hong Kong Chapter (MiCHK), sweeping the podium in a competition that drew a record 170 local innovation projects.

All three teams will represent the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the national-level final in Guangzhou at year-end, competing against winning teams from regional chapters worldwide.

The Champion, DiamNEX Limited, was founded by Professor Chu Zhiqin, Associate Professor in HKU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. DiamNEX has developed the world's first edge-exposed exfoliation technology for fabricating flexible, ultrathin diamond wafers, reducing production costs to one-thousandth of previous levels. The technology has applications in high-power electronic devices, quantum computing, and next-generation radio-frequency systems.

First Runner-up NeuroHarbor Limited, founded by HKU alumna Dr Yazhou Zhao, has built an AI-powered platform for the diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases. Its core product, an AI EEG analysis software already integrated into clinical workflows at leading hospitals in China, reduces analysis time from several hours to under 30 minutes while supporting data privacy through local deployment.

Second Runner-up Sharpsight Limited, founded by HKU alumnus Dr Xu Zhimin, is transforming neurorehabilitation for people with stroke and other neurological conditions through its Computational Embodied Therapy platform, which combines action observation, motor imagery, multimodal sensing, and personalised training in a closed-loop approach. The platform has been adopted by healthcare and research institutions across Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

Dr Paul Wang, Director of HKU Techno-Entrepreneurship Core, said the results demonstrate the University’s commitment to translating research into real-world impact. "Within HKU's innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, the University serves as a ‘coral reef’ — offering a relatively safe and supportive environment in which early-stage innovation seeds and talent can take root and grow,” he said. “We look forward to leveraging this opportunity to accelerate connections between HKU startups and Chinese mainland investors and industry partners.”

The MiCHK is jointly organised by the Digital Policy Office of the HKSAR Government, the China Centre for Promotion of SME Development of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the China International Cooperation Association of SMEs.