Important Notes to the Potential Investees

1. HKUST is not obligated to provide any funds from the E-Fund to the potential investee or its company.
2. Any decision regarding funding from the E-Fund is at HKUST’s sole discretion and is final. HKUST is not required to provide reasons for its funding decisions.
3. The potential investee participates in this process at its own cost and risk. HKUST is not liable for any loss, damage, or expense incurred by the potential investee during the investment assessment process, regardless of funding outcome.
4. The potential investee represents that all information provided to HKUST is true, accurate, and not misleading. HKUST reserves the right to stop the investment process if errors are found, but it may allow corrections if the mistakes are deemed genuine.
5. HKUST reserves the right to verify, investigate, or supplement the information provided by the potential investee, with consent to make enquiries to relevant third parties.
6. HKUST may reconsider the eligibility of the potential investee at any time.
7. Information submitted will not be returned to the potential investee unless HKUST decides to do so.
8. The potential investee should keep all correspondence with HKUST confidential, disclosing it only to necessary personnel. HKUST may require or agree to a confidentiality agreement.
9. The potential investee warrants that the project is original and not available or under development elsewhere in the world.
10. The potential investee warrants that the project and its products/services will not infringe on any other party’s intellectual property rights.
11. The potential investee will follow principles of openness, fairness, and competitiveness in procuring goods/services with E-Fund benefits.
12. The potential investee will ensure its personnel comply with these guidelines and any agreements with HKUST.
13. Requests for information are non-committal and do not constitute an offer from HKUST. HKUST is not obligated to award funding or contracts.
14. Investment by the E-Fund is limited to HKUST and its affiliated entities; this notice is not an invitation or offer to invest.

Probity Requirements for Potential Investees/ E-Fund Recipients

To maintain openness, fairness and integrity of the HKUST, the potential investees and E-Fund recipients should be aware of the following relevant points:

1. Potential investees/recipients should observe the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO) (Cap. 201, Hong Kong Legislation) and prohibit their directors, employees, sub-contractors, agents and other personnel who are in any way involved in the application/project from offering, soliciting or accepting any advantages as defined in the POBO in relation to the application/project.
2. Potential investees/recipients are prohibited from offering any advantages, whether directly or indirectly through a third party, to HKUST’s members of the Council, committees and sub-committees, staff and advisors, while having dealings of any kind with HKUST.
3. All potential investees/recipients are required to comply with anti-bribery laws and regulations in foreign jurisdictions when conducting business overseas and/or set up legal entities in foreign locations to support local operations.
4. All potential investees/recipients must promptly declare and notify HKUST in writing of any potential or actual conflicts of interest as soon as they become aware of them. A conflict of interest includes, but is not limited to, situations where the private interests of a potential investee/recipient or its personnel conflict with or compete with their role, duties, and impartiality under the E-Fund.
5. All potential investees/recipients are required to take all necessary measures (including by way of a code of conduct or contractual provisions) to ensure that their directors, employees, sub-contractors, agents and other personnel who are in any way involved in the project are aware of and comply with the requirements as set out in this provision.

For more information, please refer to the investment guidelines.