The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) hosted the 25th Anniversary Distinguished Speakers Series on 25 January, featuring Dr Qi Lu, Executive Vice President of Microsoft’s Applications and Services Group. The event was well received by students, faculty members and guests from HKUST.
Speaking on “The Anatomy of an Emerging Digital Society”, Dr Lu explained the rise of the mobile and cloud era. He said, “I am incredibly honored and humbled to be given the opportunity to speak at this special event. The 25th anniversary of HKUST’s Distinguished Speaker Series is a great forum for global thought leaders to come together and share world-changing ideas, and demonstrates HKUST’s global impact by staying at the frontier of the digital revolution. At Microsoft, we aspire to change the world again by creating a compelling future of digital work & life experiences for anyone to achieve more; and we look forward to partnering with you all to achieve more together.”
Dr Lu also talked about how the emerging digital society changes the world. “As we continue to accelerate the digitization of our society and every aspect of our civics, ubiquitous mobile and wearable devices are no longer just tools but extensions of our very being and a way of life. Coupled with cloud-orchestrated digital services, which are being systematically embedded into every industry segment, it is re-writing the rules of the fundamental fabric of the industries and the society overall.”
Dr Lu leads Microsoft’s business across productivity, communications, education, search and other information services. He sets the vision, strategy and overall direction of the Applications and Services Group, and is responsible for all of the research and development teams across Microsoft Office, Office 365, SharePoint, OneDrive, Exchange, Yammer, Skype, Bing, and advertising platforms. Dr Lu was previously the president of the Online Services Division, where he led the company’s search, portal and online advertising efforts.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Dr Lu spent 10 years as a Yahoo! senior executive. He has overseen the development of Yahoo!’s Web search and monetization platforms, and also the technology development of Yahoo!’s search, e-commerce and local listings of businesses and products. Before joining Yahoo!, Dr Lu worked as a research staff member at IBM’s Almaden Research Center and Carnegie Mellon University, and was a faculty member at Fudan University in China. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from Fudan University and his Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University. Dr Lu holds 20 U.S. patents.
Distinguished speakers including Nobel Prize winners, corporate leaders, entrepreneurs and key financial policy shapers were invited to speak at the HKUST 25th Anniversary Distinguished Speakers Series. Prof Steven Chu, Nobel Laureate in Physics in 1997 and former US Secretary of Energy, was invited as the inaugural speaker of the series. Other speakers include Mr Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Schneider Electric; Mr Wang Shi, Founder and Chairman of China Vanke; Prof Dan Shechtman, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 2011; Prof Zhong Lin Wang, Hightower Chair in Materials Science and Engineering and Regents’ Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology; Dr Raghuram G Rajan, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Mr Pinky Lai, Founder and Design Director of Brainchild Design Group and Brainchild Design Consultants; Prof Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, Turing Award Winner 2000. More talks are also being lined up.
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