News & Stories

Solar Energy is well known as a mature technology for renewable energy, yet its popularity of daily life usage is low given its high set up and maintenance cost. A newly invented product by Sundial Technology may help to change this perception and encourage wider usage. Formed by four HKUST students and advised by Prof Zhiyong Fan from the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Sundial Technology invented an anti-reflection and self-cleaning film for solar panel. The self-cleaning feature is applied from “Lotus Effect”, where dirt particles are picked up by water droplets due to the micro and nanoscopic architecture on the surface. The team estimated the cleaning of dirty solar panels claims about HK$15.6 billion in monetary term and 90 billion kilowatt-hour of energy in Mainland China every year, They said the nanomaterialfilm they invented would offer a solution to such huge losses in cost and efficiency.

Researchers at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have discovered a novel material system that would revolutionize the future development of Organic Solar Cells (OSCs).  OSCs based on this new material system have demonstrated ultrafast and efficient charge separation despite a nearly zero charge separation driving force, meaning that the more environmentally-friendly OSCs may be able to perform as good as inorganic solar cells in the future. The breakthrough, discovered by a research team led by Prof Henry He Yan from the Department of Chemistry, was published in Nature Energy in June.

The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) 2016, hosted by the International Mathematical Olympiad Hong Kong Committee Limited and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), concluded successfully on 16 July 2016.  More than 1,000 bright secondary school mathematics minds from over 100 countries and regions participated in the 10-day event. This marks the second time for Hong Kongto host this World Championship Mathematics Competition since 1994.

The risk posed by landslide debris is a cause for concern around the world, and nowhere more so than in Hong Kong. With an abundance of steep slopes, a dense population and heavy rainfall, the city is no stranger to the disastrous effects of landslides. Prof. Charles Ng, Associate Vice-President (Research and Graduate Studies) and Chair Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at HKUST, is leading a theme-based research team seeking to address that situation. Backed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and drawing together international expertise in areas ranging from engineering to ecology, the team is developing a simple-to-install flexible barrier system to halt debris flows in landslides. Prof. Ng said that the team was breaking new ground with no previous examples to draw on, but that the outcome would be a highly valuable system providing cost savings and lessening the environmental impact of landslide mitigation measures.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) expanded its sixth annual One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition from Hong Kong to a total of five cities this year. The Competition, which over the years has fostered the entrepreneurial spirit on the campus, motivated over 500 teams from Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Macau and Hong Kong to join the contest. As a forerunner to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, the Competition has eventually grown from a platform to nurture promising entrepreneurs at HKUST, into a regional contest that instills entrepreneurial culture and promotes exchange of ideas among young innovators across the border.

16 Dual Degree Program in Technology and Management (T&M-DDP) students, together with peers from Nanyang Technological University and University of California, Berkeley, participated in Inter-Varsity Entrepreneurship Challenge 2016 in Singapore from 29 May to 8 June with the theme of helping unbanked and underbanked people to access financial services.

Award for Outstanding RMBI Capstone Projects Presentation Ceremony 2015/16 was held on 15 June 2016 to recognize students' efforts and achievements in completion of final year Capstone Projects.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) concluded the hosting of the inaugural Times Higher Education Asia Universities Summit on 21 June and signed agreements at the Summit with four leading universities, namely the University of Glasgow, Jagiellonian University, the University of Warwick and University of Waterloo to foster international exchange opportunities for students. The two-day Asia Universities Summit was hosted by HKUST, featuring as speakers some 30 presidents, chancellors and rectors from fast-rising and top universities in 15 countries and cities around the globe, including Mainland China, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, the United States, and the United Kingdom, among others.  Some 260 delegates of higher education and other sectors from over 20 countries attended the Summit and shared their insights into nurturing creativity and innovation.