HKICT Awards 2025: Smart Business Award

HONG KONG ICT AWARDS 2025: SMART BUSINESS AWARD

Objectives

The Hong Kong ICT Awards 2025: Smart Business Award is established for three major purposes:

Emerging technologies are now universally recognised as an essential tool to enhance productivity, competitiveness, customer services and business growth. One of the steams in this Award, Emerging Technologies, is to recognise outstanding locally developed IT products and services using emerging technologies such as: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, Big Data/Open Data, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), distributed ledgers, IoT, 3D Printing, digital twins, etc. to provide innovative solutions for their target customers.

The application of Information Technology is essential to improve the operating efficiency and productivity, quality and overall competitiveness and customer service for both our business and public sector enterprises. One of the streams in this Award, Solution for Business and Public Sector Enterprise, recognises outstanding locally developed applications which provide cost-effective and innovative IT solutions to business enterprises as well as public sector organisations. The awards encourage in-house applications developed and implemented by business and public sector organisations using the most appropriate technologies suiting the intended purposes.

The backbone of our economy is our SMEs, of which the adoption of ICT is crucial for its efficiency and productivity, and its global reach in marketing strategy and business expansion. One of the streams in this Award, Solution for SME, is to recognise outstanding achievements in technological innovations in locally developed IT products and application/services for effective use by SME.

The Hong Kong ICT (HKICT) Awards aims at recognising and promoting outstanding information and communications technology (ICT) inventions and applications, thereby encouraging innovation and excellence among Hong Kong’s ICT talent and enterprises in their constant pursuit of creative and better solutions to meet business and social needs.

The Hong Kong ICT Awards was established in 2006 with the collaborative efforts of the industry, academia and the Government. Organised by the Digital Policy Office, and led by Hong Kong ICT industry associations and professional bodies, the Awards aims at building a locally espoused and internationally acclaimed brand of ICT awards. Relevant HKICTA winners would be considered for nominations to join other international awards and competitions, such as the highly acclaimed Asia Pacific Information and Communications Technology Awards (APICTA).

There are eight categories under the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2025. There will be one Grand Award in each category, and an “Award of the Year” will be selected from the eight Grand Awards by the Grand Judging Panel. In addition, in a bid to foster the innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI), a “Best Use of AI” award winner will be selected in each of the eight categories to magnify and honour outstanding achievements in harnessing the power of AI in respective areas. HKCS is officially appointed by DPO to be the Leading Organiser of the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2025 – Smart Business Award category. The Smart Business Award covers 3 streams, including Emerging Technologies, Solution for Business and Public Sector Enterprise as well as Solution for SME.

The Leading Organiser

The Hong Kong Computer Society (HKCS) is a well-established non-profit organisation that has been striving to improve and develop Hong Kong’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry since its founding in 1970.HKCS is the first officially recognised professional association for the ICT industry in Hong Kong, dedicated to the promotion of the highest professional standards for the industry. Members hail from a broad spectrum of Hong Kong’s ICT industry, from corporations to like-minded individuals, all coming together to raise the profile of the industry.During its 55 years’ history, HKCS members have come to form the core of a wide and influential network throughout the whole spectrum of Hong Kong services and other industries. The Society offers a chance for Hong Kong’s communities to exchange ideas and to carry out a dialogue with the Government regarding ICT and its impact to the society. Being a highly active association, HKCS is regularly organising many activities to help promote ICT in Hong Kong, including conferences, seminars, forums and site visits on subjects related to ICT.

Visit HKCS Website

Prizes for Winners

The remarkable achievements of the Awards winners (Gold/Silver/Bronze) will be recognised by customers, organisations, the ICT industry practitioners and across the community. Winners will be entitled:

to receive trophies (Gold/Silver/Bronze) of the HKICTA;

to display the official logo of the HKICTA in their promotional materials;

to participate in various promotional campaigns to publicise their achievements;

to be supported for entering into other regional and international awards and competitions;

to 3 months free access to co-working space in Hong Kong Science Park Incubation Centre for eligible SMEs¹;

to participate in investment matching activities co-organised by the Hong Kong Venture Investment and Business Angel Network Limited (HKBAN) and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP);

to 3 months free access to Flexi Space in Cyberport Smart-Space for SMEs² and

to free participation in some large-scale local ICT events (e.g. InnoEX) for marketing exposure.

Grand Award winners (except Student Innovation Category) and “Higher Education” Gold Award winner(s) of Student Innovation Category will also be entitled:

to receive Green Channel Interview (conditional³) offer of “HK Tech 300 Seed Fund” by City University of Hong Kong (CityU). The awardee will receive a seed fund of up to HKD100,000 and other support from the programme after passing the interview.(https://www.cityu.edu.hk/hktech300/about-hk-tech-300/hk-tech-300-seed-fund).
Further details and conditions are available at the website:http://www.hkictawards.hk

_{¹HKSTP offers 1 free seat access to co-working space in Hong Kong Science Park Incubation Centre for 3 months (assigned by HKSTP, subject to availability) to SMEs who are HKICT Awards 2025 Gold, Silver or Bronze award winners.}

_{²Cyberport offers 1 free Flexi Space in Cyberport Smart-Space for 3 months to SMEs who are HKICT Awards 2025 Gold, Silver or Bronze award winners. The number of flexi-desk offered to the Winners is capped to 32. Given the quota, flexi-desk will be offered on a first-come-first-served basis and subject to the availability. Winner shall submit application to Cyberport for the offered flexi-desk on or before 31 March 2026 after the announcement of results. Any submission after the deadline will become ineligible.}

_{³ 1. Either one of the startup’s founders is associated with CityU, such as a student / alumnus / research assistant; or 2. The team could identify at least one CityU’s intellectual property (IP) for evaluation and development if there is no associated founder. ((https://www.cityu.edu.hk/hktech300/cityu-intellectual-property)}

Past Winners

Media Sponsors

Supporting Organisations

Share this page!

Enquiry

Miss Carol Ho [email protected]

Tel: +852 2834 2263 Fax: +852 2834 3003

Hong Kong ICT Awards 2025: Smart Business (Emerging Technologies) Award

This stream is to recognise outstanding locally developed IT products and services using emerging technologies such as: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, Big Data/Open Data, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), distributed ledgers, IoT, 3D Printing, digital twins, etc. to provide innovative solutions for their target customers.

It is mainly targeting ICT PRODUCTS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS of their solutions and services for use by business and public sector organisations.

Hong Kong ICT Awards 2025: Smart Business (Solution for Business and Public Sector Enterprise) Award

As the application of Information Technology is essential to improve the operating efficiency and productivity, quality and overall competitiveness and customer service for both our business and public sector enterprises, this stream recognises outstanding locally developed applications which provide cost-effective and innovative IT solutions to business enterprises as well as public sector organisations. The awards encourage in-house applications developed and implemented by business and public sector organisations using the most appropriate technologies suiting the intended purposes.

It is mainly targeting USER ORGANISATIONS for their solutions (applications) developed in-house.

Hong Kong ICT Awards 2025: Smart Business (Solution for SME) Award

The stream is to recognise outstanding achievements in technological innovations in locally developed IT products and application/services for effective use by SME. The backbone of our economy is our SMEs, of which the adoption of ICT is crucial for its efficiency and productivity, and its global reach in marketing strategy and business expansion.

General Eligibility Requirements

The applicant must have the intellectual property right and/or legitimate right over the ICT product/service mentioned in the application. The applicant shall disclose disputes any place over the world over intellectual property right about the applicant’s ICT product/service, if any, for the Leading Organiser to consider eligibility of the application.

The application must be submitted by locally (Hong Kong) registered entities (please enclose Company/Business Registration proof) or residents in Hong Kong⁴ at the time of closing for entry enrolment.

A significant part of the innovation, design, research and development (R&D) of the mentioned ICT product/service must come from resources in Hong Kong. The applicant should demonstrate significant value-add by the Hong Kong resources contributing to the success of the ICT product/service in the target market.

With the exception of the Student Innovation category, the submitted product/service must have been available⁵ in the market for at least 3 months or in live operation for at least 3 months at the time of closing for entry enrolment (please enclose proof – e.g. delivery note, invoice, public announcement, advertisement, internal announcement, etc.).

The same application is only allowed to be submitted to a maximum of ONE award stream among all the Categories.　Any application found to have entered into more than one award stream will be disqualified.

Winning entries of the Gold/Silver/Bronze award in previous years of the HKICT Awards can enter the Awards again only if there is significant change or enhancement in the product/service, or for a new award category.

_{⁴“Residents in Hong Kong”, in the context of HKICT Awards, include both permanent and non-permanent residents. If an entry is submitted by more than one person, at least half of the members of the group must be Hong Kong resident. For the case of Student Innovation category, certification of Hong Kong resident status can be performed through certifying student status collectively by concerned educational institution.}

_{⁵ Examples are applications and products already in the market, application systems deployed internally in a company, and mobile solutions available at App Stores. For startup companies competing for ICT Startup Award, prototypes appear only on kickstarter or similar platforms are NOT considered as available in the market.}

Rules and Regulations

Applicants are advised to be aware of the best practice and case-based experience as promulgated by the Office of Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.

Applicants are reminded that any person who, without the permission of Steering Committee of Hong Kong ICT Awards, offers an advantage to parties involved in the Awards as a reward or inducement for doing any act or showing favour in relation to the Awards commits an offence of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (Cap. 201).

To avoid conflicts of interest and the perception as such, applications for the Awards from sponsors will not be accepted.

In case of any dispute, the decision of the Leading Organiser will be final and binding on all parties concerned.

Application Procedures

Each entrant should return the completed online entry form on or before 12:00 noon, 14 July 2025.

Online Application Form Call for Entries Booklet