Pandemic tests innovators’ mettle

While maintaining a level of standards and safety testing remains crucial, a key advantage of entrepreneurship includes being able to test and change things quickly without company politics or bureaucratic obstacles getting in the way.

Professor King Lun Yeung, from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering & Division of Environment and Sustainability at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, described how his team’s Multilevel Antimicrobial Polymers (MAP-1) could be applied in different scenarios, including in hand sanitiser, in paint to prevent mould, coating pipelines, or on concrete to prevent bacterial colonisation. MAP-1 eliminated difficult-to-kill microbes in 10 minutes or less with a higher-than-99% success rate.

He also introduced the development process from his university and team’s position: “We do a lot of our fundamental research in the laboratory. Once we have a concept that is in the development stage, we usually partner with government organisations to field test in real application settings. Then we will engage partners in the industry to do certification and product development.”

While this appears to primarily be a scientific invention, it mirrors many start-up processes – a workable product is developed and tested with early adopters or real end-users. Feedback is collected, and the product is refined.

Also speaking at the panel discussion, Prof HC Man, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, shared how his team developed a made-in-Hong Kong 3D printed face shield. In view of patent concerns, they underwent a rigorous research and development process to create a unique model with the university’s school of design. More than 20 design iterations with major design changes were made in less than two months, complete with end-user feedback.

Prof Man showed how the face shields were designed to be usable in daily professional settings so people could go about their normal lives and careers – a major concern given the economic implications of COVID-19. With photos on screen to illustrate his points, he said: “Now we try to reboot our economy, and have people working as in normal life. COVID-19 will be with us for a while and we cannot shut down the economy all the time. So how can we protect ourselves in such a situation? Take for example, on the left, you can see a beautician working with a face shield. And, for restaurants, you cannot close them all the time. So how can we maximise protection? It’s me eating noodles wearing a face shield”.

As part of the response process to Covid-19, it was clear that understanding how the pandemic changed people’s daily lives was key to developing effective solutions.

Katherine Cheung, Chief Marketing Officer, Snapask (Holdings) Inc presented insights into a platform-based solution that addressed behavioural changes in society and how quick adaptations rapidly expanded the business. Snapask provides a real-time platform for people to continue learning online outside school – by finding tutors to instantly answer questions all over Asia, as well as accessing educational content and quizzes.

Ms Cheung recalled how COVID-19 helped Snapask re-assess what it really means to learn: “In the world of online teaching, whenever you want to listen back or pause a bit to think about what’s being taught, it’s possible. But within a physical school setting it’s very hard to achieve. [The pandemic] is actually giving us an opportunity to think what the best ways are to empower students to learn, and what more we can do to help students learn in the most efficient way?”