HKUST's Entrepreneurship and Unicorn Ecosystem (Part 2) — Flagship Ventures, the Li Zexiang Incubation Lineage, and Supporting Mechanisms

This article continues from HKUST's Entrepreneurship and Unicorn Ecosystem (Part 1) — Entrepreneurship Center, Million-Dollar Competition, and Unicorn Day^※, offering a deeper look at the university's most recognisable spin-offs, Professor Li Zexiang's "incubation lineage," and the institutional mechanisms that sustain this ecosystem, such as the Office of Knowledge Transfer and the Redbird Innovation Fund.

# 1. Which Flagship Ventures Earned the "Unicorn" Title?

The most prominent unicorns within the HKUST ecosystem are concentrated in three domains: unmanned systems, industrial AI, and machine vision.

# 1.1 DJI

Founder: Frank Wang (Wang Tao). HKUST Connection: Frank Wang completed both his undergraduate and master's degrees (BEng + MPhil) in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at HKUST^※. During his undergraduate years, he was recommended by Prof. Li Zexiang to participate in the ABU Robocon Asia-Pacific Robot Contest, where he first began researching unmanned aerial vehicles. In 2006, while still a master's student, Wang began founding DJI, starting the company from his dormitory room at HKUST^※, with his supervisor, Prof. Li Zexiang, personally guiding the incubation process. After being registered in Shenzhen, its deep expertise in rotorcraft motion control and robotic perception technology allowed the company to quickly establish industry leadership.

Key Achievements: A global market share exceeding 70% for consumer drones^※; over 5,000 employees worldwide^※; in 2014, Frank Wang was named by Forbes as one of the "Top 10 Chinese Innovators"^※; in 2019, both Frank Wang and Li Zexiang received the IEEE Robotics and Automation Award^※ in recognition of their contribution to the commercialisation of civilian drone and aerial imaging technology. DJI also funds multiple postgraduate robotics scholarships at HKUST^※ as a way of giving back to its alma mater.

# 1.2 Googol Technology (Googoltech)

Co-founders: Prof. Li Zexiang and Prof. Ko Ping-Keung, both professors in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at HKUST. Founded: 1999^※ (some reports cite a preliminary launch in 1997, formally joining HKUST's entrepreneurship programme in 1999). Positioning: The first high-tech enterprise in the Asia-Pacific region to specialise in motion controllers and controller-based systems^※. Listing Milestone: On 15 August 2023, Googol Technology successfully listed on the ChiNext board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange^※, achieving an IPO roughly 24 years after its founding and a completed exit.

# 1.3 Yunzhou Tech

Founder: ZHANG Yunfei. HKUST Connection: ZHANG Yunfei came to HKUST to study in 2007^※, completing a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Mechanical Engineering in 2009 and a PhD in the same department in 2020. He began his research on unmanned surface vessels (USVs) during his doctoral studies, and with peer support, formally established China's first unmanned boat company in 2010^※.

Key Achievements: Won the national champion title at the China Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition in 2013^※ (the country's highest-level science and research competition); was selected as one of the "World's 100 Top Young Innovators" in 2014^※; the business has expanded to over 30 countries and regions^※, with clients spanning scientific research institutions, environmental protection, hydrology, and nuclear radiation monitoring; it participated in Antarctic scientific expeditions (with the icebreaker Xuelong) and emergency response operations, including the Tianjin port explosion and water pollution incidents in Gansu and Henan; it has reached unicorn valuation and is committed to developing an "intelligent mobile three-dimensional ocean observation system" integrating drones, unmanned boats, and submersibles.

# 1.4 SmartMore

Founded by Prof. Jiaya Jia (currently Dean of the HKUST von Neumann Institute; see Robotics and AI^※ for more details), SmartMore focuses on machine vision and AI-driven quality inspection for the industrial manufacturing sector^※. SmartMore attained unicorn valuation in under 18 months and became the first strategic partner of the Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC, wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR government) in June 2024^※.

# 1.5 APT Electronics and Other Ventures from the Unicorns HK 2021 List

APT Electronics (APT) was showcased as a representative venture at HKUST's inaugural Unicorn Day in 2023^※. It is an HKUST-affiliated company in the intelligent vision products sector, focusing on high-end industrial vision products.

According to a 2022 report by the HKUST School of Engineering^※, six of the 18 companies on the Hong Kong X Foundation's "Unicorns HK 2021" list are directly linked to faculty or alumni from the HKUST School of Engineering:

Additionally, Shenzhen Unity Drive Innovation Technology (UDI) was co-founded by Prof. LIU Ming from HKUST(Guangzhou) and Assistant Prof. WANG Lujia from HKUST(Clear Water Bay). It has won the "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area Best Innovation and Technology Award"^※, receiving the accolade alongside companies like Huawei, Xiaomi, and SenseTime.

# 2. How Did Li Zexiang's "Incubation Lineage" Take Shape?

Professor Li Zexiang is an unavoidable nexus within the HKUST unicorn ecosystem. According to an HKUST report^※, Li Zexiang has been directly involved in founding or incubating the unicorns DJI, Googol Technology, CiDi, Hai Robotics, and 4Paradigm—a rare achievement in the global academic entrepreneurship landscape for a single person to have been involved with five unicorns.

His core methodology is "research as entrepreneurship"—using the scientific research accumulated in robotics and electronic control at HKUST as a technical base, and leveraging the manufacturing supply chain resources of the Greater Bay Area to rapidly push laboratory results toward commercialisation. This "Li Zexiang school" of incubation has become a methodological template for the entire HKUST entrepreneurship ecosystem, providing a replicable model for later figures, such as Jiaya Jia founding SmartMore. This has earned Li the moniker of a "hidden godfather of entrepreneurship" in China (for his educational philosophy on robotics, see Robotics and AI^※).

# 3. What Are the Supporting Mechanisms for HKUST's Entrepreneurship Ecosystem?

HKUST's entrepreneurial ecosystem doesn't rely on the sporadic genius of star entrepreneurs; it is underpinned by a systematic support framework:

The Office of Knowledge Transfer (OKT) is responsible for coordinating patent applications, technology licensing, and startup incubation, serving as the administrative hub of the entire mechanism. HKUST's intellectual property utilisation rate exceeds 30% (on a five-year rolling basis, as of 2026)^※, a figure comparable to the world's top research universities; over five years, it has filed approximately 1,670 patent applications and secured around 700 granted patents^※. The proportion of industry-collaborative research stands at 6.2%, more than double the global average of 2.7%^※.

The Redbird Innovation Fund is a venture capital fund established by HKUST specifically for high-potential deep-tech startups. Sized at HK$500 million^※, it acts as a "systemic amplifier" for the deep-tech sector, providing direct capital support from seed to growth stages. In addition, HKUST is actively planning to establish "InnoBay" and an on-campus deep-tech incubator.

The government matching scheme (TSSSU) is a vital source of external funding. HKUST is the largest beneficiary of the Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities (TSSSU) since its inception in 2014, with its associated startups receiving a cumulative total of approximately HK$400 million in funding^※.

The "Million-Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition" and Unicorn Day serve as a funnel entrance for early-stage ventures and an annual review platform, as detailed in HKUST's Entrepreneurship and Unicorn Ecosystem (Part 1)^※.

# 4. How Does This Report Card Compare with Peer Universities?

Among research universities in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, it is not uncommon for some to have records of incubating unicorns, but what distinguishes HKUST is its history of just 35 years (founded in 1991). In 2022, HKUST ranked second among Chinese universities in Forbes China's "Deep tech unicorn incubation capability" ranking^※. In terms of ecosystem density, having over 1,900 active startups, more than 11 unicorns, and 22 exits is remarkable for a university with a total full-time enrolment of under 20,000 students. The number of unicorns incubated per thousand enrolled students places it in the top tier among Asia-Pacific universities. Moreover, Unicorn Day, as a formalised, institutional annual platform, provides systematic, publicly disclosed data, making this quantitative report card highly traceable and comparable.

# 5. Conclusion: The Complete Chain from "Campus Project" to "Unicorn"

Viewed side-by-side with Part 1, HKUST's entrepreneurship ecosystem forms a complete chain: the Entrepreneurship Center (est. 1999) cultivates an entrepreneurial mindset and foundational skills; the Million-Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition is a funnel entrance for early-stage projects; the incubation lineages of professors like Li Zexiang turn laboratory results into companies; the OKT, Redbird Innovation Fund, and TSSSU provide the systemic support of patents, capital, and government matching; and Unicorn Day is the annual, platformised, quantifiable stage for showcasing all these results to the outside world. Ventures like DJI, Googol Technology, Yunzhou Tech, and SmartMore are the fruit born from over three decades of this chain in continuous operation.