Startup Weekend 2021 at LU: Gerontechnology for better living
The LU Jockey Club Gerontechnology and Smart Ageing Project (GTSA), Techstars, and various supporting organizations, including Lingnan Entrepreneurship Initiative (LEI) from Lingnan, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (HKSTP), and Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge (HKSEC) held the Startup Weekend Competition on October 8-10, 2021 with the theme "Gerontechnology for better living". Participants from various backgrounds worked together for innovative products and services and to discover more possibilities for the silver hair market.
New Gerontechnology Entrepreneurship Challenge
The hybrid mode event attracted participants from different sectors, include local students, the elderly, product designers, retirees, etc, to form teams and conceive different new technology products or services. To support participants to have directions for a comprehensive plan, eight coaches and one gerontech ambassador were invited to meet the teams and shared the practical experiences with the participants.
Discussion before final pitching session
Products from winning teams
The Best Validation Award was given to Team “Strong Kee Good Health”. They have designed an “AI Knee Revitalizer” to detect users’ leg movement, and used big data to analyze and make the most suitable product for users. Users can walk or even have vigorous exercise without the restriction of age and body.
Team “Artificial Intelligence for Life’s wisdom” received the Best Execution and Design Award. Their product is a “We Are Hear” apps to convert elders’ voice and photos into words and video respectively by AI technology. This can help transfer the wisdom and memories of elderly to the younger generations.
Final pitching session
Finally, team “I-CART” received the Best Business Model Award. Their plan is to make an elderly-friendly shopping cart recruited with AI technology, so that elders can carry, put and take away heavy belongings more easily.
New Inspirations from Gerontechnology
Ms. Zhang, Xiao-bin (Delphia), a Master student from Lingnan University, agreed that gerontechnology is a new opportunity. Hong Kong is putting much more effort than China to develop the silver hair market. However, this market has a large population and their needs should not be ignored in China as well. Besides, she appreciated the “design thinking” and “business model” parts because these inspired her to prepare more for starting up new business.
Closing speech by Prof Joshua Mok Ka-ho
Ms. Kan Wai-sze (Sylvia), a student from LingnanU Elder Academy, also discovered more possibilities in developing gerontechnology and joining the elderly job market. Also, she praised the coaches and gerontech ambassadors from different backgrounds because she can understand more about setting up new gerontech business by their practical experience in running businesses and elderly services.