Innovation gold for UNSW

A UNSW student team has won gold in a global innovation and entrepreneurship competition with an innovative app that helps users book events and organise their social life.

The team shared first place in the university division of the PolyU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Global Student Challenge, held from 20-26 June in Hong Kong, with a team from John Hopkins University.

More than 130 teams from 22 countries competed in the Challenge, which involved submitting a business plan and creating a video of their startup idea to reach the finals.

UNSW Business students Daniel Liang and Ryan Chen, and Medicine student Aengus Tran, developed ‘ClubQnect’ as part of UNSW’s Peter Farrell Innovation Cup competition, before further refining their idea with the help of the UNSW Innovations student support program.

ClubQnect is a free-to-download ‘social ticketing’ mobile platform that facilitates interactions between event goers, prospective event goers and event organisers.

Users can invite friends to different events, and see when their friends purchase a ticket to any event. The platform also enables ticket re-selling and gifting, minimising ticket scalping. Watch the ClubQnect video:

UNSW Emeritus Professor and Pro Chancellor Richard Henry was a judge in the secondary school division of the 2015 PolyU Global Student Challenge. “I was delighted to be there to congratulate the UNSW team on their success,” Professor Henry said.

The competition has been running since 2009 and aims to provide an opportunity for students to “embrace internationalisation, innovation and entrepreneurship” and present their startup ideas on a global stage. Information about entering PolyU Global Student Challenge is available on the Hong Kong Polytechnic University website.