The University of Hong Kong(HKU)is launching anew interdisciplinary think tank,the Centre on Contemporary China and the World(CCCW).Its aim is to foster international collaboration to study China and global governance in aworld facing economic turbulence,environmental degradation,technological transformation,and geopolitical challenges.Professor LI Cheng,an internationally renowned political scientist,and aseasoned think tank scholar,will serve as CCCW’s founding director.Prior to joining HKU,Professor Li served as director of the Brookings Institution’s John L.Thornton China Center,where he remains anonresident senior fellow.Professor Li is also adirector of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations,a Distinguished Fellow of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at University of Toronto,a nonresident fellow at Yale University’s Paul Tsai China Center,and amember of the Council on Foreign Relations.CCCW’s inception arrives at acritical moment amidst escalating geopolitical tensions worldwide.CCCW builds on the robust foundation of HKU’s internationally renowned faculty,diverse student body,and exceptional academic tradition.By assembling alarge pool of researchers from around the world—including affiliated HKU faculties,post-doctoral fellows,distinguished visiting fellows,and young global China scholars,CCCW will promote interdisciplinary and international collaboration to address pressing governance challenges.“Hong Kong,uniquely positioned as acosmopolitan city,cultural crossroads,and bridge to the Greater Bay Area,is the ideal location for our new global think tank.Hong Kong’s influence on international discourse makes it acrucial enabler of global integrations.At HKU,we’re committed to nurturing meaningful interdisciplinary and international collaborations to facilitate these vital developments.”said Professor Xiang Zhang,President and Vice-chancellor of HKU.CCCW’s initial research directions encompass five areas:science and technology transformation;climate change and alternative energy;economic and financial reforms;political leadership and generational transition;and geopolitical landscape change,with an emphasis on the Sino-U.S.relationship.CCCW will be officially launched on December 15(Friday),at ahigh-profile conference themed“A Renewed Hub and aNew Horizon”(新樞紐、新格局).The launch will include afull day of dynamic programming including keynote speeches,fireside conversations,and panel discussions featuring prominent scholars,diplomats,and practitioners from Hong Kong,mainland China,and around the world.Further details on the programme and speakers will be provided later.Through publications,public forums,private roundtables,and media commentaries,CCCW scholars will strive to produce comprehensive,original,accessible,high-quality,and creative research.The Centre aims to become aleading voice of reason,a bridge for mutual understanding,and aconstructive force for peace across the Pacific and around the world. 查看详细>>

The application of robots to our daily lives is becoming more extensive,such as in medical applications where they can be used for the development of sophisticated surgical instruments,or in home applications such as taking care of elderly people or in rehabilitation equipment,as well as other social,industrial and commercial uses.The University of Hong Kong(HKU)signed an agreement with Tohoku University,Japan(Tohokudai)on 16 March,2019 to collaborate on general academic exchange,as well as research of transformative artificial intelligence(AI)and robotics technologies.The partnership will transform and upgrade AI and robotics technology with the outstanding research and academic achievements of the two universities.This collaboration is aimed at opening up new technologies for the transformation of the manufacturing industry and of mega cities.Mr Nicholas WYang,the Secretary for Innovation and Technology of the HKSAR Government said that true innovation comes from collaboration.The Government is working at full steam to build two research clusters focusing on healthcare technologies and AI and robotics technologies.These are the areas where Hong Kong has strength and potential in its pursuit of innovation and technology.By pooling together the world’s top scientific institutions to collaborate with local universities,Hong Kong is poised to become ahub for global research collaboration.The collaboration between HKU and Tohokudai is astrategic one that brings together top researchers from both universities to focus on cutting-edge research and application development in the fields of transformative artificial intelligence and robotics,including establishing aCentre with the theme being Transformative AI/Robotics Technologies(TransART),to spearhead projects around transforming manufacturing industries and mega cities through the application of AI and Robotics.Professor Zhang Xiang,President and Vice-Chancellor of HKU said,“This partnership is important for HKU as Tohoku University is one of the top universities for programmes in robotics.Together,we will strive to achieve pioneering world-class research projects,bring more learning opportunities for our students,and build greater engagement with industrial partners.I look forward to seeing our teams working together so that we can translate our research into solutions that will make areal difference in peoples’lives.”“We are eager to further strengthen the tie between the two universities and closely work together in the field of Transformative AI and Robotics Technology(TransART)to create social innovation and solve social problems in Hong Kong and Japan.”,said Professor Hideo Ohno,President of Tohokudai.While HKU has astrong platform technology in the areas of Computer Vision,Sensing,Control,Motion and Planning,Systems Integration and Modeling and Simulation,Tohokudai,being one of the three original Imperial Universities in Japan and one of the top universities in Japan for programmes in robotics,is recognised for its cutting-edge applications such as creating human-friendly robots which enable intelligent exchanges with humans for society and industry use.Under the collaboration,the team hopes to transform and upgrade the technologies of AI and robotics,to improve the automation technology and to develop smart and flexible robots with self-learning ability that are adaptable to different environment and materials,such as handling 3-dimensional elastic or flexible materials.In the future,the research team will focus to optimise the technology of industrial robots and collaborative robots,identify bottlenecks and tackle critical issues using the newly developed technology in traditional industries like the manufacturing and garment industry.It also plans to make use of AI and Big Data to upgrade existing applications like evacuation planning,post-disaster management system and develop rescue robots etc.The team intend to apply for the next round of the HKSAR government‘s major initiative,AIR InnoHK under the Innovation&Technology Commission. 查看详细>>

The University of Hong Kong(HKU)and Tsinghua University(THU)signed amemorandum of understanding(MoU)today(November 30)to collaobrate on Dual Bachelor’s Degree Programmes.By leveraging the unique capabilities of both HKU and THU,two four-year Dual Bachelor’s Degree Programmes will be offered,one in Business and Economics,the other in Computer Science and Technology.Students who complete the programmes will receive bachelor‘s degree certificates from both universities respectively.HKU President Professor Xiang Zhang and THU President Professor Qiu Yong officiated at the signing ceremony.This is the first time for HKU to collaborate with aMainland university on dual degree programmes at undergraduate level.“One of the key strategies in leading HKU to become aworld class university is to develop in-depth partnerships with world-leading universities.On top of our many collaborations with leading universities globally,I am delighted to enter into this partnership with Tsinghua which combines both universities’strengths towards aworld class education.The dual degree programmes will also give students achance to experience different learning environments and culture in the course of their academic pursuits.“said Professor Zhang.“Further to the signing of the Global Strategic Academic Partnership agreement with HKU last month,I am pleased to step up the collaboration with them through the launch of the dual degree programmes.I believe this will be the start of many more academic partnerships to come,which leverage on the strengths of both universities and offer the best of what we have in order to nurture agroup of global-minded leaders to take on challenges in the world,”said Professor Qiu.The dual bachelor’s degree programmes will be open to students worldwide and the first batch of intake is expected in the academic year 2020-21.Detailed admission requirements and students’quota for each programme will be announced at alater stage. 查看详细>>

The University of Hong Kong(HKU)and the Tsinghua University(Tsinghua)have signed astrategic agreement to foster in-depth collaboration in academic,research and knowledge exchange.The agreement was signed on October 18,2018 by Professor Sham Mai Har,HKU Associate Vice-President(Research),and Professor Yang Bin,Tsinghua University Vice-President and Provost,in Shenzhen at the 2018 Tsinghua University Global Strategic Academic Partnership Symposium.Professor Sham also represented the University at the Panel Discussion by Research Vice-Presidents at the symposium.Professor Sham was delighted to see HKU’s closer alliance with Tsinghua.She said:“This partnership will build strongly off many pre-existing links.The two universities can fully build on their existing strengths in respective disciplines to work together across shared areas of priority research under this new initiative.”The agreement will promote cooperation in areas such as staff and faculty exchange,research collaboration(PI-PI research projects)and joint scientific activities between HKU and Tsinghua. 查看详细>>

Computer Science>Digital Libraries.Title:International Collaboration in Science:The Global Map and the Network.Authors:Loet Leydesdorff,Caroline Wagner,Han Woo Park,Jonathan Adams(Submitted on 4Jan 2013)Abstract:The network of international co-authorship relations has been dominated by certain European nations and the USA,but this network is rapidly expanding at the global level.Between 40 and 50 countries appear in the center of the international network in 2011. 查看详细>>

The University of Hong Kong launches“The Introduction to FinTech MOOC”,a six-week online course on Financial Technology,providing afoundational understanding of the forces that are shaping the world of financial services.Over 13,000 students have enrolled in the course within one day of its launch.Members of the public interested in the course can enroll through this website:https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-to-fintech.The course will last for six weeks,with learners expected to spend one to three hours per week on the course.Participants who completed the course can apply for acertificate.Designed by leading academics from awide range of disciplines with input from industry leaders including SuperCharger,the Centre for Finance,Technology and Entrepreneurship,Microsoft,PwC and the Asia Capital Markets Institute,the course provides the latest key trends in finance,technology and regulation,to better prepare for not only the opportunities but also the risks and challenges,to traditional financial institutions and business models and those working in them.The course coordinator,Professor Douglas W.Arner,Kerry Holdings Professor in Law of the University of Hong Kong said:“As one of the world‘s most important international financial centres,the technological transformation of finance is central to Hong Kong‘s future.This programme brings together an interdisciplinary team of FinTech leaders from inside and outside the University,aiming to provide learners with the tools to interact between finance,technology and regulation in their lives and careers.”This programme is designed for those working in finance,technology,regulation or FinTech,those studying related subjects,or those just interested in learning more about one of the most exciting processes underway today.The MOOC is taught by leading experts in FinTech from arange of backgrounds,including professors,market professionals and entrepreneurs.Course content will be illustrated with practical business examples. 查看详细>>

The Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor(Global)of the University of Hong Kong(HKU)Professor WJohn Kao led adelegation to visit the University of Toronto(U of Toronto)in Canada and the University of Chicago(U of Chicago)in USA from April 27 to May 1to enhance academic collaborations.The delegation was joined by members from the Faculties of Arts,Architecture,Medicine,Science,Social Sciences and the Graduate School.During the visit,HKU and Uof Toronto established aGlobal Strategic Partnership Fund that will foster adeeper institutional engagement across all levels and result in broader local and international impact.The Institutions will contribute to the Fund on amatched fund basis which will offer faculty and students increased access to research and learning opportunities across disciplines and across borders.Building upon HKU-U of Toronto existing collaborations,a trilateral collaboration with Uof Toronto and non-profit national research organization MITACS was established.A part of the tripartite agreement is to have MITACS’support for Uof Toronto students to come to HKU and for HKU students to go to Uof Toronto or other Canadian institutions through MITACS’Global Link programme.During the visit at the Uof Toronto,HKU members had atown hall ideas exchange forum with the university’s students,academic and non-academic staff,and HKU exchange students.Informal discussions were heard across all aspects of HKU disciplines.Professor Kao also had achance to inform the Uof Toronto community about HKU’s global and Mainland strategy. 查看详细>>