CB hosts HSBC Life Insurance Innovation Competition
The Business Career Development team, the Department of Information Systems and the Department of Economics and Finance of the College of Business jointly organised the HSBC Life Insurance Competition on 7 January. 10 shortlisted teams formed by 47 students from various universities competed for the grand prizes under two categories namely Innovation and InsurTech.
Sponsored by HSBC Life, the first ever competition aimed to spark innovative ideas for insurance products and services, which ultimately increase customer satisfaction. Apart from cash prizes, HSBC Life also offered 10 internship opportunities to qualified winners and would consider implementing outstanding ideas from students.
Speaking at the competition, Professor Houmin Yan, Acting Dean of the College, said, “The competition offers students an interdisciplinary learning opportunity and encourages them to unleash their creativity for original discoveries. 10 years ago, smartphone was invented and it was a groundbreaking technology that has affected our daily lives since then. In this generation, we have Big Data which allows companies to offer more tailored products and services. Then what’s next? What would be the biggest innovation in the next 10 years? We are counting on you (students) to make it happen.”
Kelvin Cheung, Business Operations Management student from the College, joined his fellow members from other universities to form Team M.O., which notched up the championship for the Innovation stream. He said through a series of well-structured workshops and training, the competition provided students with comprehensive erudition about life insurance and related technologies in contemporary market.
"The competition was a valuable opportunity to learn about proposal composition, idea-pitching and division of labour. Working in a rather diversified team, the biggest challenge was cooperating with students with different backgrounds and fields of study. Effective communication and a clear manifestation of your own stance are always the keys to overcome the challenge," Kelvin added.
Another team formed by five CityU students also shined in the competition and awarded the second runner-up of the Innovation award.
Earlier in October, the College offered training workshops to over 500 students from different schools at CityU covering macro view of the life insurance industry, big data, Artificial intelligence, and smart life insurance and business cases, before the first round of submission. InsurTank, an interactive mentorship think tank was also set up in November for 27 participating teams to consult for constructive feedback and brainstorming ideas for their proposals.
