𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏𝟎 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝟒𝐁 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 — 𝐀 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐲 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐡

Grateful to have walked through 10 years of the B4B Challenge since 2016. In many ways, that moment marked my true entry into Hong Kong’s tech and innovation ecosystem after two decades in corporate life — and my beginning at Cyberport.

It all started with a casual chat with Francois Lee, who had just returned from Shanghai. Chinese Mainland was already producing giants like Alibaba and Tencent. We asked ourselves: “𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐾𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑜? 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑝𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒?”

With valuable advice from Herbert Chia, JP, we imagined a platform that would bring together Hong Kong and Shanghai startups and youth, enabling them to tackle real pain points, understand each other’s markets, and build cross‑border innovation culture.

𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐥𝐲: 
𝐁𝟒𝐁 — 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.

Time flies. Today, we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the B4B Challenge — a meaningful journey that has nurtured countless talents, strengthened HK–Shanghai collaboration, and contributed to the growth of our data‑driven future.

My heartfelt thanks to Francois, Herbert, Candi Yeung, Dorothy Ip, and all participants, mentors, and supporting organizations — especially #DPO (formerly #OGCIO) from Allen, Victor, Tony to Daniel Cheung, and 香港貿易發展局 #HKTDC #InnoEx. Your dedication made this decade possible.

Looking forward to celebrating our 20th Anniversary together — with even bigger dreams and deeper impact for Hong Kong’s innovation ecosystem.

 

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