News & Stories

A research team led by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has discovered how carboxysomes, carbon-fixing structures found in some bacteria and algae, work. The breakthrough could help scientists redesign and repurpose the structures to enable plants to convert sunlight into more energy, paving the way for improved photosynthesis efficiency, potentially increasing the global food supply and mitigating global warming.  Carboxysomes are tiny compartments in certain bacteria and algae that encase particular enzymes in a shell made of proteins. They perform carbon fixation, which is the process of converting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into organic compounds that can be used by the cell for growth and energy. Scientists have been trying to figure out how these compartments put themselves together.

The Hong Kong Generative AI R&D Center (HKGAI), a joint-university collaborative venture, led by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), announced today an array of its AI projects covering applications in various areas at InnoEx 2024. With funding from the HKSAR government’s InnoHK initiative, HKGAI has established eight projects on AI aimed at developing foundation models tailored for applications in various industries including legal, medical and creative fields in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area (GBA).Backed by its independently developed model, HKGAI showcases for the first time ten generative AI services and applications at the InnoEx 2024 to allow expo-goers to experience firsthand: 

The "2nd Global Innovation & Technology Summit”, organized by the Greater Bay Area Association of Academicians (GBAAA), was held on April 3 at the Hong Kong Science Park. The summit attracted over 200 participants that included representatives from renowned universities, government officials, and industry experts from the region and beyond. Various important topics were explored and discussed on how to harness the transformative power of higher education to empower a brighter future globally. In her welcome remarks, Prof. Nancy IP, Council Chair of GBAAA and President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), emphasized the importance of international cooperation and exchange in higher education, and encouraged all parties to come together and strive for excellence in education, research, and innovation to drive social progress.

In a collaborative effort to explore the potential of the Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), the School of Business and Management of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST Business School), in partnership with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary and Financial Research (HKIMR) under the Hong Kong Academy of Finance hosted today the International Conference on Central Bank Digital Currencies and Payment Systems.  Attended by participants from academia, central banks, financial institutions and fintech firms, this event brought together experts from international financial institutions, central banks, and universities across Asia, Europe, and North America to shed light on a wide range of critical CBDC-related topics, including policy implications, technological innovations, operational challenges and industry dynamics. 

A collaborated research team led by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Tsinghua University has theoretically proposed a new mechanism of electrical 180° switching of Néel vector and experimentally realized it in antiferromagnetic materials with spin-splitting band structure featuring the C-paired spin-valley locking, also named as altermagnet. The team also demonstrated the material's capability to manipulate Néel vector, paving the way for the manufacturing of ultrafast memory devices. 

A research team led by the School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has addressed the long-standing challenge of creating artificial olfactory sensors with arrays of diverse high-performance gas sensors. Their newly developed biomimetic olfactory chips (BOC) are able to integrate nanotube sensor arrays on nanoporous substrates with up to 10,000 individually addressable gas sensors per chip, a configuration that is similar to how olfaction works for humans and other animals.

An HKUST-led international research collaboration has achieved a significant milestone in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis and management. The team, spearheaded by Prof. Nancy IP, President and the Morningside Professor of Life Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and Director of the Hong Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (HKCeND), has developed a cutting-edge blood test for the early detection of AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), surpassing remarkable accuracy rates of over 96% and 87% respectively. Notably, this blood test is applicable across ethnic populations, providing a global solution to the diagnosis and management of AD. At a glance:

Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed a new integration technique for efficient integration of III-V compound semiconductor devices and silicon, paving the way for photonic integration at low cost, large volume, and high speed and throughput that could revolutionize data communications. Unlike conventional integrated circuits, or microchips, that use electrons, photonic integrated circuits use photons, or particles of light. Photonic integration combines light and electronics to speed up data transfer. Silicon photonics (Si-photonics), in particular, is at the forefront of this revolution as it enables the creation of high-speed, low-cost connections that can handle massive amounts of data at once.