UM holds Innovation and Entrepreneurship Open Day

The UltiMater 2022 – UM Innovation and Entrepreneurship Open Day cum Presentation Ceremony of the Second Funding Scheme for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, was held today (17 November) at the University of Macau (UM). The event was organised by UM’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, with assistance from UM’s Research Services and Knowledge Transfer Office, Zhuhai UM Science & Technology Research Institute, and Guangdong Dazhihui Holding Group Co Ltd. The event showcased the research results of up to 30 start-up companies at UM and attracted members of higher education institutions in Macao as well as members of different sectors of the community.

In his speech, UM Rector Yonghua Song said that many of the innovation and entrepreneurship projects and industry-academia collaborative projects incubated at the university in recent years have combined the qualities of ‘maker’ and ‘geek’, both of which embrace innovation and entrepreneurship and the pursuit of excellence in science and innovation. According to him, the name of the event ‘UltiMater’ is inspired by the word ‘ultimate’ and implies ‘UM’. He expressed hope that the event would help people both inside and outside UM learn more about the latest development of industry-academia collaboration and start-up incubation at the university, create a good atmosphere of innovation and entrepreneurship, and promote the commercialisation of the results of innovation and entrepreneurship projects. 

In her speech, UM Vice Rector Xu Jian said that the University of Macau Development Foundation launched a funding scheme for innovation and entrepreneurship in 2018 to provide initial capital for start-up companies. Many start-up companies supported by the first edition of the scheme have become independent and have launched their products on the market. The second edition of the scheme provides support for 11 entrepreneurial teams at UM in various areas, including culture and creativity, materials engineering, information technology, Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment, as well as pharmaceutical development and treatment. Some of the companies have successfully matched with industry partners and their services or products have been launched on the market.

To help exhibitors explore business opportunities, a branch venue was set up in Guangzhou with the support of Guangdong Dazhihui Holdings Group Co Ltd and an online livestreaming platform was set up to simulcast different sessions of the event, including the roadshow of 11 start-up companies, the sharing of experts in four major research fields, and ‘Great Maker Salon: Risks and Opportunities – Entrepreneurial Adversity and Breakthrough’, to Beijing, as well as Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Hengqin, and other cities in the Greater Bay Area, allowing different organisations, investors, and people inside and outside the university to learn more about the latest development of industry-academia collaboration at UM. The event also aimed to help exhibitors create a platform for resource integration to promote regional economic cooperation and exchanges.

The UltiMater 2022 – UM Innovation and Entrepreneurship Open Day was sponsored by InfoMacro Information Technology Limited, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, and the Bank of China Macau Branch. With the spirit of ‘maker and geek’ in innovation and research, the event aimed to showcase the achievements of UM in industry-academia collaboration to entrepreneurs, members of different enterprises, investors, students, and members of public institutions. Three awards have been set up for this event, namely the Best Investment Potential Award, the Best Presentation Award, and the Best Exhibition Award.