Judging Process

Judges

1. The Judges shall be experienced entrepreneurs, investors and academics appointed by Entrepreneurship Center.
2. The Judging Panel reserves the right to disqualify any entry that in its judgment violates the “Application & Eligibility”, “Submission Rules” of the Competition.
3. HKUST and the Judging Panel reserve the right to amend the procedure and/or the timing for the competition on one or more occasions without giving prior notice to any of the participants. HKUST and the Judging Panels reserve the right to decide that all or any of the entries or plans do not meet the judging criteria, or to defer in whole or in part all of any of the cash and/or and in -kind contribution awards to the following year.
4. The decisions of the Judging Panel are final and binding.

Judging Process

The assessment process consists of 3 rounds and the winners will be announced after the Competition.

(1) Round 1 Assessment

February 12, 2016	Deadline of Application
February 13 - February 26, 2016	Evaluation of all entries
March 4, 2016	Result Announcement of Round 1 Assessment

(2) Round 2 Assessment

March 24, 2016	Deadline of short business plan submission
March 25 - April 12, 2016	Round 2 Assessment
April 15, 2016	Result Announcement of 16 Finalist Teams

(3) Round 3 Assessment

May 22, 2016	Deadline of full business plan submission
June 1, 2016	Trade Show of 16 Finalist Teams
June 2, 2016	Elevator Pitch & Business Plan Presentation

The Round 3 Assessment is a 2-day event which will be composed of 4 parts: Trade Show, Elevator Pitch, Business Plan Presentation & Final Round Presentation.

All members of each team must attend the June 3 Trade Show & June 4 Round 3 Assessment.

Each Finalist Team is advised to plan its work distribution amongst its team members in handling the Trade Show on June 3, 2016.

Faculty members are not allowed to make the presentations on June 4 Round 3 Assessment.

Judging Process for Selection of 16 Finalist Teams

(A) Round 1 Assessment : 2-page Executive Summary

1. The core assessment of the entries will focus on the innovativeness, feasibility and viability of the proposed product.
2. All applications will be evaluated by the Chair and co-Chairs of the Competition by using the common “Executive Summary Judging Criteria”. The Chair and co-Chairs will hold a joint session where up to a maximum of 25 entries will be selected to enter the Round 2 Assessment.

(B) Round 2 Assessment : Short Business Plan

1. The core assessment of the shortlisted plans will focus on the value proposition of the product / services that the plan provides.
2. The selected entries in the Round 1 assessment will be evaluated by a Judging Panel who will use a common “Judging Criteria”. The highest scoring 16 teams will be selected as the 16 Finalist Teams of the Competition.

(C) Round 3 Assessment : Trade Show, Elevator Pitch & Full Business Plan

(i) Trade Show

1. The Trade Show is a half-day event which will take place on June 3, 2016 at HKUST campus.
2. It is open to HKUST community, public, venture capitalists, investors and angels to give score for the best trade show on site. The total scoring of this part will contribute 20% of the Business Plan Presentation result.
3. A display board and a table will be allocated to each finalist team to display its business proposals. Each team is allowed to use its display boards or digital media as needed.
4. Details of the trade show booth arrangement will be confirmed with the finalist teams after the Round 2 Assessment.

(ii) Elevator Pitch
The Elevator Pitch & Business Plan Presentation will take place on June 1, 2016 at HKUST Central Campus. The 16 Teams will first make a business pitch.

1. Each Team is required to make a 90-second elevator pitch in front of a Judging Panel of 6 Judges.
2. The Judging Panel will make their evaluations and score the teams according to a common “Elevator Pitch Judging Criteria”.
3. Elevator Pitch Winner will be decided based on scores given by the Judging Panel.

(iii) Business Plan Presentation
The 16 Teams will be divided into 2 groups of 6 teams. The full business plan should explain the practicability of the plan execution and fundability potential.

1. Each team will conduct a 15-minute, uninterrupted Business Plan presentation in English followed by up to 12 minutes of Q&A and 3 minutes of feed-back by the Judging Panel of 3 Judges. It is not compulsory for all team members to speak in the presentation. But the whole team should be there for the Q&A section, the judging panel would ask questions to specific any members of the team as per their role and expertise inside the team.
2. The Judges will make their evaluations and give their scores by using a common “Business Plan Judging Criteria”.
3. The 4 top scoring teams from each group will enter the Final Round Presentation (with Trade Show scores).

(D) Final Round Business Plan Competition

1. The final round Business Plan Presentation will be judged by a new set of judges.
2. The 8 highest scoring teams will make the Business Plan Presentations. It will follow the procedure and timing identical to the Business Plan Presentation. It is not compulsory for all team members to speak in the presentation but the whole team should be there for Q&A.
3. The Judges will adopt the common “Final Round Presentation Judging Criteria”.
4. Three winning teams and the winner of the “Best Presentation” will be decided after a joint deliberation of the Final Round Judging Panel.
5. The winner of the “Innovation Prize”, and “Student Team Prize” will be decided by the highest score after a joint deliberation of the Judging Panel.