The team at the information technology company of a renowned local entrepreneur has been hard at work developing a virtual reality application that enables designers and their clients to walk through different versions of their home or office without having to physically move a single piece of furniture.
From the colour of the walls to the style of fixtures and fittings, the app caters to all personal tastes and design ideas.
The company has customers who are interior designers or furniture retailers. The virtual reality application brings their sketches to life. Designers in the past needed weeks to produce sketches. Now they can make designs instantly.
Up to 40% of the application was developed at Smart-Space 8 in Tsuen Wan, Cyberport’s first co-working space outside its main Pok Fu Lam campus.
Cyberport provides funding that helps to lower expenses. In addition, the firm can hold seminars here with a rental fee that is much lower than the market price.
The 20,000 sq ft space launched last year was specifically designed with young entrepreneurs in mind and provides workshops and seminars for startups.
For companies that wish to join the Smart-Space 8 community, one of its founders must be aged between 18 and 35 and the company itself should not have been in operation for longer than seven years.
Smart-Space 8 users are entitled to comprehensive entrepreneurial support and value-added services to accelerate their businesses such as the Cyberport Creative Micro Fund and Cyberport Incubation Programme.
Cyberport may be expanding beyond Pok Fu Lam, but some entrepreneurs, like the CEO of a local agriculture technology company, have opted to stay at the home campus because of the incentives available.
He noted that the business network in Cyberport is unique. There are so many start-ups who are encouraged to learn from each other.
The CEO’s company sells vegetables from an indoor farm to local supermarkets and is now exploring the overseas market. He credits the vibrant community and ecosystem at Cyberport for building up his business.
Traditional agriculture comes with a host of problems and the efficiency of Hong Kong’s agriculture industry is relatively low. This is why the firm is looking into indoor agriculture as they want to grow plants in industrial buildings.
When the CEO joined the Cyberport Incubation Programme, his firm was offered two years of rent reduction. But more importantly, space is a one-of-a-kind ecosystem where his team can brainstorm ideas and continue to innovate.
Other start-up owners share the same sentiment. CEO and founder of another local information technology company noted that as a public body, Cyberport offers a lot of support and rents are more stable. His firm has been here since they first started up. In addition, his colleagues are familiar with this environment and the atmosphere is good for innovation.
Hong Kong is a Digital Tech Innovation Hotbed
InvestHK found that Hong Kong’s start-up and FinTech ecosystem has rapidly and steeply risen in the last few years; the region’s renowned spirit of enterprise and its boundless energy create the perfect environment for starting a business, according to an earlier OpenGov Asia report.
This is supported by a strong network of incubators and accelerators, a pool of experienced angels and venture capitalists, a host of government-backed programmes and a welcoming community of start-ups, knit together by dozens of networking events, seminars and associations.
Hong Kong has several factors which draw investors and tech talent to the region; Hong Kong’s tech ecosystem is benefitted by its geographical location, its simple tax system and low tax rate, the free flow of information, and its free port status.
With Cyberport and HKSTP acting as technological hotbeds, Hong Kong is poised for continued growth and development, thereby enabling the region to achieve more of its smart city goals.