Submission

The following competition stages and submission requirement are for Secondary & Tertiary Streams only.

Competition Stages

Innovate for Future (IFF) Competition is an open competition of innovation & technology to inspire our young people in Hong Kong to create innovative products or services for solving and improving our real-life challenges, though idea generation to prototype development. The competition may apply to local schools in Hong Kong SAR.  Students will pitch how to move human society forward with feasible innovation and products in our coaching process.

This competition is supported by our international partner, San Jose State University (SJSU) Silicon Valley Center for Global Studies (SVCGS). The final champion or winners will have opportunity to submit their projects to SJSU global program such as Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge (SVIC) Competition and Showcase.

This competition is also supported by our global technology partners and as well as other industry, exhibition, and training partners.  The final champion or winners will have opportunity to be nominated to join their industry support programs, internship programs and showcase in exhibition and sharing in technology conferences.

Registration Stage:

Tertiary Stream

  • Tertiary Stream (currently studying any full-time tertiary educational program equivalent to the Qualification Framework Level 4 or above, i.e. university degree/ higher diploma/ higher certificate programs, in Hong Kong).
  • Tertiary Stream’s team needs to assign a team leader as the contact person.  Each tertiary educational institution can register multiple teams.
  • 1-4 members per team


Secondary Stream

  • Secondary Stream (secondary school students aged between 11-17 years old in Hong Kong)
  • Secondary Stream’s team needs to include 1 coaching teacher from the same school. The coaching teacher will guide the students in the product design and production process.
  • Each team can only consist of 1 to 4 students and their teacher from the same school. Students cannot join multiple teams.
  • Each school may have maximum 3 teams, with each team having different focuses and projects.


All the school teams will be registered through our online page of IFF website. When the registration process is completed, school teams will be acknowledged by an email confirmation with a team ID.

Remark: For any team registration and project submission by VTC Youth College, there will be a dedicated assessment panel for finalist selection.

Idea Submission Stage:

Secondary and Tertiary streams need to cover the following topics in submission:

  • Defining the problem (with the IFF2025 themes) that you are solving;
  • Providing the proposed solution, including: 
    • its benefits;
    • its uniqueness;
    • any potential risks associated; and
    • how to use
    • practical prototype or else
  • A 3-minute YouTube video explaining the above ideas 
    • You are also reminded of that you should not use any unlicensed materials, including images, music, or video content, in your submission
    • All submissions will be assessed by the IFF2025 Mentoring Team. 
  • Submission for Secondary and Tertiary Streams must be in written and spoken English.  Any submission not in English may lead to mark deduction or disqualification.
  • Finalist results of Secondary and Tertiary streams include top 3 finalists, two teams of Certificate of Excellence, and five teams of Certificate of Merits.  The finalist result will be announced on our IFF website and be informed by email.

Final Stage:

Pitch & Conference Day 

  • Top 3 finalists from Each Stream will be selected to pitch and present their ideas to our judge panel in the IFF2025 Pitch cum Conference Day in the morning session.   If your teams are invited to the Pitching session, you are required to articulate your ideas, such as the defined problems and the solution details, including design concepts, any prototypes, potential benefits, product uniqueness, market feasibility, and associated risks, to our judge panel.  The pitching time for each team is 10 minutes, with 5 minutes for Q&A.  Our judges will evaluate each team’s ideas and performance for final winners.
  • Top 5 finalists from Each Stream will be invited to show up their projects to our industry guests in our Showcase section.
  • Top 10 finalists from Each Stream will be invited to join Conference session including round-table discussion, project showcase visit, and awards and certificates presentation by our guests in awards ceremony. 


Remark: The organizer reserves the rights to make final decisions regarding the revision of the competition regulations and competition arrangements.

Judging Guidelines

Idea Submission Stage

  • Innovation – 35%
  • Feasibility – 30%
  • Presentation – 10%
  • Social Impact – 15%
  • Cybersecurity Elements – 10%

Final Stage (Pitch & Conference Day)

  • Innovation – 35%
  • Implementation – 30%
  • Presentation – 10%
  • Social Impact – 15%
  • Cybersecurity Elements – 10%

Event Notice (for Secondary & Tertiary Stream only)