HONG KONG, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading global IT recruitment company Talent has launched the 2016 Talent Unleashed Awards, announcing that Silicon Valley icon Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple) will be judging the awards alongside Hong Kong's Yat Siu (founder of Outblaze) and Sir Richard Branson (founder of the Virgin Group).
The Talent Unleashed Awards celebrate game-changing, ground-breaking technology entrepreneurs from around the world across five categories. The Asia-Pacific and UK finals take place in Melbourne and London in July, then in August the regional category finalists will be flown to Sydney for an ultimate pitch to the panel of judges at the Global Grand Finals. Steve Wozniak will present the award to each winner.
Commenting on the value of the Talent Unleashed Awards for the Hong Kong startup community, Yat Siu, founder and CEO of local tech company Outblaze said: "With more startups in Hong Kong than ever, local tech entrepreneurs need to stand up and be counted to get the market attention they urgently need. Talent Unleashed is a great opportunity to demonstrate the quality of business ideas, raise company profiles and increase the chance of finding potential new investors and partners".
The panel of judges represent a diverse range of entrepreneurial leaders from Asia and overseas -- in addition to Steve Wozniak, Yat Siu and Sir Richard Branson, the judges include Cliff Rosenberg (managing director SE Asia and Australia at LinkedIn), Patrick Grove (group CEO and chairman, Catcha Group), Jade Zhang (managing director of Okmno Asia), Dan Radcliffe (founder and executive director of International Volunteer HQ) and Jane Tewson (executive director of Igniting Change).
"It's a wild ride getting an idea off the ground and creating great companies which are changing things for the better. We need to highlight the people that work in this incredible industry right now and that's why I'm involved in the Unleashed Awards," commented Steve Wozniak.
Categories in the 2016 Talent Unleashed awards include:
Sir Richard Branson, Talent Unleashed Awards judge, commented: "The technology sector will continue to transform and disrupt the global economy for many years to come and importantly can make the world a better place. We must encourage more talented individuals and organisations to become bolder and more active and in the process help drive innovation, invention and more efficiency and change across many sectors."
The global grand finals will see the category finalists from each region making a final live pitch to the panel of judges, with all five victors winning exclusive one-on-one time with Steve Wozniak and Yat Siu as well as other judges, plus an exclusive paid trip to Silicon Valley to attend a cutting-edge technology conference and a bespoke tour of some of the region's leading tech companies.
"At Talent, we're passionate about celebrating innovation and tomorrow's technology leaders," said Richard Earl, founder and executive chairman of Talent. "The Talent Unleashed Awards are an opportunity to acknowledge and inspire disruption and innovation in the technology sector worldwide, and a great way to help up-and-coming entrepreneurs unleash their ideas and vision."
For more information, please see http://www.talentunleashedawards.com/. A Chinese language micro-site is available at http://www.talentunleashedawards.com/talent-unleashed-awards-2016-asia-pacific-region/ . Entries are now open, and will close on 27 May 2016. A shortlist of finalists will be announced on 20 June 2016.
For media enquiries please contact:
Mark Leeper, Matrix Communications: +852 9142-1510; mark@matrixcom.org
About Talent:
Talent is unique, innovative and multi-faceted, global technology recruitment and IT services company. Passionate about technology and actively supporting the people who work in the IT&T and digital sector, Talent finds and places great talent and delivers initiatives that help the industry to grow and succeed. Independent and privately owned and operated, founder and executive chairman Richard Earl launched Talent International from his home in Perth in 1995 and since then he has grown the business into a global network with 15 offices across Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Talent also owns Avec, an IT consulting business that specialises in project management, business intelligence and services, and digital enablement. For more information, please see talentinternational.com.
