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The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)’s wholly owned subsidiary CUHK Innovation Limited (CUIL) and CUHK’s Knowledge Transfer Office co-hosted the CUHK Innovation Summit 2026 yesterday. The summit brought together university researchers, startup teams, and a global investment network, announcing seven new MoU co-investment institutional partners of CUIL, bringing the platform total to over 20 to provide CUHK startups with both capital and industry network support.

Dr Norman Chan Tak-lam, Vice-Chairman of the CUHK Council and Chairman of the CUIL Board of Directors, highlighted CUIL’s significant progress over the past year and shared a key milestone in the investment strategy. He said: “For every HK$1 invested by CUHK Innovation Limited, it attracts approximately HK$10 from co-investors in the same financing round. This 1:10 ratio reflects the market’s high recognitions of the quality and potential of CUHK-affiliated startups.” He emphasised that the platform continues to expand, building a closer investment ecosystem to help transform research outcomes into social benefits.

Professor Sham Mai-har, CUHK Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), stated that CUHK is deeply committed to advancing research translation and knowledge transfer. Its Knowledge Transfer Office and CUIL form a mutually reinforcing engine that brings CUHK’s research excellence from insight to application. Professor Sham added that this year’s summit continued to showcase the breadth of CUHK’s innovation strengths, highlighting the creativity and diversity of our research enterprise, while helping university teams identify “the right partners, resources and routes to impact”.

The new MoU co-investment partners of CUIL include Bayland Partners (Hong Kong) Company Limited, Betatron Ventures Limited, Brizan Ventures, HKC Equity Limited, Kapok Capital Limited, Vengine Limited, and Verge HealthTech Fund covering venture capital firms, venture builders and family offices.

The summit also featured two panel discussions that provided deep insights into the commercialisation journey. The researchers’ panel, themed “From Research Excellence to Real-world Impact – a Cross-faculty Dialogue on Research Commercialisation”, involved Professor Philip Chiu, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine (CU Medicine); Professor Tsang Hon-ki, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering; and Professor Song Chunshan, Dean of the Faculty of Science; and was moderated by Professor Allen Chan Kwan-chee, Associate Vice-President (Knowledge Transfer). The speakers discussed the pathways required to bridge research excellence and real-world impact.

Another panel discussion, a session themed “Investor – Investee Dialogue: from Fundraising to Partnerships: Building Alignment in Deep-tech Ventures”, featured key startup founders and investors, including Professor Liu Yun-hui, Choh-Ming Li Professor of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, and Co-founder of AIeveR Robotics Limited; and Mr Michael Xue, Director of Lenovo Capital, in the first session. The speakers shared perspectives on alignment between academic founders and institutional investors.  The second session featured Professor Owen Ko, Assistant Dean (Research), CU Medicine, and Co-founder of MEMORA Sciences; and Mr Emmanuel Hui, CEO of Pebble Accelerator, discussed the challenges in clinical translation and the importance of collaborative, non‑capital support in scaling science‑driven innovation, moderated by Ms Joyce Ng, CEO of CUIL.

Additionally, the summit also showcased 17 startups founded by CUHK professors, representing the creativity and diversity of the University’s research enterprises. Spanning from Physical Science to Engineering to Biomedical Science. Through direct interaction with inventors and founders, investors and ecosystem partners gained firsthand insight into the breadth, creativity and momentum of CUHK’s innovation ecosystem.