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Eric Chen
2007 JC Scholar
We all learned in maths class that "two negatives make a positive". For Eric, we can extend that rule to "two positives become more positives". Eric successfully founded a biotechnology startup "Vitargent" at the tender age of 23, and was awarded the Grand Prix at 43rd Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions with its toxin detection technology. Perhaps his most meaningful start-up came earlier when he was a freshman, though, having spontaneously created the 'Ming Yue Club' to offer free Cantonese lessons to his non-Cantonese classmates. He believes it was this good deed that led to his receipt of the Jockey Club Scholarship.
Eric is celebrating the receipt of the Grand Prix at the 43rd International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva with Professor Way Kuo of the City University of Hong Kong and others.
Everything has a positive cycle, Eric stresses. His altruistic spirit and selfless help to others turned out to be a factor earning him the Scholarship, which in turn encouraged him and left him with more resources to give back to society. Today, he still sticks to the concept of "creating social value" to run his business.
Committing to the business philosophy of "Creating Social Value", Eric has led Vitargent to improve food safety with its groundbreaking fish embryo toxicity (FET) testing technologies, and achieved immense success over the years.
Eric's future life goals, in addition to serving the public, are to support and invest in other start-ups or companies with the same philosophy. "It wasn't just a consideration of financial returns when the investors showed interest in my start-up. I hope I can help these companies contribute to society and create social value themselves."
Once a member of the Chinese Youth Baseball Team, Eric has an important message to share with others, especially those who have encountered setbacks when starting a new business. "I learned from sports competition that success is never easy. We should learn from failure and turn it into a driving force."
