The "Bridge" Program
The "Bridge" Program highlights our strong commitment to innovation and entrepreneurial education. It aims to develop a new generation of visionaries by turning their innovative ideas into practical prototypes. This initiative marks a significant expansion of the RBM educational program into entrepreneurship education. By integrating the core principles of the RBM education project, the "Bridge" Program enhances students' capabilities, advances their knowledge and skills, and transforms these into entrepreneurial outcomes. With our 1st cohort RBM students about to graduate, the program's launch is perfectly timed to provide essential support as they start their careers.
The "Bridge" Program provides 1-year crucial support to our graduates in the following areas:
- Providing manpower, venue, and equipment support
- Providing support for team formation
- Providing resources to solve technical problems in product development
- Offering training in business, legal, and compliance issues
The "Bridge" Program's launch this year has demonstrated significant progress in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship within the RBM community. By engaging a wide range of participants and providing comprehensive training and support, the program has successfully advanced numerous projects towards practical implementation. The involvement of industry experts and academic professionals has ensured high-quality feedback and guidance, further enhancing the potential for successful project outcomes.
Launched in April, over 100 participants have been engaged in the "Bridge" Program. These include students from the 2022 and 2023 RBM cohorts, even 2024 cohort students, current PhD students, and faculty members from the HKUST (GZ).
Furthermore, LFT provides several training activities to assist applicants to optimize their proposals, which include:
- April 25th: LFT Conducted a training session to guide interested applicants in project proposal writing and planning logic.
- May 10th: LFT organized the inaugural team exchange meeting to discuss project concepts and strategic planning.
- May 17th: LFT delivered roadshow training for teams, focusing on the program's evaluation criteria and execution standards to prepare for formal reviews.
On May 23rd and 24th, five project defense sessions were organized by LFT, inviting experts from the College of Future Technology, Office of Knowledge Transfer (OKT) and professors from relative fields to provide professional on-site feedback and guidance to applicants. After comprehensive consideration by the review committee, about 15 projects were preliminarily approved. These projects received advanced training in budget and personnel management on June 14th. Those with final approval will commence their work at LFT on July 1st.
Project Procedures &
Qualification
Guidelines
Team Eligibility
The team composition must include at least 60% of RBM students.
Team Leader Requirements
Must be an RBM graduate (either current year or within two years of graduation)
who is responsible for coordinating project progress and maintaining effective communication with LFT as the team's designated financial representative.
Application Process
- Open Enrollment Channel;
- Project Information Submission;
- Initial Material Evaluation;
- Supplementary Materials Submission;
- On-Site Evaluation & Defense;
- Announcement of Results;
- Entry into LFT.