From October 20 to 22, along the banks of Shanghai's Huangpu River, the 2026 Sustainable Global Leaders Conference returns once again. Nobel Prize and Turing Award laureates will take the stage to discuss the future and trends of technology, while the internet-famous professor who "rescues" people from anxiety and the era of excessive competition, Macfarlane, will hold a live dialogue with Xiang Biao!
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On October 12, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology-Sino Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition (referred to as the "Entrepreneurship Competition" or the "Competition") held its 2026 final at the HKUST Clear Water Bay campus. This year's event attracted 390 teams from 24 countries and regions, setting a new record for participation scale. After multiple rounds of rigorous review, 15 outstanding teams from local and overseas institutions advanced to the final to compete for prizes worth more than HK$1 million in total as well as multiple awards.
As a platinum partner of the event, Gf Securities Co.,Ltd. (000776) supported the HKUST Hong Kong regional competition for the tenth consecutive year and, for the eighth consecutive year, sponsored the "GF Securities Innovation Award." HKUST President Professor Nancy Ip (fifth from right), GF Investments (Hong Kong) Executive Director Li Yongchun (fourth from left), and other guests took a group photo.
Zeng Chao, CEO of GF Holdings (Hong Kong), said: "Gf Securities Co.,Ltd. (000776) has once again joined hands with HKUST to witness the wonderful moment of the 16th edition of the Competition. Under the tide of the times, emerging young people are reshaping the new business landscape of countless industries with keen insight and decisive action. Gf Securities Co.,Ltd. (000776) will continue to be a fellow traveler and enabler on the path of innovation, relying on a complete financial services matrix to help young entrepreneurs cross the gap in an all-round way."
This edition of the Competition added the "Transformative Artificial Intelligence Award," the "Next-Generation Biotechnology Award," and the "Social Impact Award," while retaining the "Sustainable Development Impact Award" to encourage participants to respond to real social issues with innovative technology. Finalist teams had to present innovative business plans to a judging panel composed of venture capital fund representatives, industry leaders, and academic experts. Supporting the event were a series of empowerment activities such as artificial intelligence workshops, pitch skills training, investor matching exchanges, and entrepreneurship mentor guidance programs, helping young entrepreneurs refine their business plans and improve their presentation abilities. Running alongside the final was the HKUST InnoBay 1M PLUS program, with "Smart City" as its first theme. By identifying real application scenarios, linking industrial partners, and advancing proof-of-concept implementation, it helped high-quality innovative solutions expand market space.
This year's "GF Securities Innovation Award" was won by the team from Refined Motor Company. The team is Hong Kong's first operator with full qualification certification to provide road-legal electric retrofit services for classic vehicles and light commercial vehicles. It offers solutions to the pain point of aftermarket electric retrofits that are uncertified, do not comply with Hong Kong transport regulations, and carry safety risks, while promoting sustainable electrification in the transportation sector and reducing the industry's carbon footprint. Compared with scrapping fuel vehicles and manufacturing entirely new electric vehicles, electrifying the existing vehicle stock can reduce carbon emissions by about 60%, while also reducing resource consumption caused by the mining of automotive raw materials and large-scale production.
Li Yongchun, Executive Director of GF Investments (Hong Kong), presented the award to the winning team of the "GF Innovation Award." Gf Securities Co.,Ltd. (000776) has always taken it as its responsibility to serve the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and enhance regional financial competitiveness, helping young people based in Hong Kong with an international perspective to carry out entrepreneurial practice. Since 2017, the company has continuously supported the HKUST Hong Kong regional entrepreneurship competition, donating more than RMB 1 million in total, fully supporting young entrepreneurs in realizing their entrepreneurial dreams.
In addition to the HKUST Entrepreneurship Competition, Gf Securities Co.,Ltd. (000776) has long been deeply engaged in supporting youth innovation and entrepreneurship. Since launching the "GF Securities College Student Micro-Entrepreneurship Action" in 2015, the company has focused on technological innovation, green development, and rural revitalization. It has covered more than a thousand universities and empowered tens of thousands of college student micro-entrepreneurship projects. In 2025, the initiative focused on artificial intelligence and cutting-edge technology tracks, held two themed micro-startup camps, displayed more than 1,100 entrepreneurship projects online, and 30 high-quality micro-entrepreneurship projects received a total of RMB 1 million in support funds.
Gf Securities Co.,Ltd. (000776) gives full play to its professional financial advantages by organizing experts in investment, investment banking, research, and wealth management to serve as entrepreneurship mentors, building a full-chain innovation service system covering mentor guidance, practical training, roadshow presentations, and investment and financing connections, providing solid support for college student innovation and entrepreneurship.
The GF Securities Social Public Welfare Foundation, initiated and established in 2011 by Gf Securities Co.,Ltd. (000776) together with GF Fund, GF Futures, and GF Xinde, has been deeply engaged in public welfare for more than ten years and has implemented multiple public welfare projects with social influence. The foundation is the first in China to have a securities firm as its main initiating unit and has been rated 5A, the highest level in social organization evaluation. To date, its cumulative donations have exceeded RMB 330 million.
Looking ahead, Gf Securities Co.,Ltd. (000776) will continue to uphold the public welfare philosophy of "Gather Love, Originate from the Heart" and keep building cross-regional innovation and entrepreneurship connection platforms. The company will, as always, support young innovative forces, work with partners from all sectors to discover high-quality cutting-edge science and technology innovation projects, promote the transformation of innovative ideas into industrial value, and help the innovation ecosystem of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area achieve high-quality development.
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