• The applicant must have the intellectual property right and/or legitimate right over the ICT product/service mentioned in the application. The applicant shall disclose disputes any place over the world over intellectual property right about the applicant’s ICT product/service, if any, for the Leading Organiser to consider eligibility of the application.

• The application must be submitted by locally (Hong Kong) registered entities (please enclose Company/Business Registration proof) or residents in Hong Kong⁴ at the time of closing for entry enrolment.

• A significant part of the innovation, design, research and development (R&D) of the mentioned ICT product/service must come from resources in Hong Kong. The applicant should demonstrate significant value-add by the Hong Kong resources contributing to the success of the ICT product/service in the target market.

• With the exception of the Student Innovation category, the submitted product/service must have been available⁵ in the market for at least 3 months or in live operation for at least 3 months at the time of closing for entry enrolment (please enclose proof – e.g. delivery note, invoice, public announcement, advertisement, internal announcement, etc.).

• The same application is only allowed to be submitted to a maximum of ONE award stream among all the Categories.　Any application found to have entered into more than one award stream will be disqualified.

• Winning entries of the Gold/Silver/Bronze award in previous years of the HKICT Awards can enter the Awards again only if there is significant change or enhancement in the product/service, or for a new award category.
  

⁴. “Residents in Hong Kong”, in the context of HKICT Awards, include both permanent and non-permanent residents. If an entry is submitted by more than one person, at least half of the members of the group must be Hong Kong resident. For the case of Student Innovation category, certification of Hong Kong resident status can be performed through certifying student status collectively by concerned educational institution.

⁵. Examples are applications and products already in the market, application systems deployed internally in a company, and mobile solutions available at App Stores. For startup companies competing for ICT Startup Award, prototypes appear only on kickstarter or similar platforms are NOT considered as available in the market.

• Applicants are advised to be aware of the best practice and case-based experience as promulgated by the Office of Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.

• Applicants are reminded that any person who, without the permission of Steering Committee of Hong Kong ICT Awards, offers an advantage to parties involved in the Awards as a reward or inducement for doing any act or showing favour in relation to the Awards commits an offence of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (Cap. 201).

• To avoid conflicts of interest and the perception as such, applications for the Awards from sponsors will not be accepted.

• In case of any dispute, the decision of the Leading Organiser will be final and binding on all parties concerned.