News & Stories
2024

News
HKUST Research Unveiling the Possible Origin of Life from Deep Earth
A collaborative research team led by Prof. Ding PAN, Associate Professor from the Department of Physics and the Department of Chemistry at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), has made significant progress in studying the abiotic synthesis and stability of biomolecules in C-H-O-N fluids under deep Earth conditions. This research offers new insights into potential locations for the origin of life. The findings have been published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society*.

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HKUST’s InvestLM Generative AI Platform Launches to Support Financial SMEs Harnessing the Potential of AI Technology
Following the successful development of InvestLM — Hong Kong's first open-source large language model (LLM) for financial generative AI (GenAI) applications, the School of Business and Management of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST Business School) has just launched the InvestLM Generative AI Platform, which will be opened for free registration to the financial services industry in phases. The platform is capable of handling finance-related GenAI tasks and generating human-like responses comparable to those of well-known general-purpose chatbots.

News
HKUST and HKUST(GZ) Major Cross-campus Joint Study Calls for Strategic Update to Boost Hong Kong’s Green Finance Transition
Signifying the major research collaboration across the two HKUST campuses in Clearwater Bay and Guangzhou, a joint research report series by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) (HKUST(GZ)) analyzes Hong Kong’s progress and outlines steps to enhance its role as a green finance leader. The research team, composed of experts from both campuses, underscores the necessity for Hong Kong to refine its strategies. By doing so, the city could bolster its competitiveness in the international green finance landscape, thereby positioning itself as a preeminent center for green and sustainable bonds.
News
HKUST Introduces City’s Largest Liquid Immersion Cooling Technology for Sustainable AI & Scientific Research
To meet the surging demand for high-power AI research sustainably, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has launched the city’s largest Liquid Immersion Cooling system in its new research computing facility. This new technology reduces energy consumption for cooling by over 80% and creates an optimal operating environment that can enhance computing performance at lower temperature.
High Performance Computing (HPC) is vital for scientific research that involves analyzing vast amounts of data or complex algorithms. However, they consume significant electricity, and excessive heat can hinder their performance.

News
16 HKUST scientists secured record high funding from National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2024
A total of 16 scientists from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) received a record high of funding in 2024, totalling RMB 26.2 million, from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
The funding was granted through three NSFC schemes in support of the University’s research projects on emerging technologies to enhance human wellbeing and facilitate economic and social development – from artificial intelligence, microelectronics, biology and materials science to big data, mathematics and finance.
In the three schemes, four professors garnered funding between RMB 2.8 million to 4 million for each of their projects from the “National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars”. In addition, the “Excellent Young Scientists Fund” awarded RMB 2 million to six professors each, while another six professors received a grant of RMB 300,000 each from the “Young Scientists Fund”.

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HKUST Welcomes Shenhai Yihao and Jiaolong’s First Visit to Hong Kong
With strong support from the Deep Ocean Affairs Administration of the Ministry of Natural Resources, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) hosted a welcoming ceremony today for the inaugural visit of Chinese research vessel Shenhai Yihao (Deep Sea No. 1) and the manned submersible Jiaolong to Hong Kong, following the vessel’s successful expedition in the Western Pacific. Co-led by HKUST, the expedition is part of the first international deep-sea metascience program, “Digital Deep-sea Typical Habitats (DEPTH),” backed by the mainland government, with the participation of scientists from various countries.

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HKUST Researchers Develop Innovative Method to Simplify Manufacturing Process of Cellular Ceramic
A study led by the School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed an innovative method that overcomes the limitations of traditional additive manufacturing (3D printing), significantly simplifying and accelerating the production of geometrically complex cellular ceramics. This groundbreaking approach has the potential to revolutionize the design and processing of multifarious ceramic materials, opening up new possibilities for new applications in energy, electronics, and biomedicine, including robotics, solar cells, sensors, battery electrodes, and bactericidal devices.

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HKUST and SJTU physics researchers identify new multiple Majorana zero modes in superconducting SnTe
A collaborative research team led by Prof. Junwei Liu, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and Prof Jinfeng Jia and Prof Yaoyi Li from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), has identified the world’s first multiple Majorana zero modes (MZMs) in a single vortex of the superconducting topological crystalline insulator SnTe and exploited crystal symmetry to control the coupling between the MZMs. This discovery offers a new pathway to realizing fault-tolerant quantum computers, which is published in Nature*.