The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and UC RUSAL (SEHK: 486, Euronext: RUSAL/RUAL, Moscow Exchange: RUAL/RUALR), a leading global aluminum producer, announce that Prof Dan Shechtman, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 2011 and Philip Tobias Professor of Materials Science, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, spoke at UC RUSAL President’s Forum and HKUST 25th Anniversary Distinguished Speakers Series. The Forum marked the completion of the five-year partnership between HKUST and UC RUSAL and was well attended by students, faculty members and guests from HKUST & outside the university.
Titled “Technological Entrepreneurship – A Key to World Peace and Prosperity”, Prof Shechtman shared his views on how technological entrepreneurship nourished by free market economy would be the key to help people to live a high standard of living. Using China, Israel, South Korea and Turkey as examples, Prof Shechtman explained how entrepreneurship has taken root in these societies amid their transition from an agrarian economy to an industrial one, and how the change has brought differences to the life of people.
Technological entrepreneurship, for Prof Shechtman, is the establishment of new venture in technology. "Building a sustainable economy requires the development of human ingenuity, engineers and scientists make good candidates for entrepreneurship," he said. "As a technological university, HKUST is the ideal place to groom the next generation of entrepreneurs in Hong Kong."
Prof Shechtman sees 5 important factors in every society that are keys to promoting entrepreneurship. “We need good basic education for everyone. And then we need a good engineering and science education, government policy and support for entrepreneurship, a free market economy, and, most important of all, no corruption, for corruption kills entrepreneurship.”
To foster a spirit of entrepreneurship, Prof Shechtman recommends starting early. “People have often asked me about when our children should learn science,” he said. “And I say we should start as early as in kindergarten. The key is to make it fun for them.”
The key to success for every entrepreneur, according to Prof Shechtman, is not to be afraid of failure. “Entrepreneurs must learn that failure is okay. The important thing is you gain experience from the failure, and start again fast.”
After completing his doctorate studies at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel in 1972, Prof Shechtman became a National Research Council fellow at the Aerospace Research Laboratories of Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, United States, where he performed research for three years. In 1975, Prof Shechtman joined the Department of Materials Engineering at the Technion where he is currently Philip Tobias Professor of Materials Science. During 1981-2004, he was on sabbatical several times at the Johns Hopkins University in a joint program with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (formerly known as the National Bureau of Standards). Throughout this period, Prof Shechtman discovered the Icosahedral Phase which opened the new science of quasiperiodic crystals and led him to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2011.
As of 2004 Prof Shechtman is also a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Iowa State University and at the Ames Laboratory. Apart from the Nobel Prize, Prof Shechtman was awarded many prizes including the Wolf Prize in Physics, the Gregori Aminoff Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the European Materials Research Society award.
UC RUSAL – HKUST 5-Year Joint Project
With the aim of strengthening scientific and educational ties between Russia and Hong Kong, the US$1.5 million collaboration, implementing from academic years 2010/11 to 2014/15, covers an exchange award and a scholarship program for university students in Hong Kong and Russia, a three-year research program to develop a large-scale pre-insulated fibre reinforced aluminium envelope and roof system, and the UC RUSAL President’s Forum that brings the world’s most renowned speakers to Hong Kong. The UC RUSAL President’s Forum is organized under the auspices of the HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study and is held biannually. The Forum which Prof Dan Shechtman will attend is the last of the series and will mark the completion of the five-year partnership between HKUST and UC RUSAL. Previous Forum speakers included UC RUSAL CEO Mr Oleg Deripaska; Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences Prof Christopher Pissarides; then-Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Dr Jim O’Neill; Chairman of Esquel Group Ms Marjorie Yang;European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) Physicist Prof John Ellis; Chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Group Dr Allan Zeman; and Founder of Lenovo Mr Chuanzhi Liu.
HKUST 25th Anniversary Distinguished Speakers Series
With a mission to advance learning and knowledge, the University has invited Nobel Prize winners, corporate leaders, entrepreneurs and experts from around the globe to share their insights in the Series that marks HKUST’s 25th anniversary with HKUST members and community at large. 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 Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Schneider Electric; Wang Shi, Founder and Chairman of leading property developer China Vanke. More talks are also being lined up.
About UC RUSAL
UC RUSAL (www.rusal.com) is a leading, global producer of aluminium, in 2014 accounting for approximately 7% of global production of aluminium and 7% of alumina. UC RUSAL employs over 61,000 people in 19 countries, across 5 continents. UC RUSAL markets and sells its products primarily in the European, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, South East Asian and North American markets. UC RUSAL’s ordinary shares are listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (Stock code: 486), global depositary shares representing UC RUSAL’s ordinary shares are listed on the professional compartment of Euronext Paris (RUSAL for Reg S GDSs and RUAL for Rule 144A GDSs). UC RUSAL’s ordinary shares and Russian depositary receipts that are issued on common shares of the Company are listed on Moscow Exchange (RUAL/RUALR).
About the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) (www.ust.hk) is a world-class research university excelling in science, technology and business as well as humanities and social science. Internationally renowned for its academic rigor and accomplishments, the University promotes interdisciplinary studies and provides holistic education, nurturing well-rounded graduates with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, innovative thinking and relevant skills to thrive in a knowledge economy. As an international university with strong ties to global thought leaders, HKUST has wide-ranging connections with Mainland China while aspiring to be a global premier knowledge hub and a center of research breakthroughs. HKUST attained the highest proportion of internationally excellent research work in the University Grants Committee (UGC)’s Research Assessment Exercise 2014, it was also ranked 16th worldwide and top in Greater China in a global survey on employability of graduates in 2014. HKUST was ranked No 1 in Hong Kong and 28th worldwide in QS World University Rankings 2015-16, the Times Higher Education also branded it as one of the seven fastest-rising young universities worldwide in 2015.
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