KE Spotlight
Filter
-
HKU wins two TechConnect Global Innovation Awards at TechConnect World Innovation Conference & Expo 2018
HKU has won two TechConnect Global Innovation Awards at the TechConnect World Innovation Conference & Expo (TCWI) 2018 to be held in the US in May. The two award-winning innovations, both by the Department of Mechanical Engineering, are "Omniphobic porous membrane and methods for preparing the same" by Professor Wang Liqiu and Mr Zhu Ping An, and "Super Steel - A method for the fabrication of a super-strong and ductile multi-phase steel" by Dr Huang Mingxin and Dr He Binbin. The Innovation Awards identify the top 15% of submitted technologies based on the potential positive impact the technology on a specific industry sector. Over 240 submissions from about 95 organisations were received this year.
Read More -
HKU to establish Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing with $100 million donation
In the 1950s, the Department of Architecture was housed in the Engineering Faculty. Mr Tam Wing Fan Edmund, amongst the first cohort of HKU Architecture students admitted to the Faculty of Engineering, has made a gift of HK$100 million to his alma mater to establish an Innovation Wing in support of the experiential learning activities of Engineering students. In recognition of Mr and Mrs Tam’s generous gift, the University has named the infrastructure the “Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing”. The Inno Wing will serve as an iconic landmark of the Faculty of Engineering. Home of future cutting-edge research projects, the Inno Wing will provide an open environment to foster multidisciplinary innovation among students and teachers, enabling generations of students to gain comprehensive knowledge and a deep understanding of the latest discoveries and challenges in a wide range of emerging technologies. It will serve as a platform to engage the young generation in exploring the world, raising their creative and multidisciplinary abilities, and ensuring they acquire the practical hands-on experience they need to serve the community.
Read More -
HKU study reveals city's socially deprived exposed to more polluted air
An interdisciplinary research conducted by the HKU-Cambridge Clean Energy and Environment Research Platform (HKU-Cambridge CEERP) revealed that there is a statistically significant, positive relationship between ambient PM2.5 concentration and the Social Deprivation Index (SDI) in Hong Kong. The findings revealed the existence of air pollution-induced environmental injustice at the constituency area level in the territory. Professor Victor Li On-kwok, HKU Chair of Information Engineering and director of the platform said the findings confirmed quantitatively that those who were down and out were being affected by unhealthy air compared with those in better-off neighbourhoods. The platform’s co-director Dr Jacqueline Lam Chi-kei said the study highlighted the need for the city to develop more integrated, human-centric, location-based and justice-based environmental policies.
Read More -
HKU Faculty of Engineering organizes “Ultraviolet Radiation Measurement and Application Design Competition” together with Hong Kong Observatory and Hong Kong Meteorological Society for over 350 primary and secondary school students
Small amounts of ultra-violet (UV) radiation are beneficial to people and are essential in the production of vitamin D. However, excessive exposure to UV radiation may result in acute and chronic health effects on the skin, eye and immune system. The potential harm that overexposure to UV may bring should not be underestimated. Supported by the HKU Knowledge Exchange Fund, HKU Faculty of Engineering, Hong Kong Observatory and Hong Kong Meteorological Society jointly organized the “Ultraviolet Radiation Measurement and Application Design Competition” to raise public awareness on the adverse health effects associated with excessive exposure of UV and to encourage changes in behavior to reduce the exposure. Over 350 students from primary 2 to secondary 5 joined the competition. They were required to design and implement a device that could measure UV radiation and put UV radiation to good use. A series of talks, workshops and visits were organized in November and December 2017 to enhance the participants’ understanding of UV and its measurement, as well as hardware and software techniques to build UV measurement devices. An exhibition will be held in April/May 2018 to showcase the designs of the students.
Read More -
HKU quantum physicist Dr Giulio Chiribella receives Croucher Senior Research Fellowship 2018
Dr Giulio Chiribella, an associate professor at the Department of Computer Science, was a recipient of the Croucher Senior Research Fellowship. Dr Chiribella is a quantum information scientist. He will explore a new paradigm of communication, in which multiple transmission lines are combined in a genuine quantum way. Future communication networks may be able to guarantee the transmission of data even in scenarios where no communication is currently possible. The new paradigm has also the potential to increase the security of communications.
Read More -
HKU Chair of Power Electronics Professor Ron Hui led sustainable lighting systems research brings new LED products and theory breakthrough
A theme-based research project on sustainable lighting, funded by the Research Grants Council and led by Professor Ron S.Y. Hui, Chair of Power Electronics at the HKU Faculty of Engineering, developed a sustainable LED street lamp that could be bright, energy-efficient, long-lasting and recyclable. Energy-saving passive LED drivers having long product lifetime of over 10 years and over 80 percent materials recyclability have been tested in hundreds of street lamps across Heshan in Guangdong province, with an additional 8,000 due to be replaced in the Mainland city. His team also developed a smart system for precise dimming and colour control of LED lamps comprising warm-white and cool-white colour, a breakthrough both in technology and theory.
Read More -
HKU spin-off artificial intelligence startup closes Series Pre-A round led by Horizons Ventures
Fano Labs, a Hong Kong-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup specialising in speech and natural language processing (NLP) technologies and a spin-off from HKU, raised a Series Pre-A round led by Horizons Ventures. The company was co-founded in 2015 by Dr Miles Wen, a PhD graduate from HKU and Professor Victor O.K. Li, Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at HKU. With Fano Labs' technical focus in Chinese dialects processing and analysis, the funds raised will fuel the company's expansion into the billion-dollar Chinese call centre industry, where many of these calls are in various Chinese dialects. As of today, the company has already developed speech and NLP technologies for Cantonese and Sichuanese, in addition to English and Mandarin.
Read More