Hong Kong is world-renowned for its cinema, business, cuisine and cultural traditions. The people are diverse and many have achieved global success – an accomplishment celebrated this Friday at Phoenix TV’s You Bring Charm to the World Awards at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
This year’s prize theme, Our Changing World, encourages artists to explore various aspects of global development – socially, culturally, technologically and environmentally – that affect us all differently. A total of 102 works by local and international artists made the shortlist this year – representing nearly two thirds female representation, setting a record.
The BOCHK Science and Technology Innovation Prize was launched in 2022 with a mission of attracting top scientific talent, nurturing forward-looking scientists and helping build Hong Kong into an active innovation and technology hub. A total of 168 researchers applied this year and the top five researchers for each of the award fields (artificial intelligence and robotics; life and health; new materials & energy; advanced manufacturing & FinTech) will be announced today.
Professor Jia Ya from the Chinese University of Hong Kong received the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics award. His research encompassed multifunction robots featuring autonomous navigation and object recognition – two essential elements of intelligent systems. Furthermore, his students founded over 140 science and technology enterprises through incubation programs under his guidance, making him one of the key figures in robotics today.
At The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Professors Au Man Ho Allen and Xiapu Daniel won both New Materials and Energy awards as well as Advanced Manufacturing awards. Both teams developed innovative yet cost-effective materials and devices used for medical devices, automotive, aerospace and other applications while simultaneously founding spin-off companies.
Team from the HKUST School of Computer Engineering were also recognized for their efforts in machine learning. Their system can automatically identify patterns in big data and can provide physicians with vital insights for diagnosing diseases as well as making informed decisions regarding treatments and rehabilitation plans for patient treatment and rehabilitation plans – helping reduce hospital admissions while improving clinical outcomes.