Press Release

Ms. Anna Liu, Senior Manager and Dr. Wilman W.W. Zou, Manager of ASTRI were invited to demonstrate ASTRI’s technologies at the IndustryConnect@Science Park – Federation of Hong Kong Industries (FHKI) held on 29 September 2016 at Hong Kong Science Park. The theme of the event was “Industry 4.0 – Digitalization and Automation”.

Ms. Liu and Dr. Zou introduced ASTRI’s latest technologies on machine vision and Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) prototype to the audience.

Around 40 participants from the industry attend the event. The business matching session offered an opportunity for our R&D expertise to mingle with the participants and meet with the potential collaborators.

Organised the Hong Kong Science Park and FHKI, the event enables incubatees and companies in Science Park to connect and collaborate with various industry partners and associations, and help catalyse their growth and development through business matching.

Dr. Wilman W.W. Zou introduces ASTRI’s latest technologies on machine vision.

ASTRI’s Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) prototype.

ASTRI has had the honour of receiving Prof. Kuo Way, President, Prof. Jian Lu, Vice-President (Research and Technology), Mr. Sunny Lee, Vice-President (Administration) and Prof. Hong Yan, Dean, College of Science and Engineering of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) on 29 September. Mr. Wong Ming-yam, BBS, JP, Chairman, Dr. Frank Tong, CEO and senior management of ASTRI warmly greeted the delegates.

A number demonstrations including Security Intelligence Sharing Platform, Blockchain, Big Data Analytics, real-time 2D/3D conversion and visual inspection technology were showcased to give the delegates an in-depth understanding of ASTRI’s R&D projects. The delegates also toured around Cyber Range Laboratory and Next Generation Network Laboratory, followed by a fruitful discussion on nurturing R & D talents and potential collaboration between ASTRI and CityU.

Mr. Wong Ming Yam, Chairman of ASTRI expressed heart-felt thanks to Prof. Kuo for paying a visit to ASTRI.  Dr. Frank Tong, CEO of ASTRI remarked, “ASTRI and CityU share the common goal of nurturing research talents for Hong Kong.  We look forward to having more collaboration opportunities between CityU and ASTRI in the near future.”

Dr. Andrew Wat, Director, Security and Data Sciences of ASTRI was invited as a panelist at the Fintech O-2-O Global Summit held on 28 September.  At the panel discussion titled “Cybersecurity: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, Dr. Wat shared with the audience his insights on cyber security threats and disruptive technologies on FinTech cyber security.

Dr. Elaine Zhang, Manager of Communications Technologies Division, ASTRI was invited as a guest speaker at the Advanced Communications and Information Technology Forum 2016 held on 27 September 2016 in Nantong, China.  At the forum, Dr. Zhang delivered a presentation titled “5G Technology for Smarter Cities” and shared with the audience ASTRI’s latest 5G R&D activities, including the development of Centralized Radio Access Network (C-RAN) for new radio (NR), Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) algorithms, and mission critical communications for low latency applications.

The forum was organised by Nantong Industrial Technology Institute (NTITI) with Prof. Jianhua Lu, Honorary President of NTITI and Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences officiating at the opening ceremony. The forum attracted more than 300 participants including representatives from major universities in China, such as Tsinghua University and Nantong University, Nantong Government as well as representatives from information and communications technology (ICT) industries. Participants exchanged with one another and shared ideas on the future communication technologies including wide-area coverage broadband communications, satellite-terrestrial mobile networks, 5G access technologies, internet of things (IoT) and smart cities.

ASTRI has recently established a Joint Laboratory with NTITI focusing on the research and development of the next generation wireless network solutions. NTITI was founded by the Nantong Government in 2015 focusing on the applied research and technology transfer of the advanced communication technologies. NTITI has also established a joint R&D centre with Tsinghua University and Nantong University to leverage their technologies on aerospace and wireless multimedia communications for enhancing competitiveness in the telecommunication industries.

Prof. Jianhua Lu, Honorary President of NTITI and Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences officiates at the opening ceremony of the Advanced Communications and Information Technology Forum 2016.

Dr. Elaine Zhang, Manager of Communications Technologies Division, ASTRI delivers a presentation titled “5G Technology for Smarter Cities” at the forum.

Dr. Frederico Ma Chi Ngai, President of Administrative Committee, Macao Special Administrative Region Science and Technology Development Fund led a delegation to ASTRI on 27 September 2016. Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Meikei Ieong, Chief Technology Officer and Dr. Justin Cheong, VP, Next Generation Network Cum Acting Director of Software and Systems of ASTRI extended a warm welcome to the delegation. They introduced the delegates ASTRI’s latest technologies such as LTE small cell, and had an in-depth discussion on Macau’s development of smart city.

ASTRI participated in the PT/EXPO China 2016 and successfully showcased its “5G Experiences for Smarter City” technologies. Visitors from over 40 companies around the world were attracted to ASTRI’s booth. After visiting, many visitors were impressed by our technologies and expressed interests in it.

PT/EXPO China is one of the largest and most influential platforms of ICT exchanges and exhibition in Asia. It was held from 20 to 23 September 2016 at the China International Exhibition Centre, Beijing, China. In the exhibition, ASTRI showcased a number of technologies including (1) Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) platform, (2) FastCloud Orchestrator and (3) End-to-end Centralised and Coordinated Radio Access Network (C-RAN) solution.

Lots of positive feedbacks were received from visitors and collaborators. Let’s see how they thought about us and our technologies.

“We are impressed with the wireless technologies demonstrated in ASTRI’s booth. The Future Network Department of Beijing Institute of Collaborative Innovation (BICI) is looking for technology transfer and industry collaborations in the advanced network communication technologies. We believe there will be a lot of opportunities in leveraging ASTRI’s technologies, such as MEC, Narrow band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and C-RAN, to contribute to different government and enterprise projects.” Mr. Tian, Vice Executive Director of Future Network Department of BICI.

“We are very pleased to see ASTRI’s advanced technologies in the exhibition. In the meantime, ASTRI and Nantong Industrial Technology Institute (NTITI) have newly set up a joint laboratory. NTITI has already established a joint R&D center with Tsinghua University and Nantong University. With the establishment of ASTRI-NTITI joint lab, we can further strengthen our collaboration and leverage all expertise to develop the next generation wireless network solutions.” Prof. Ning Ge, Associate Dean of NTITI.

“ASTRI’s MEC platform uses cutting-edge virtualisation and datapath packet processing technology. It is one of the very few leading companies that is able to demonstrate this technology. It is very impressive.” Dr. Wen-hao Yang, Managing Director, Wireless Communications Laboratory, Chunghwa Telecom.

“This exhibition is very successful with a lot of customers attracted to ASTRI’s booth. With ASTRI’s advanced technologies, we have been developing new solutions in wireless network infrastructure to cater different needs of our customers. We will continue working closely with ASTRI to jointly promote our solutions, bringing more values to the industries.” Mr. Haven Huang, Chief Executive Officer, Sunnada Network.

“We are happy to see the next generation wireless access technologies such as C-RAN and network functions virtualisation (NFV) in the exhibition. With the successful collaborations since 2008, we will continue collaborating with ASTRI on the development of next generation small cell, terminal and core-network technologies.” Mr. Jianghui Zhang, Director, Innofidei.

Dr. Meikei Ieong, Chief Technology Officer (5^th from right), Dr. Justin Chuang, Vice President, Next Generation Network Cum Acting Director of Software and Systems (5^th from left), and Mr. Bill Zhang, Senior Director, IC Design Analog of ASTRI (4^th from right) extend warm welcome and introduce ASTRI’s technologies to Mr. Tian, Vice Executive Director of Future Network Department of BICI (4^th from left).

Dr. Wen-hao Yang, Managing Director, Wireless Communications Laboratory, Chunghwa Telecom (left) visits ASTRI’s booth and takes a look of its “5G Experiences for Smarter City” technologies.

Visitors are experiencing ASTRI’s Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) virtual reality (VR)  technology.

Visitors show interests in C-RAN demonstration.

Mr. Bill Zhang, Senior Director, IC Design Analog of ASTRI (right) introduce the NB-IoT solution to BICI representative (left).

Dr. Duncan Wong, Vice President, Financial Technologies of ASTRI was invited to be one of the speakers and panelists in the FinTech SIG Seminar: Cybersecurity Readiness for the Hong Kong Financial Services Industry, organised by Hong Kong Computer Society on 26 September 2016 at United Centre, Admiralty. Dr. Wong gave a presentation on “Cybersecurity Technology in Financial Services” and joined the panel discussion of “How should Financial Institutions respond to Technological and Regulatory Changes in Cybersecurity?”

To facilitate fellows of ASTRI Innovation Runway (AIR) Programme create a successful start-up, ASTRI organised an entrepreneurship field trip to Beijing from 21 to 23 September 2016.

This entrepreneurship field trip aims to allow AIR fellows to have a deeper understanding of the business development trends and entrepreneurship environment in China. It also offers them an opportunity to look for potential investors through visiting and meeting with representatives from technology companies, research centres, incubation centres, start-up accelerators, and investors, etc. in Beijing.

Seven teams including the newly admitted fellows in August this year joined the field trip in which they visited a number of famous technology companies and research institutions in China such as Microsoft Venture Accelerator, Baidu, Zhongguancun Inno Way, Beihang University Entrepreneurship Base, etc. to learn more about the incubation ecosystem in China and exchanged views with the entrepreneurs and their representatives.

Mr. Ringo Chan from MyParents team which focuses on developing technologies that address the needs of the aging parents said, “The experience gained from this field trip is invaluable. The trip offers me an opportunity to visit a number of renowned technology companies as well as Zhongguancun Inno Way. These visits gave me new insights into the setting of start-ups.”

Apart from the company visits, the AIR fellows also participated in the roadshows held at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Institute of Collaborative Innovation (BICI), and Binggo Cafe, an innovative incubator of Tsinghua Technology Innovation Holdings to showcase their technologies and present their ideas to potential investors, fund managers and partners for possible collaboration. Constructive feedbacks were received which were useful for their business development. In addition, the AIR fellows visited 1898 café, a crowdfunding cafe, to learn more about the crowdfunding business model and met with alumni from Peking University for ideas exchanges.

“The company visits and roadshows enable our team to understand more about the investment model in China so that we can be more targeted and focused to develop our technologies that fit the China market. We will further devise our business strategies for China market,” said Mr. Jake Chan from Recipio team which specialises in developing digital receipt solution.

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Over 70 students from Dongguan Wang Niu Dun Duo Wei School and Caritas Yuen Long Chan Chun Ha Secondary School visited ASTRI on 23 September 2016.  ASTRI’s R&D expert introduced to them ASTRI’s background and showed them some latest technologies such as facial recognition, Naked Eye 3D and Cyber Range Laboratory.