新聞及香港科大故事

校長史維教授在世界經濟論壇發表署名文章，分享科大研究團隊與全球夥伴携手努力共同對抗2019冠狀病毒病疫情。以下為文章全文： 隨著2019冠狀病毒病（Covid-19）遍及各大洲，影響著數百萬人，各國衛生部門決策者和世界各地的科研人員都在加緊研究抑制這種病毒進一步傳播的方法。我們堅定不移地相信，大學正在並且應該一直為這場戰役作出貢獻，以應對當前以及未來像這樣嚴重並且可能長期持續的公共衛生危機。 新冠病毒具有高度傳染性，這意味著我們迫切需要從加快病毒載體的檢測、阻止病毒的傳播到研發疫苗上找到相應的解決方案。香港科技大學的研究團隊不懈努力，為全球冠狀病毒控制工作做出了貢獻。 在疫情爆發的早期， 1月中旬獲得冠狀病毒的基因序列後，我們採用了最新的微流生物芯片技術來提供便擕式檢測儀，將檢測所需時間減少到40分鐘，該設備是提供早期並可靠的新冠病毒核酸分子檢測的最大飛躍之一。 在感染控制方面，我們開發了PECD抗菌塗層，可殺滅多達99.99％的各種感染性病毒。在醫院的空氣淨化系統中，將其用作空氣微粒篩檢程式的塗層將有助於遏制病毒的傳播，該技術已在武漢市火神山醫院採用。最近開發的另一種新的抗菌配方MAP-1可有效殺死比冠狀病毒更具抵抗力的病毒。可在不同的物體表面甚至衣服和外科口罩上使用，它可以提供持久防護，防止病毒污染公共場所。 此外，我們的研究人員還開發了許多無人車，這些無人車配備了全地形3D影像以及大規模的視覺和感測器導航技術，已在中國多個疫情嚴重的城市部署。儘量減少人與人之間的接觸，以降低人與人之間傳播的風險。同樣，我們校友生產的數百台機器人也被送往中國各地的醫院和隔離區，為患者提供食物和藥物的運送服務，防止交叉感染。 說回中國香港地區，我們以新技術支援香港政府進行體溫監控和檢疫措施。我們還瞭解到，防護口罩和消毒劑的供應稀缺，因此我們正在投入研究資源，以尋找可能的方式來高效率、低成本地生產這些防護用品，以緩解供應緊張的情況。

HKUST IEMS Thought Leadership Briefs No. 36

The United States maintains it has the upper hand being the bigger "buyer" in the relationship, while the Chinese argue the goods of lower costs it exports are doing a big favor to US consumers, who would ultimately suffer if the costs of such goods continue to rise because of tariffs. While China is busy fighting the trade war externally, Beijing is concurrently trying to improve the efficiency of the economy to make it more robust and resilient in such difficult times. An often-overlooked feature of Sino-US trade imbalances is that although Beijing runs up huge trade surpluses in the manufacturing sector, it has large deficits in the service sector. These supply and demand mismatches suggest that there may exist inefficient misallocations in the Chinese economy. Economic efficiency is achieved when factors of production in an economy are distributed or allocated to most productive firms or sectors with the highest demand.

縱觀現今職場，不少僱主評核人才時仍以技能為重，性情、態度等「軟技能」似乎成了次要。香港科技大學人文社會科學學院院長蔡欣怡教授對此並不認同，反而深信創意才是未來最重要的工作技能。 蔡教授指出，全球高速走向自動化，今天的尖端科技和專利，數年內已可淪為明日黃花，但批判性思維、創意等軟技能卻剛好相反。在人工智能和先進機器學習技術廣泛應用的年代，若人類仍只專注掌握容易被電腦取代的技能，可說極為不智。 蔡教授生於美國的台灣移民家庭。身為長女的她，最初也曾打算當醫生、律師或加入投資銀行工作，但後來還是決定主修政治科學，走上截然不同的人生道路。「我並非喜愛政治，亦無意從政，只希望多了解其他文化和制度。」她花了好些日子才弄清楚自己的志向，成為學者。她也直言父母需要很長時間才明白和肯定女兒的成就，但事情最終圓滿結局。 在科大，蔡教授不僅是首位擔任正教授和社會科學部主管的女性，更於2018年7月成為人文社會科學學院首位女院長。在她領導下，學院致力培養畢業生掌握如倫理、道德判斷等不能被機器取代的能力)或如創意等機器無法與人腦媲美的技能。她說:「在科大，我們高度重視創新發明和創業精神，而主導這些新嘗試的幕後主腦，就是創意！」科技發達，但徒具功能的產品無法贏得消費者青睞，真正成功的產品，必須外觀漂亮，甚至有觸動人心的魅力。 正因如此，人文社會科學學院跟科大的高等研究院、工學院及理學院合辦科技及媒體藝術課程；又夥拍工商管理學院提供心理學副修課程，歡迎全校同學選讀。「即使行政人員擁有工商管理碩士學歷，但由於忽略了管理學上人性的一面，仍然無法有效管治公司。這類例子屢見不鮮。」蔡教授直言，這正是學院開辦心理學課程的原因。另外，她也留意到作曲課程深得工學院學生歡迎，完美體現了創意與科技的「天作之合」。 蔡教授說：「我的目標是把人文社會科學學院發展為科大的核心與靈魂。在一所以科技命名的大學，這聽來有點冒進吧；但不要忘記，我們傳授的價值觀和技能，是放諸四海而皆準。學院舉辦各式課程、專題研習和活動，讓所有科大生都能夠學習額外技能，充實自己。這樣難得的機會，其他大學的理科和工科畢業生未必可以享有。」 

The global race for fifth generation supremacy is under way, with countries competing to be the first to provide 5G mobile broadband services. The ultra-fast network will prompt inventions, of which today we cannot even dream. Countries around the world have devoted much resources to developing, manufacturing and deploying the new equipment necessary for 5G transmissions. China, for instance, has recently become highly influential in the field with its ability to develop infrastructure for 5G systems worldwide. In Asia, Hong Kong has been blamed for being slow to launch the new service in comparison with the mainland, South Korea and Japan. Actually, a delay is not necessarily a bad thing, as it allows Hong Kong to have a longer testing period to ensure a more reliable and decent 5G mobile service. Hong Kong's privately-owned telecom market is very competitive and cautious.

Unmanned aircraft systems started to gain attention in US military operations more than a decade ago, but nowadays, people enjoy flying drones for photography and videography purposes. Drones are also gaining widespread acceptance for goods delivery, surveying and scientific research. I have two recreational drones, so I was eager to examine the three-month drone regulation proposals put out by the Civil Aviation Department in late 2017. There are six recommendations for the UAS regulatory regime: a registration system; risk-based classification of operations; training and assessment requirements; drone maps; insurance requirements; and indoor operations. The recommendations are sound, but a number of salient issues were omitted. The first is the absence of regulations governing drone manufacturers.

By Donald Low, Professor of Practice in Public Policy and Chen Kejun, master of public policy student Leaders from more than 30 countries gathered in Beijing late last month for a forum on the Belt and Road Initiative. In his speech at the opening ceremony, President Xi Jinping stressed that "the market should play a decisive role in resource allocation." This appears to be in response to international concerns about the "debt trap," the cost-benefit calculus of Belt and Road projects, and the possible export of China's governance practices. To address Belt and Road doubts, China should take three steps to strengthen the role of the market in the initiative. First, it should enhance transparency and market discipline by making public procurement procedures, tendering processes and lending standards.

科大生命科學部助理教授張曉東博士及物理學系助理教授羅錦團博士榮獲裘槎基金會頒發2015年度「裘槎前瞻科研大獎」，以表揚他們於科研領域的卓越成就。 請按此獲取更多資訊。