To foster secondary school students’ understanding of intellectual property and to stimulate creativity, CityU’s Office of the Provost and Deputy President and the College of Science (CSCI) co-organised the first “CityU Science Patent Challenge” in 2022/23. The Gold Award-winning team from Diocesan Girls’ School and the Silver Award winners from Heep Yunn School and Po Leung Kuk Ngan Po Ling College filed their Hong Kong short-term patent applications earlier, with professional support from a patent attorney appointed by the College.
We are delighted that Hong Kong short-term patents were recently granted to their inventions by the Intellectual Property Department, HKSAR Government. The team representatives were awarded the patent certificates at the press conference hosted by CSCI on 15 September 2023. The College revisited the outstanding performance of the teams through video and sharing at the press conference, and introduced the details of the 2nd CityU Science Patent Challenge, which is now open for registration.
Professor Ray Cheung, Associate Provost (Digital Learning) in the Office of the Provost and Deputy President, first delivered a welcoming speech at the press conference.
Professor Raymond Chan, Dean of CityU’s College of Science, explained in his welcome speech that age does not matter when it comes to creativity. “Secondary school students can be inventors,” he said. “The Search Reports from the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) for the three patent applications recognised the merits of the student’s inventive capabilities in producing novel and inventive concepts that are patentable, proving that teams participating in the ‘CityU Science Patent Challenge’ are all elite.”
Professor Daniel Ho, CSCI’s Associate Dean (Undergraduate Education) and Professor Alex Wong, CSCI’s Associate Dean (Outreach and Internationalisation), revisited the outstanding performance of the teams at the press conference, and introduced the details of the 2nd CityU Science Patent Challenge, which is now open for registration.
All full-time secondary school students can participate individually or form a team of no more than eight participants in the name of their school. Students and their mentor teachers can join the “Intellectual Property Workshop” in mid-October and seek professional advice from CityU professors related to their research direction. Shortlisted teams for the Final Pitch will be invited to present their inventions to the judges in person in February 2024. The Gold and Silver Award-winning teams will be provided with the full fee and a consultation with a patent attorney for the application of a Hong Kong short-term patent. The patent will help protect their inventions and convey the message of respecting intellectual property.
Professor Cheung and Professor Chan presented the short-term patent certificates to the representatives of the Diocesan Girls’ School team, the Gold Award winner in the first CityU Science Patent Challenge, and then the representatives from the Silver Award winner, Heep Yunn School.
Li Xinjie and But Wing Hei, representatives from the Diocesan Girls’ School team, introduced the Hexolnetic Solar Panels, their award-winning invention. The multi-faceted device is compact and can be adjusted to any desired angle to maximise efficiency in capturing sunlight. The devices are easily connected and disconnected from each other magnetically. The idea of developing solar panels came up after their discussions with CityU professors arranged by CSCI, and they learned a lot about patents and intellectual property through the competition. They encouraged other students who love science and innovation to seize the opportunity and sign up for the 2nd CityU Science Patent Challenge.
An information session for the 2nd CityU Science Patent Challenge is held after the press conference. Professor Alex Wong took the lead in introducing competition details to about 60 interested students and teachers.