News & Stories

(Originally written and published by Times Higher Education) The era of smart cities requires practical innovations at scale to maximise the quality of living and create a sustainable model for 21st-century urbanisation Urbanisation is one of the trends shaping Asia in the 21st century. The United Nations forecasts that Asia’s urban population will grow by 50 per cent by 2050. This requires 21st-century responses from policymakers, industry and higher education to manage this growth and create liveable, sustainable cities for its populations. 

(Originally written and published by Times Higher Education) During the 2024 THE Global Sustainable Development Congress, experts discussed a holistic approach to climate change early-warning systems The record heatwave taking place in Thailand has already killed more than 60 people since the start of 2024. The climate emergency in the country, and elsewhere, is increasingly severe and pressing. During a recent discussion at the 2024 THE Global Sustainable Development Congress in Bangkok, representatives from international organisations, academia and community-based social support groups came together to examine the creation of early-warning systems to alleviate climate and health crises.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) recently received a donation from the Shanghai Medical and Innovation Development Foundation (SMIDF), in support of the University’s “Mainland Innovative Medical Talent Cultivation Program (Brain Health)” with mainland Chinese hospitals. Aging populations worldwide are increasing the demand for effective healthcare solutions. To meet the evolving challenges in medicine and address future societal demands, the medical sector urgently needs medical talent with expertise in both scientific research and clinical practice. HKUST is dedicated to advancing research, fostering innovation, and nurturing future leaders and innovators in the medical field, which spawned the launch of the "Mainland Innovative Medical Talent Training Program" (the Program).

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) announced today the establishment of the Division of Arts and Machine Creativity (AMC), a cross-disciplinary center that promotes the convergence of technology and art. As the first of its kind in Hong Kong, the Division will launch postgraduate (PG) programs with curricula comparable to renowned institutions like MIT's famous Media Lab to nurture Art Tech talents who can leverage cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in art creation process.

A research team of the School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) revealed the existence of surface concavities on individual crystal grains – which are the fundamental blocks – of perovskite thin films, and unravel their significant effects on the film properties and reliability. Based on this fundamental science discovery, the team pioneered a new way of making perovskite solar cells more efficient and stable via a chemo-elimination of these grain surface concavities.

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.

Researchers at the School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have recently developed a new generation of solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) for lithium-metal batteries (LMBs), that can greatly improve the safety and performance. This groundbreaking discovery can help advance the development of energy storage technologies for battery applications like electric vehicles, portable electronics, and power grids. Compared to traditional liquid electrolyte LMBs, all-solid-state LMBs offer enhanced safety and higher energy density by replacing the flammable organic solvent electrolytes with solid electrolytes and suppressing a harmful phenomenon called dendrite growths. They present a promising future for developing energy storage technologies. However, their wider adoption has been limited by low ionic conductivity and Li+ transference number at room temperature.

Three research projects led by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) were awarded a total funding of HK$212.5 million by the Research Grants Council (RGC)’s Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme and the Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS) 2024/25, the highest funding amount among all local universities. It also marks a record-high result for the University.  The three studies cover a wide array of aspects, including a frontier and human-centric AI and robotics technology for geriatric care, the development of “Hong Kong Coastal Twin” for management of extreme weather on coastlines, as well as a technological approach to enhance Hong Kong’s role in sustainable supply chains.