INTRODUCTION

To continue generating highly innovative insurance ideas, HSBC Life– in partnership with College of Business, the Department of Electrical Engineering and CityU Apps Lab of the City University of Hong Kong – is organising the second HSBC Life Insurance Innovation Competition. Last year, 39 proposals involving 169 students from 7 universities in Hong Kong were received, with the winners joining HSBC as co-op trainees in 2020.

With ‘Enabling young minds to design our future’ as the slogan of this competition, university students from any universities in Hong Kong are invited to form teams and come up with innovative life insurance products/services that could help insurers better serve customers and meet their evolving needs in this digital age, and to propose innovative ideas on how HSBC Life can enhance product innovation, improve on product/process development cycle, and ultimately increase revenue while enriching customer satisfaction.

WHY SHOULD STUDENTS JOIN?

The qualified winners will receive: an opportunity to be fast tracked for assessment for a six-month placement at HSBC Life

A total of HKD 110,000 in cash prizes sponsored by HSBC Life

Outstanding concepts will have opportunities to be developed and implemented by HSBC Life

Networking with HSBC Life’s senior management and mentoring by academia

HSBC Life HKCEO will share the macro view of the life insurance industry landscape, gaps, and new frontiers

InsurTech and technical training by academia from different universities, CityU Apps Lab; and insurance industry veterans from HSBC Life

Access to emerging knowledge in smart life insurance and sharing of business cases

HSBC Life is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited. HSBC Life is authorised and regulated by the Insurance Authority of the Hong Kong SAR to carry on long-term insurance business in the Hong Kong SAR. As one of the leading life insurers in Hong Kong, HSBC Life offers a wide range of life insurance products, including annuities, to retail and commercial customers in Hong Kong through HSBC banking channels and third party brokers. HSBC Life provides tailored solutions to meet the protection, education, retirement, managing growth and legacy planning needs of its customers.

ORGANISER

The College of Business at City University of Hong Kong is a globally oriented business school, producing innovative and impactful business knowledge, and nurturing leaders for a sustainable future, making it a key business education hub in China for the world.

CO-ORGANISERS

CityU Apps Lab founded by Department of Electronic Engineering, endorsed by UGC Community of Practice (CoP): Technology and Creativity Community, CAL empowers youngsters with cutting-edge technologies and initiatives for transforming innovative ideas into practice. We offer multi-level coding workshops to allow youngsters to learn and explore latest technologies and extend code learning to the general public. We design, deploy and develop various mobile applications that can contribute to the University, as well as society.

The Department of Economics and Finance provides solid training in both the theory and application of economics and finance. The Department aims to train graduates with cutting-edge knowledge in modern economics and finance and to provide Hong Kong with the young financial executives, economists, and business analysts it needs. The mission of the Department is to be a centre of excellence in research and teaching, using economics and finance for business as well as public sector decision-making in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and other Asia-Pacific economies.

The Department of Information Systems is a leading academic unit dedicated to student-centric learning and knowledge transfer, consistently ranked among the top five in IS around the globe. The BBA programmes (GBSM and IFMG) aim to nurture students to become global system managers and smart technology business professionals.

The Department of Electrical Engineering is crucial in designing and developing robotics and 5G in a modern world. It endeavours to bring together students, faculty and other collaborators in a multidisciplinary work environment that supports open-ended thinking in science, engineering, and entrepreneurship.

WHO CAN JOIN?

3 - 5 students per team, each student can only be registered to one team

A current full-time, non-final year undergraduate student registered at a UGC-funded university

Students can freely form teams from different universities and disciplines

EVENTS AND TRAINING TIMELINE

Training Registration

As a precaution to the COVID-19 pandemic, all the events and training workshops will be conducted online via Zoom until further notice. Zoom meeting details will be provided to students who have registered for the event 48 hours prior to the event.

1	CEO Sharing by HSBC Life - Macro view of the life insurance industry Presented by: Edward Moncreiffe \| HK Chief Executive Officer \| HSBC Life	HSBC Life	23 Sep (Wed)	5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
2	Smart life insurance and business cases Presented by: Dr. Michael Wong \| EMBA Director, College of Business \| CityU	CityU	25 Sep (Fri)	6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
3	Coding 1 – Basic Python Presented by: CityU Apps Lab	CityU	28 Sep (Mon)	7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
4	Coding 2 – Advanced Python Presented by: CityU Apps Lab	CityU	5 Oct (Mon)	7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
5	Big data and platform economy Presented by: Prof. Dongwon Lee \| Assistant Professor, Information Systems, Business School \| HKUST	HKUST	6 Oct (Tue)	6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
6	Big data, insurance and risk management Presented by: Prof. SUN Tao \| Associate Professor, Department of Finance and Insurance \| LingU	LingU	8 Oct (Thu)	3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
7	Coding 3 – Machine learning with Python Presented by: CityU Apps Lab	CityU	12 Oct (Mon)	7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
8	Deep Learning inference acceleration Presented by: Dr. Bei YU \| Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering \| CUHK	CUHK	13 Oct (Tue)	12:30 PM – 2:30 PM
9	Digital evolution Presented by: Ms. Laura Cao \| Global Head of Data & Analytics, HSBC Life & Pinnacle, Wealth and Personal Banking	HSBC Life	15 Oct (Thu)	5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
10	Coding 4 – Deep learning Python Presented by: CityU Apps Lab	CityU	19 Oct (Mon)	7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
11	Developing insurance products Presented by: Mr. K.C. Cheung \| Head of Products	HSBC Life	21 Oct (Wed)	5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
12	Prototyping tutorial Presented by: CityU Apps Lab	CityU	2 Nov (Mon)	7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
13	Online mentorship¹		27 Oct – 6 Nov	By appointment
14	InsurTank by HSBC Life²	HSBC Life	4 Nov	TBC
15	InsurTank for Top 8³	HSBC Life, CityU & other universities	Week of 11 Jan	TBC

¹ONLINE MENTORSHIP
With applied technology, mentors and students can meet online with a flexible schedule. Student teams can present their project ideas online and receive feedback and suggestions for improvement. Mentors and students can make use of the Zoom features via screen sharing and whiteboard tools. Mentor profiles, schedule and registration details will be announced in late-September.

²INSURTANK by HSBC LIFE
A mentoring event for the student teams to meet with subject experts from HSBC Life to seek for feedback and ideas on their proposals.

³INSURTANK for Top 8
The InsurTank is an interactive networking event for the Top 8 teams to meet with subject experts and the panel of judges from HSBC Life and academia to receive constructive feedback and advice for their final pitch and prototype.

Important Dates

1	Team registration and proposal submission	8 Nov (Sun) 23:59 HKT
2	Announcement of Top 8	Week of 4 Jan
3	Pitch and Award Ceremony	29 Jan (Fri)

AWARDS

Innovation Award
Champion	HKD 50,000 + conditional admission to HSBC Hong Kong Co-op programme^1,2,4
1st Runner-up	HKD 25,000 + Priority application for HSBC Hong Kong Co-op programme^1,3,4
2nd Runner-up	HKD 15,000 + Priority application for HSBC Hong Kong Co-op programme^1,3,4

Important Notes:

¹The HSBC Hong Kong Co-op Programme is for students looking for a work placement with a leading global bank. It provides opportunities to gain some hands-on experience on a six month placement. To be considered for the programme, you will need to be available to work full-time between July and December 2021, be a second or penultimate-year university student, and have the legal right to work in Hong Kong. For more details about the programme, please click here.

²Members of the Champion team will win a place on the six-month HSBC Hong Kong Co-op Programme with meeting the programme eligibility requirements, interviews as a pre-requisite.

³Students of the first and second runner-ups will be entitled to priority application status while final results will be subjected to the interview performance and availability of a suitable vacancy.

⁴Qualified winners will be required to sign an employment letter and redeem their 6-month student work placement in 2021

Merit Awards
Best Customer-centric Solutions Award	HKD 5,000
Best Sustainable Solutions Award	HKD 5,000
Best Presentation Award	HKD 5,000
Best Use of Technology Award	HKD 5,000

(Note: All prize values are calculated per winning team)

More about HSBC Life internship opportunities

¹ Members of the Champion team will be eligible to join the six-month “2021 HSBC Life Co-op trainee programme”, with meeting the programme eligibility requirements, interviews as a pre-requisite.

² Students of the Silver and Bronze teams will be entitled to priority application status while final results will be subjected to the interview performance and availability of a suitable vacancy.

³ Qualified winners will be required to sign an employment letter and redeem their 6-month trainee placement in 2021

THE INNOVATIVE INSURANCE CHALLENGE

Each team is required to develop a proposal on how HSBC Life could implement changes in their approach to the organisation, process, life insurance products and services in order to deliver stronger product innovation, reduce product development cycle time, and ultimately increase revenue and improve customer satisfaction.

Phase 1: Proposal

Proposal	Recommend an innovative plan to illustrate your concept, strategy and expected outcome of your concept. Proposal requirements: Executive Summary (max. 1 page) Problem statement Innovative plan Conclusion Appendixes
Font size	12
Words	1,500 – 2,000
Pages	Unlimited
Language	English
Format	PDF
Supporting	Tables, charts, images and references can be inserted as a part of the proposal, no need to separate out as appendix
Remark	File name should be named after your team name (i.e. whizkid_proposal)
Remark	The PDF file should be saved at a cloud storage and submitted via a shared link

Note: Only submissions that are meeting the above minimum requirements will be accepted.

Team Registration and Proposal Submission: 8 Nov 2020 (Sunday)

Phase 2: Presentation and Prototype

Only shortlisted teams are required to submit a poster and a presentation for the final pitch.

Poster	1 page A4 size poster in JPEG – Illustration of your prototype
Presentation	Output of your innovation and implementation plan with a prototype (demo)
Format	Microsoft Power Point
Slides	Unlimited
Duration	10 minutes presentation per team + 10 minutes Q&A by panel of judges
Language	English

Note: Use or reproduction of HSBC Life brand name and company logo in the project title, proposal, poster and presentation are prohibited in compliance with HSBC Life’s branding policies.

ASSESSMENT

Creativity (20)
A unique idea, solution or product that exemplifies the capacity to think in untested and innovative directions, and willingness to take intellectual risks

Customer-centricity (20)
Fulfilling current and future customer needs and assuring the best customer experience, before and after sales

Social impact (20)
Ability to create a significant impact on society and the life insurance industry that could lead to a potential change in risk management, customer protection, regulations and/or social influence in the long run

Commercialisation (20)
Demonstrated compatibility, scale, value, feasibility of a solution with the use of innovative, unique or customised ideas that can lead to significant and long-term growth in efficiency, productivity, customers and profit

Use of technology (20)
Demonstrated unique and innovative use of technology that can enhance the processes and products to a new level of user experience with fresh perspectives

Demo and presentation (20) (applicable to final pitch only)
Creative utilisation of visual materials and demonstration that can enhance your presentation, engage the audience, explain key points, and create enthusiasm.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

The personal data collected from you will be used for the competition purposes; the data collected will be kept confidential for up to 3 years; and they may be transferred to relevant parties for the purposes of the HSBC Life Insurance Innovation Competition only.
By entering the competition, you agree that all the information submitted is true and accurate, and the submitted whitepaper and presentation do not infringe any third party intellectual property rights.
All information, materials and concept submitted are wholly comprised of original work, created and owned by the student team, and has not previously been communicated to the public or submitted to other competitions in the past.
By entering the competition, you agree to grant HSBC Life a non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free and worldwide license to use, edit, translate, copy, publish or display all or part of your submission without the prior consent of the entrants. Students are prohibited to disclose, publish or submit the same project materials and concept to another competition during and after the competition without a prior written consent by HSBC Life.
Students of the three winning teams are required to sign a confirmation note to grant HSBC Life the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of their proposals.
Both HSBC Life and City University of Hong Kong will be taking photos and videos at the training workshops, pitch and award ceremony for publicity and reporting purposes. By attending these events, you agree to grant permission to HSBC Life, City University of Hong Kong and its authorized representatives to use your team details, photograph, voice, and/or other likeness for publicity and reporting purposes in all media without notice or approval.
If any disputes occur, the decision of HSBC Life shall be final.
All the expenses incurred in this Competition will be the responsibility of the student teams.
All the shortlisted teams will be required to attend the pitch presentation in person. If any team member is unable to attend the pitch and/or the award ceremony due to extenuating circumstances, the team should report it to the event organiser immediately and seek approval from the event organiser to continue the competition. Approval will be subject to the supporting documents provided. At least 90% of your team members need to be present in order to continue with the competition. All participants must attend the presentations by other teams and the award ceremony.
HSBC Life reserves the right to defer the Internship arrangement for the Champion team should there be any changes with the internship programme for the year.

Enquiries
hsbc.life@cityu.edu.hk | 3442 2137 or 3442 5428