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HKUST 2015-2016
Annual Report
53
I
n September 2015, Prof Enboa Wu was appointed
Dean of HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate
School, concurrently serving as Associate Vice-
President for Knowledge Transfer and Professor
of Engineering Practice in the Department
of Electronic and Computer Engineering at HKUST.
Prof Wu is leading the School and University’s
knowledge transfer initiatives to fresh heights. He
previously spent over 10 years at the Hong Kong
Applied Science and Technology Research Institute.
The School’s mission is to ensure that the University’s
innovation and technology advancement efforts
in Mainland China are integrated and coordinated
in a coherent manner. As such, the School
oversees the University’s knowledge transfer and
commercialization endeavors at HKUST Fok Ying
Tung Research Institute (FYTRI) in Guangzhou,
HKUST Shenzhen Research Institute (SRI), and HKUST
LED-FPD Technology R&D Center in Foshan (FSC).
In 2015-16, the three units were awarded 93 R&D
projects totaling $59 million from central, provincial,
municipal, and district governments, and from local
industry. Given the units’ achievements and impact
on local industry and society, each was recognized as
a New Type of Research Institute by the Guangdong
provincial government in 2015.
FYTRI, HKUST’s largest technology transfer and
commercialization platform in the Mainland, launched
the International Smart Manufacturing Platform
(ISMP) to serve as an open innovation platform for
international collaborative research and technology
transfer in advanced materials, smart manufacturing,
and the internet of things. ISMP, endorsed by the
Guangzhou municipal government and local industry,
attracted 52 R&D proposals for downstream research
and funding support. In addition, the International
Entrepreneurship Platform was established, helping
2015-16 heralded an extension of innovation, and entrepreneurship endeavors
under the leadership of a new dean
HKUST FOK YING TUNG
GRADUATE SCHOOL
to draw 158 teams to take part in the first Guangzhou
regional contest in the HKUST One Million Dollar
Entrepreneurship Competition, which extended from
Hong Kong in 2016 to encompass heats in several
other cities. The grand final will feature winning teams
from all the regional competitions, namely Hong
Kong, Shenzhen, Beijing, Macao and Guangzhou
and take place at Fok Ying Tung Research Institute in
August 2016. A joint incubation initiative with Nansha
IT Park was set up to build a new industry cluster
for Nansha in the next few years. The Institute’s
Supercomputing Service Platform was also launched
to provide access to Guangzhou Supercomputing
Center, one of the world’s fastest for computation. The
service platform is initially open to HKUST researchers
and will be expanded to other universities in Hong
Kong, bringing a state-of-the-art resource to the city.
In the past year, SRI broadened its scope to business
entrepreneurship and start-up incubation, and several
activities were organized in line with this move.
The Institute hosted the first Shenzhen One-Million
Dollar Entrepreneurship Regional Competition and
established the “Blue Bay” incubator program to
encourage HKUST faculty, students, and alumni to
access facilities and services such as office space, legal
advice, and financial consultancy. Four major alumni
events were also held during 2015-16, including
large-scale galas focused on entrepreneurship at
Mid-Autumn Festival and Lunar New Year. Institute
training programs, courses, public lectures and
forums have been held during the year and further
expanded HKUST’s reach in the surrounding area.
FSC started to migrate from LED-centric research
and development, and testing and certification,
to next-generation III-V device packaging
technology development and to spin off its LED
testing and service business.
