KE Spotlight - Community Engagement - HKU Knowledge Exchange

HKU Faculty of Medicine publishes free book on rare bone disorders

The HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, in collaboration with NGO Little People of Hong Kong, has published 3,000 copies of "Understanding Rare Bone Disorders" for primary and secondary schools and hospitals in Hong Kong. They hope to raise awareness of skeletal dysplasia through educating the public of patients' needs. Assistant Dean Professor Danny Chan said patients have been facing a lot of discrimination in Hong Kong and that it is hard to change the views of the older generation. He hopes teachers could use the book to educate the new generation and change their perceptions.

HKU reports findings of school-based smoking survey

The HKU School of Public Health was commissioned by the Food and Health Bureau to conduct a school-based smoking survey among Hong Kong primary 4-6 and secondary 1-6 school students from October 2014 to April 2015 to investigate the prevalence and pattern of smoking among primary and secondary school students. Data were collected from 15,658 primary school students in 80 primary schools and 40,202 secondary school students in 93 secondary schools. According to the findings, 2.8% of the primary school students had ever smoked and 0.2% are current smokers. The current smoking prevalence among secondary school students (2.7%) was lower than that in 2012-13 (3.0%). The smoking habit of e-cigarettes was also surveyed. Among the respondents, 2.6% and 9% of the primary and secondary school students respectively had smoked e-cigarettes, and 1.3% of the secondary school students surveyed are currently e-cigarette users. The Government is considering legislation seeking to ban e-cigarettes import, manufacture, sale, distribution and advertising.

Open Innovation and Public-Private Partnerships

Professor Raj Thampuran, Managing Director, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, gave a public lecture entitled "Open Innovation and Public-Private Partnerships" at HKU on January 25, 2016. Professor Thampuran elaborates on the importance of R&D and innovation for Singapore's economic transformation and growth, and A*STAR's role in Singapore's innovation system, as the primary mission-oriented government agency tasked with advancing innovation-based growth.

Knowledge Exchange (KE) Excellence Award 2015

HKU has recently launched the university-level KE Excellence Award, and it goes to the team at the Faculty of Dentistry.

KE in The Review 2015

The Review 2015 looks back at another fruitful year for knowledge exchange developments and our researchers' strong efforts in translating knowledge and discovery into impact. "Our ultimate goal is to achieve the greatest societal benefits from our teaching and research, and in this respect HKU has been a leader in Hong Kong. We have been building capacity and developing strategies that take our know-how from the campus to the community through technology transfer, entrepreneurship and knowledge exchange," says Professor Peter Mathieson, President and Vice-Chancellor.

HKU biomedical engineers develop new cartilage regeneration technology to grow cartilage from one's own cells for cartilage repairs

An HKU research team, led by Dr Barbara Chan, Associate Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has developed a new cartilage regeneration technology to grow cartilage tissues out of cells taken from one's body. The cells, in particular stem cells extracted from one's bone marrow, can be grown into cartilage tissues of the shape and size fit for cartilage repairs and replacements. Since the replacement parts are fully biocompatible, patients could be benefited from rapid healing without the need to harvest donor cartilage from the patients. The research team is in the process of translating the technology for use on human. The commercialization of this technology was assisted by the HKU Technology Transfer Office.

HKU Faculty of Engineering organizes the "Invention for Schools Contest"

The "Invention for Schools Contest" is organized by the Faculty of Engineering with the support of HKU Knowledge Exchange Fund. Over a hundred students from primary 2 to secondary 5 joined the competition. They are required to use credit card-sized computers to make inventions that would be useful to their schools.