BOCHK Science and Technology Innovation Prize FAQs
BOCHK Science and Technology Innovation Prize FAQs
A. About the Foundation of the Prize
A-1 How was BOCHK Science and Technology Innovation Prize founded?
The BOCHK Science and Technology Innovation Prize (STIP), established by the Hong Kong Alliance of Technology and Innovation and sponsored by the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, is a non-governmental merit-based award. The Greater Bay Area Association of Academicians, Hong Kong Applied Science And Technology Research Institute Company Limited, Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, Hong Kong Productivity Council, The Hong Kong Academy of Sciences, Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong Baptist University, The Education University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, and Lingnan University are supporting organisations of STIP.
A-2 What are the purposes of STIP?
The STIP is committed to facilitate the development of science and technology innovation in Hong Kong by rewarding outstanding people and groups who have made significant contributions to the science and technology innovation in Hong Kong.
B. About BOCHK Science and Technology Innovation Prize
B-1 What are the focuses and eligible fields of STIP?
SITP established FIVE key and eligible fields, combination of “Nine Strategic Emerging Industries” of National 14th Five-Year Plan and Four Major Development Areas in which Hong Kong has advantages. They are Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Life and Health, New Materials and New Energy, Advanced Manufacturing, FinTech.
B-2 What is the value of STIP and where does the Prize fund come from?
STIP is title sponsored by The Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited with an endowment of HKD 10,000,000 for this year. That is HKD 2,000,000 for each field (pre-tax).
B-3 How can the Prize money be used?
There is no restrictions on the use of the prize money of STIP. Awardees have full discretion over the use of prize money.
B-4 Is the STIP awarding one person or a group of people? Will the Grand Prize be shared with group members if awarding the group?
Both scientists and research teams are the awarding targets of STIP. If a team is nominated, the members shall be no more than 5 people; If a team wins the Prize, the prize money will be shared by team members, and each member will receive a trophy and a certificate of honor.
B-5 Is the STIP given annually?
It’s the first year for STIP. We hope that STIP, with the support from all sectors of the society, can be an annual Prize which will be given every year.
C. Eligible Nomination
C-1 What are the nomination requirements?
(1) Awardees should support the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and hold high social morality and professional ethics.
(2) Technological innovation or scientific research work that is subject of an award should have been primarily completed in Hong Kong.
(3) The review committee has been tasked with a preference for scientific and technological innovators who are under the age of 50 before the deadline for nominations (born on or after 1st October 1972), in order to encourage young people to devote themselves to scientific and technological innovation.
(4) Those who have already won this prize will not be considered within 5 years.
C-2 Can you nominate those who are beyond the age of 50 ?
All the nominations that meet above requirements are welcome.There is a preference for scientific and technological innovators who are under the age of 50 before the deadline for nominations. Nevertheless, we attach more importance to the scientific and technological innovation nominated.
D. Nominator
D-1 What are the roles and responsibilities of a Nominator for STIP?
(1) Nominating outstanding scientific workers and research teams, whose technological innovation or scientific research work that is subject of an award should have been primarily completed in Hong Kong, in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Life and Health, New Materials and New Energy, Advanced Manufacturing and FinTech.
(2) Submitting the nomination using our nomination portal (https://stip.hk/account/nomination). In the nomination form, Nominators will be asked to provide inputs on how the nominated scientific and technological innovation fulfills the review criteria, namely transformation of scientific and technological (innovation) achievements, social and economic benefit, and value of science and technology innovation.
D-2 Who is eligible to become a Nominator? Does the nominator have to be a professor or researcher?
Anyone can be a nominator. Scientists, and entrepreneurs and senior managers from scientific and technological institutions are particularly welcome.
D-3 Can a company or institution be a nominator?
The nominator must be an individual. A company or institution cannot be the nominator.
D-4 How many people can be nominated at maximum?
A nominator can nominate up to 1 person or 1 team (team members shall not exceed 5) per year.
D-5 As a Nominator, can I nominate someone from my own organisation, or must I nominate someone from elsewhere?
Both are acceptable.
D-6 Can I self-nominate?
Self-nominations are not accepted for STIP.
D-7 What if I am a nominator and another person nominates me in parallel?
That is acceptable as long as you are not submitting your own nomination.
E. Nominee
E-1 Is it possible to nominate a person/team who has already been recognized by other awards?
Yes, and such nominations are encouraged if they meet the criteria of STIP. Prior recognition from other organizations or institutions has no bearing on the eligibility of a nomination. Please notice that STIPs eligibility and evaluation criteria are distinct from those used by other awards.
E-2 Can I nominate an organisation, an institution or a company or does it have to be an individual?
A Prize may be awarded to a group of scientists or an individual scientist. The number of recipients shall be no more than five for a group. Science is collaborative in nature, and breakthrough discoveries are frequently the result of a team’s collective efforts. As such, we have decided to honor all key contributors. We are more interested in the team of scientists who are directly engaged and contribute to the project, rather than the institution itself.
E-3 For some scientific innovations, occasionally there is more than one organisation, even involved in multiple institutions and companies. Can the nominator make an overall nomination for these people, who come from different organisations, institutions and companies?
Yes. The nominator can identify no more than five essential contributors for the scientific and technological innovation from different organisations, institutions and companies, and make an overall nomination by nominating a team.
E-4 Should I contact the nominee so that he/she will not be nominated multiple times by other people?
We value the perspectives of multiple nominators and accept a nominee nominated multiple times.
E-5 Does the nominee have to be a Hong Kong permanent resident?
No. There is no restriction on whether the nominee is a permanent resident of Hong Kong. But please note that one of the nomination requirements is that technological innovation or scientific research work that is subject of an award should have been primarily completed in Hong Kong.
F. NOMINATION PROCESS
How do I choose if my nominated research spans more than one eligible field? Can I select multiple fields?
You can select one field in which the nominee has more advantages. STIP does not accept Multiple choice for nomination fields is not acceptable for STIP.
F-2 What documents are required for the nomination?
We require personal information about the nominator(s) and nominee(s), nomination reasons (e.g. nominated scientific and technological innovation achievements, transformation of the achievements, social and economic benefit, and value of science and technology innovation), two third-party letters of recommendation, nominee’s curriculum vitae and a list of best ten pieces of work with reference linking (including but not limited to publications and patents).
F-3 What level of detail should the nomination form contain?
You can access the nomination form on our online portal. We strongly recommend that you review the nomination form before starting to prepare your nomination materials. Please note that a few questions have a word count limit or upload document limit. Nonetheless, we shall emphasize that the nomination’s most critical components are the significance of the nominated technologies/innovations and their impact.
F-4 The Online Nomination Form accepts up to 10 files of supporting documents. Does this mean we have to upload all 10 files?
In the nomination form, we allow up to 10 spots to upload the files for the supporting documents. It does not mean that nominators will have to upload all 10 files. You can skip it if you do not have any other additional documents to upload.
F-5 Who can provide the reference letters? Do the referees have to be scientists?
The reference letters shall come from two endorsers (beyond the nominator) who know the nominee’s work very well. The referees do not have to be scientists, but we hope that the recommendation letters can have a clear and credible description and evaluation of the nominee's scientific and technological achievements and its impact, which will be extremely helpful to us.
F-6 Is the nominator required to inform the nominee and have his/her consent for the nomination?
We keep the information about the nominations confidential, and encourage the nominators to keep their nominations confidential as well, on which however, we do not have a specific requirement. It is at the nominators’ discretion to contact the nominees to ask for their consent.
F-7 Once a nomination is submitted, how many years will it be kept for consideration, or does it have to be resubmitted every year？
The nomination form must be resubmitted every year during the nomination period.
F-8 Are nomination materials subject to approval by the nominator’s institution?
There is no such a specific requirement for STIP.
G. Review Process
G-1 Who will conduct the review work?
The Review Committee is the implementing agency of review for STIP. It shall be responsible for performing the review role, and selecting the final candidates for approval by the Board. The Review Committee will set up several panels according to awarding fields; and consist of experts with great academic, specialist or professional standing and high integrity.
G-2 How will the review work be implemented?
The review process consists of three phases, including pre-selection, pre-review and final review. Pre-selection shall be conducted by the Secretariat for conducting due diligence to ensure the completeness of nomination form. Pre-review shall be conducted by review panels to produce a short list. Final review shall be conducted by the Review Committee to make a decision on awardees for approval by the Board.
G-3 What are the review criteria？
We will focus on scientific and technological innovation achievements, the transformation of the achievements, and the social and economic value created.
G-4 Will nominators be contacted for clarifications during the review process?
If there is a need, we may contact the nominator.
H. Conflict of Interest & Confidentiality
H-1 Is there any guideline on identifying and managing potential conflict of interest in stakeholders?
Disclosures and Abstentions between reviewers and candidates are stated thoroughly in The Article 18 of BOCHK SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION PRIZE Charter: Members of the Review Committee are required to disclose any potential conflict of interest before conducting the review. Conflicts of interest may include but not limited to, colleagueship, teacher-student relationship, familial ties, collaboration for project or publication (within five years of the last collaboration), business partnership, rivalry, nomination, or recommendation. If any familial ties exist between the reviewers and candidates, the reviewers will abstain correspondingly. The Review Committee will decide on the specific implementation of any abstention.
Additionally, we encourage the nominator to state the relationship between him/her to the nominee in appropriate places on the nomination form, which will help us understand the reason for the nomination.
H-2 Can you make the nomination list public?
We do not make the list of nominations public. This is a standard procedure for many global prizes.
H-3 Are nominators’ identitities kept anonymous? Are nominators permitted to contact nominees to obtain additional information for the nominations?
We place a high value on confidentiality and will keep the identities of all nominators and nominees anonymous. You can contact the individual or the group of scientists you are nominating to obtain additional information.
