The Department of Electrical Engineering (EE) at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and six world-renowned technology companies, including ASM Pacific Technology Limited, Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited, Microsoft Hong Kong Limited, Sino Group, SmarTone Telecommunications (Holdings) Limited, and SUGA International (Holdings) Limited, announced the establishment of the CityU EE Joint Lab on 14 January. 

The new Lab marks the cooperation in promoting research and knowledge/technology transfer to steer the development of innovative technology in Hong Kong.

The CityU EE Joint Lab Programme aims at promoting collaboration between EE and government, industry associations, institutions, corporations, and research and development centres. By gathering research teams from the public and private sectors as well as EE, different research topics will be identified for solving practical application problems, and promoting knowledge and technology transfer. 

The programme also facilitates grant applications and fundraising for research projects, organises seminars to encourage exchanges and offers internship opportunities for EE students. An online platform for regularly sharing project information and progress has already been set up.

Since its establishment in 2019, the CityU EE Joint Lab Programme has connected with a total of 16 CityU EE Joint Lab Partners, including these six new partners. Professor Way Kuo, CityU President, Professor Stella Pang, Head of EE, Mr Peter Ng, Vice-President of Enabling Technology, ASM Pacific Technology Limited, Dr Brian Li, Executive Director and Executive Vice-President of Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited, Ms Cally Chan, General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong and Macau, Mr Andrew Young, Associate Director (Innovation) of Sino Group, Mr Stephen Chau, Chief Technology Officer of SmarTone Telecommunications (Holdings) Limited, and Dr Alfred Ng, Executive Director and Chief Technology Officer of SUGA International (Holdings) Limited, witnessed the opening of the CityU EE Joint Lab.

President Way Kuo delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. “CityU is striving to communicate and collaborate with the industry to promote research breakthroughs as well as to foster the development and application of science and technology,” he said. “Today I am delighted to witness the commencement of phase three of the joint laboratory project. I hope this will contribute to more innovative technologies in the future and help promote technology transfer and commercialisation to benefit our community.”

“We are delighted to be partnering with a wide range of organisations and corporations to promote the development of innovative technology in Hong Kong,” said Professor Stella Pang. “The CityU EE Joint Lab Programme can help cultivate students’ talents, and contribute to the local and global industries by cooperating with industry in innovative research projects and transforming the findings into technologies, benefiting the industry partners and government departments.”  

Mr Peter Ng said: “With the establishment of the ASMPT-CityU EE Joint Lab, ASMPT looks forward to forging a long-term collaborative relationship to foster innovation, explore emerging technologies, and create positive societal impact.” 

Dr Brian Li said: “We look forward to working with the EE Joint Lab to resolve a number of technology challenges and identify good EE graduates to help our Group’s further development.” 

Ms Cally Chan said: “We are pleased to be part of CityU EE Joint Lab and provide technological support in areas of Cloud and AI for our partners. We hope this partnership will fuel students’ innovation and empower CityU EE to achieve more in R&D. Microsoft Hong Kong is committed to grooming future-ready talents, and we look forward to more collaborations with industry to further accelerate the digital transformation of Hong Kong.”

Mr Daryl Ng Win-kong, Deputy Chairman of Sino Group, said: “We are delighted to participate in the CityU EE Joint Lab initiative, a platform connecting all sectors, from government authorities to commercial enterprises and from university to researchers, to groom researchers and promulgate innovations. Technology holds the key to our future. This meaningful platform is one step forward as Hong Kong develops competitive advantages in R&D as it grows into an international innovation hub. We look forward to more collaborations on urban solutions to build a more sustainable and innovative community.” Sino Group was represented by Mr Andrew Young at the ceremony.

Mr Stephen Chau said: “Through the SmarTone-CityU EE Joint Lab, SmarTone aspires to co-create an effective platform for cross-industry collaborations in developing innovative applications in the 5G era that will spearhead Smart City development in Hong Kong.” 

Dr Alfred Ng quoted Henry Ford as saying: “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success.” 

CityU EE’s research themes include 14 research topics, such as Antenna Design, Big Data, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics, Biomedical Systems, Biosensors, and Bioelectronics, Computer Engineering, Control Systems and Optimisation, Microelectronic Devices and Circuits, Nanotechnology and Nano devices, Networking and Internet of Things (IoT), Photonics, Power Electronics and Systems, Signal and Image Processing, Terahertz and Millimeter Waves, and Wireless Communications. 

A series of cooperative and technical research projects will be launched in accordance with the opening of the CityU EE Joint Lab.

Encouraging results from the second phase of the CityU-EE Joint Lab Programme include Sengital investing more than HK$1 million in the past year in the internship training programmes for CityU EE students, and invested HK$1.4 million in a research project for a security chip in 2020. The company is also jointly applying for a government research fund with two faculty professors. 

In addition, Xilinx has set up scholarships for outstanding local high school students to study engineering and applied jointly with faculty professors for a government research fund. Huawei has set up a research fund for joint research in underwater autonomous navigation robotic vehicles and has collaborated in the development and research of CPU processor design and AI chip with CityU EE. Corerain, located in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Cooperation Zone, has jointly developed applications of AI chips with CityU and provides teaching-related support. MicroChip actively provides teaching support for department in the Artificial Intelligence Internet of Things (AIoT) domain.