Delegates from Securities and Futures Commission including Ms. Benedicte Nolens, Senior Director, Head of Risk and Strategy, Mr. Ron Chiong, Associate Director, Risk and Strategy, and Senior Managers, Risk and Strategy Mr. Rogers Chan and Ms. Sara Cheng visited ASTRI on 10 June. Apart from engaging in fruitful discussion with the senior management of ASTRI, the delegates also toured around ASTRI Security Lab and Cyber Range Lab, and viewed a number of demonstrations of ASTRI’s technologies.
ASTRI Board Chairman Mr. Wong Ming-yam, BBS, JP spoke as a keynote speaker at the Industrialist Forum titled Reindustrialisation and Industry 4.0 organised by Federation of Hong Kong Industries and KPMG on 16 June 2016. Mr. Wong shared his insights on the roles of ASTRI in reindustrialization. Mr. Wong explained that if Hong Kong is keen on bearing a more important role in reindustrialisation and industry 4.0, the city should focus on the following 3 areas including:
Mr. Wong shared with participants how ASTRI’s Innovative Runway Programme (AIR Programme) helps nurture young tech-entrepreneurs. He also discussed various industrial applications of ASTRI’s technologies including Random Bin Picking for Industrial Robot, Deep Learning Defect Inspection, Image / Video Tracking and Recognition and Human Motion Recognition, to name but a few. He stressed that industry partners and ASTRI should work hand in hand to create an ecosystem that drives innovations, thus enabling a smarter world.
(7th from left) ASTRI Board Chairman Mr. Wong Ming-yam, BBS, JP takes a group photos with Mr. Nicholas Yang, JP, Secretary for Innovation and Technology (centre) and other guests at the forum.
Mr. Wong shares with audience his insights on the roles of Hong Kong and of ASTRI in reindustrialisation
Senior management of Bank of China including General Manager Dr. Weimin Guo, Mr. Li Zheng and Mr. Duan Lin of E-finance Department visited ASTRI on 16 June 2016. ASTRI’s CEO Dr. Frank Tong, CTO Dr. Ieong Meikei, and Director of Office of Chief Technology Officer Mr. Ryan Chung extended a warm welcome to the delegates and introduced to them ASTRI’s latest technologies including ASTRI Security Lab, Cyber Range Lab, Blockchain, facial recognition, HPE Data Analytics Lab, Naked Eye 3D Display Lab, AI on Chinese character recognition and behavioral authentication.
Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) and Huawei are pleased to join hands to co-host the international standard meeting of 3GPP RAN4 #79AH at Hong Kong Science Park from 28th to 30th June 2016. It is the first time for ASTRI to hold the 3GPP RAN4 meeting and it is the first time this meeting is held in Hong Kong in its history.
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a global collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations. The scope of 3GPP includes the development and maintenance of standards of Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced. The 3GPP specification work is done in Technical Specification Groups (TSGs) and Working Groups (WGs). Radio Access Network (RAN) Work Group (WG) 4 works on the radio frequency (RF) parameters and base station (BS) conformance, and derives the requirements for transmission and reception parameters, and for channel demodulation.
The meeting aims at finalising the progress of Narrow Band IOT (NB-IOT) and defining other Work Items in LTE-Advanced timely. The key topics of this 3-day meeting will cover BS RF conformance testing, radio resource management (RRM) and demodulation performance for NB-IOT; user equipment (UE) RRM demodulation and channel state information (CSI) reporting for licensed-assisted access to unlicensed spectrum (LAA); and elevation beamforming/full-dimension multi-input multi-output (MIMO) for LTE UE demodulation in LTE-Advanced.
Delegates from global telecommunications operators, equipment manufacturers, mobile terminals and chipset vendors including China Mobile, NTT DOCOMO, Vodafone, Huawei, ZTE, Ericsson, Nokia, China Academy of Telecommunications Technology (CATT), Intel, Qualcomm, HiSilicon, Samsung, MediaTek, Spreadtrum, LG Electronics, Sony and NEC, to name but a few, this meeting is expected to achieve important progress and extensive consensus on NB-IOT and LTE-Advanced standardisation, thereby contributing to migration to 5G and development of NB-IOT as well as Smart City.
Following is the host partner address by Mr. Wong Ming-yam, BBS, JP, Chairman of ASTRI at Day 1 of EmTech Hong Kong held on 7 Jun.
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Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute, or ASTRI, to be the host partner of MIT Technology Review’s EmTech Hong Kong Conference.
This is the first time that this prestigious MIT event is staged in Hong Kong. However, Hong Kong is closer to MIT than many have imagined. There are some 4,000 MIT graduates from Hong Kong now working in key positions around the world.
This morning, we have at least three distinguished MIT HK-alumni among us. Our Financial Secretary, the Honourable John Tsang, studied architecture at MIT. ASTRI’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Frank Tong, completed his PhD research at the MIT Lincoln Lab; and our Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Meikei Ieong, earned his MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He will soon talk about how we are to enable Hong Kong as a Smart City in a 5G environment.
EmTech is a conference on emerging technologies that will change the way we live today. While innovators from around the world put their heads together in Hong Kong on the next generation of technological breakthroughs, we at ASTRI are very excited to take this opportunity to showcase our R&D competence, spanning from FinTech, Next Generation Network, Intelligent Manufacturing, Medical and Health to Smart City.
ASTRI has a team of 400 engineers. We have produced a volume of home-grown technologies. Since Year 2000, we have applied for over 900 patents in China, the U.S. and other countries, and have been granted more than 500. So far, we have transferred more than 700 technologies to the industry, generating a total income of some HK$450 million.
Hong Kong is a vibrant city by all standards. A few days ago, the Swiss IMD World Competitiveness Center named Hong Kong as the most competitive economy in the world, eclipsing Switzerland, the United States and Singapore. In terms of reach and development, however, we still have a lot of catching up to do.
In 2014, Hong Kong’s R&D expenditure accounted for only 0.74% of GDP, while the figure for China as a whole was 2.05%; Singapore 2%; Japan 3.58%; and South Korea 4.29%.
How about our northern neighbor – Shenzhen? Since 2013, Shenzhen has invested more than 4% of its GDP in R&D each year. By Year 2020, 4.25% of its GDP will be earmarked for R&D. Six emerging industries – biotechnology, the Internet, new energy, new materials, IT and cultural and creative industries – are expected to expand to account for 42% of the city’s GDP.
Singapore is often branded as Hong Kong’s archrival. Her population is only 75% of that of ours. However, it has outshone Hong Kong in terms of infrastructure, R&D investment and talent cultivation. Under its latest five-year plan, the Singapore government has committed US$14 billion from 2016 to 2020 to research and to take the country to the next stage of development.
Economies around the world are increasing R&D spending and gearing themselves up to develop technology-driven industries. Knowledge sharing aside, I hope this EmTech conference will also give our educators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and, especially, policy makers some food for thoughts.
There is a lot more we need to do. We need to invest more in R&D. We need to attract more global technology talent. Most important of all, we need the right policy direction and the right environment where innovation-based industries and start-ups can flourish in the upcoming 5G communications environment.
EmTech Hong Kong is a great platform for experts to converge and explore collaboration opportunities. I hope you would enjoy our city and get inspired by the bevy of speakers we have assembled. Thank you.
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[Hong Kong, 8th June 2016] Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) announced today (8 Jun 2016) it will work on a white paper on the blockchain technology for Hong Kong at MIT Technology Review’s EmTech Hong Kong.
“ASTRI is the leading research institute on the study of the blockchain technology in Hong Kong. HKMA has recently commissioned ASTRI to work on a white paper to provide guidance and directions to the banking industry and other sectors on the application of such a technology. ASTRI will invite experts around the world to contribute to the white paper. The paper, which will include a series of proof of concept results, is expected to be completed by the end of 2016,” said Dr. Duncan Wong, ASTRI Director of Security and Data Sciences.
EmTech Hong Kong is a conference on emerging technologies organised by MIT Technology Review on 7-8 June. ASTRI is the host partner of the 2-day event and the theme of the event this year is “The Future of Technology. Today.”
About Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology is a secure, reliable and trustworthy distributed database using state-of-the-art cryptography and computer science technologies. This technology is already bringing major impacts on the currency and payment systems, digital rights management and health record management etc.
Dr. Duncan Wong, Director, Security and Data Sciences of ASTRI, announces that ASTRI will work on a white paper on the blockchain technology for Hong Kong.
Dr. Duncan Wong and other experts discuss the importance and future of the blockchain technology in a panel discussion.
ASTRI’s cyber security projects were showcased on TVB’s Programme “Finance Magazine” on 5 June 2016. To review the programme, please click here. Please start viewing from 10:49.
[Hong Kong, 7 June 2016] Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) today urged Hong Kong to boost its investment in research and development so that the territory will not be lagged behind in the upcoming 5G communications environment.
ASTRI Chairman Mr. Wong Ming-yam, BBS, JP, said, “Hong Kong is a vibrant city by all standards, but we still have a lot of catching up to do. In 2014, the city’s R&D expenditure accounted for only 0.74% of GDP, while the figure was 2.05% in China, 2% in Singapore, 3.58% in Japan, and 4.29% in South Korea. We need to invest more in R&D and attract more global technology talent.”
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the EmTech Hong Kong, a 2-day global conference organized by MIT Technology Review on emerging technologies. In the event, ASTRI experts talked about the significance of its R&D projects to different industries and the future of Hong Kong.
“As the designated ICT research centre in Hong Kong, ASTRI has been working on a series of research projects, spanning from Next Generation Network, Cyber Security, Intelligence manufacturing to Machine Learning technologies. The application of these technologies will not only help transform Hong Kong into a smarter city but also enhance its competitiveness in the future,” said Dr. Meikei Ieong, Chief Technology Officer of ASTRI.
“One of ASTRI’s key research areas is the blockchain technology, which is a secure, reliable and trustworthy distributed database using state-of-the-art cryptography and computer science technologies. This technology is already bringing major impacts on the currency and payment systems, digital rights management and health record management etc. This is going to change the face of business for many industries,” said Dr. Duncan Wong, ASTRI Director of Security and Data Sciences.
ASTRI is the host partner of EmTech Hong Kong. With the theme of “The Future of Technology. Today.” The conference was inaugurated today by the Hon. John Tsang, Financial Secretary of the HKSAR Government and is joined by innovators and leading companies around the world.
Mr. Wong Ming-yam, BBS, JP, Chairman of ASTRI, delivers opening remarks.
Dr. Meikei Ieong, Chief Technology Officer of ASTRI, shares ASTRI’s research on a series of technologies which will enable the world to become smarter.
Dr. Duncan Wong, ASTRI Director of Security and Data Sciences, speaks of the importance of the blockchain technology.
Mr. Elliott Steer, Liaison Officer Advisor and Mr. Martin Blair, International Liaison Officer of National Crime Agency of British Consulate-General Hong Kong visited ASTRI on 30 May 2016. Dr. Duncan Wong, Director, Security and Data Sciences briefed them on ASTRI’s technologies on cyber security and showed them around ASTRI Security Lab and Cyber Range Lab.
[Hong Kong, 26 May 2016] Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) and Comba Telecom Limited (Comba Telecom), a subsidiary of Comba Telecom Systems Holding Limited (Hong Kong stock code: 2342) announced today it will jointly establish the ASTRI-Comba Joint Research and Development Laboratory, focusing on Smart City and Smart Home technologies.
At the signing ceremony, Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ASTRI and Mr. Simon Yeung, President of Comba Telecom Limited signed the collaboration agreement under the witness of Mr. Ming-yam Wong, BBS, JP, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ASTRI.
The agreement will facilitate an integrated and strategic cooperation between ASTRI and Comba Telecom to achieve the following objectives:
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Ming-yam Wong of ASTRI said, “The Joint Lab marks a new milestone in our cooperation with Comba and together, we would move ahead to contribute our efforts in the transformation and betterment of Hong Kong and beyond with our Smart City and Smart Home technologies.”
Mr. Simon Yeung of Comba said, “As a listed company incorporated in Hong Kong, Comba Telecom strives to develop its global telecommunications business. Leveraging on this valuable cooperation opportunity with ASTRI, we believe that ASTRI’s professional expertise and Comba’s global business platform and R & D strengths will boost innovations in Smart City, as well as technology development in Hong Kong and global society which is in line with the government’s policy.”
Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI (left) and Mr. Simon Yeung, President of Comba Telecom Limited (right) sign the agreement under the witness of Mr. Ming-yam Wong, BBS, JP, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ASTRI.
Senior management and representatives from ASTRI and Comba Telecom attend and witness the Agreement Signing Ceremony.
