HKUST Partners with Alibaba to Establish Joint Lab for Big Data and AI | The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Alibaba Group (Alibaba) today, outlying their plans to establish the “HKUST-Alibaba Joint Laboratory on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence”, with an aim to fostering forward-looking research in emerging technologies including generative AI and big data.

Signing the MoU on campus today were Prof. Tim CHENG, HKUST Vice-President (Research & Development) and WU Zeming, Chief Technology Officer of Alibaba Group. Under the agreement, Alibaba and HKUST plan to jointly establish the lab over the next three years, researching on frontier areas including AI, data science, language models, multimodal training and inference, computational infrastructure and system software. The joint lab and its research projects will be managed, coordinated and planned by committees formed by experts from both parties.

WU Zeming, Chief Technology Officer of Alibaba Group, said "HKUST is a leading university with world-class specialties in big data and AI. With globally leading digital retail business and top cloud computing business in the Asia-Pacific region, Alibaba operates in rich and diversified business scenarios. Advanced technology is a crucial driving force for our future development under our ‘User First' and ‘AI-driven’ strategies. I am very excited to strengthen our partnership with HKUST and I look forward to combining our strengths to achieve breakthroughs in key innovations. Through this collaboration, we aim to accelerate development and applications of scientific research findings across different business use cases and jointly cultivate young talents to drive rapid technological changes."  

Prof. Tim CHENG, HKUST Vice President (Research & Development) expressed his gratitude to Alibaba for their confidence in HKUST. "HKUST and Alibaba have been long-term partners. Together, we have achieved numerous research breakthroughs and translation of technology in cutting-edge fields such as AI and big data. Over the years, many outstanding HKUST graduates have been employed by Alibaba, and Alibaba experts have joined HKUST to embark on their research journey.  The new joint lab will help drive innovative applications in AI and big data through the sharing of research resources, cultivating future-ready talents.  It will be a win-win situation for both parties, benefiting society and contributing to the growth of digital economy and the high-quality development of the country," he said. 

Since 2018, HKUST has joined hands with Alibaba on over 10 collaborative research and talent nurturing projects. In 2022, HKUST signed an MoU with Alibaba Cloud to nurture local talent in knowledge relating to data analytics, cloud computing and AI to contribute to Hong Kong’s talent pool of technology. Alibaba has been a strong supporter of HKUST's initiatives in innovation and entrepreneurship. Apart from being one of the partners of the University’s Entrepreneurship Fund, the “Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund” has also provided investment funding and strategic guidance to startups founded by HKUST members, which serves to enhance the overall innovation and technology ecosystem.

About The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology 
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) (https://hkust.edu.hk/) is a world-class university that excels in driving innovative education, research excellence, and impactful knowledge transfer. With a holistic and interdisciplinary pedagogy approach, HKUST was ranked 3rd in the Times Higher Education’s Young University Rankings 2024, while 12 of its subjects were ranked among the world’s top 50 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024, with "Data Science and Artificial Intelligence" being ranked first in Hong Kong and 10th in the world. Our graduates are highly competitive, consistently ranking among the world’s top 30 most sought-after employees. In terms of research and entrepreneurship, over 80% of our work was rated “Internationally excellent” or “world leading” in the latest Research Assessment Exercise 2020 of Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee. As of June 2024, HKUST members have founded 1,747 active start-ups, including 10 Unicorns and 14 exits (IPO or M&A).