Press Release

On 10 Nov, ASTRI Innovation Runway Program Fellows attended the first training workshop about cloud-computing platform which they can use for starting up their business. Before the start of the training, Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI and the programme mentors extended a warm welcome to the fellows. Consultation sessions were arranged for the fellows to seek advice from the mentors through discussion and prototype demonstration. This training workshop was conducted by Microsoft Hong Kong.

Dr. Frank Tong and mentors welcome the fellows

Fellows attend the cloud-base computing platform workshop

Team CheckWave meets with their mentor

Team Virtual Reality demonstrates the prototype to their mentor

Team Locavel exchanges ideas with mentor

Team eScooter has discussion with mentor

Mr. Wong Ming-yam, BBS, JP, Chairman of ASTRI of Board of Directors of ASTRI and Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI, attended the 10th meeting of the Mainland/Hong Kong Science and Technology Co-operation Committee held in Hong Kong on 5 November. The meeting was co-chaired by the Mr. Gregory So, JP, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development and Dr. Cao Jianlin, Vice-Minister of Science and Technology of the Central People’s Government.

At the meeting, the approach and schedule of the first round of reassessment of the Partner State Key Laboratories (PSKLs) to be conducted in 2016 were endorsed. The Committee also agreed to continue to explore the directions in deepening science and technology co-operation between the two places during the National 13th Five-Year Plan period, with the aim of supporting Hong Kong to become the leading base for international science and technology exchanges and co-operation, in concert with national needs and developments.

In 2012, ASTRI received the approval from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) to establish the first Hong Kong Branch of National Engineering Research Centre for Application Specific Integrated Circuit System (ASIC System) in collaboration with the National Application-Specific Integrated Circuit System Engineering Research Centre of Southeast University in Nanjing. There are now six Hong Kong branches of the Chinese National Engineering Research Centres in Hong Kong.

For more info about the meeting, please refer to http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201511/05/P201511040740.htm

Photo source: news.gov.hk

From right: Mr. Gregory So, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development; Dr. Cao Jianlin, Vice-Minister of Science and Technology of the Central People’s Government; Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI; and Prof. Prof. Philip Chan Ching-ho, Deputy President and Provost of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Together with the Honourable Mrs. Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun, GBS, JP, Member of the Executive Council of the HKSAR Government and Chairman of Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI, met with Dr. Duoxiang Wang, Dean of Beijing Institute of Collaborative Innovation (BICI) on 2 September for an in-depth discussion on developing a joint institute of collaborative innovation on financial technology. For more details, please refer to http://www.bici.org/news/135 (in Chinese only)

Led by Mr. Wenhui Xiong, Chairman of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Nansha District, Guangzhou City, a delegation comprised of Nansha Government officials, industry and Institute of Industry Technology, Guangzhou & Chinese Academy of Sciences representatives, visited ASTRI on 4 November to gain a better understanding about ASTRI and its latest technologies development.  Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI extended a very warm welcome to the delegation and shared with them ASTRI’s development strategies.  ASTRI’s R&D colleagues gave a presentation on the National Engineering Research Centre for Application Specific Integrated Circuit System (Hong Kong Branch) (CNERC) and technology area of next generation network.

Mr. Wenhui Xiong, Chairman of C.P.P.C.C. of Nansha District, Guangzhou City (6th from the right) presents souvenir to Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI (5^th from the left).

Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited (ASTRI) proudly announced that 20 candidates have been selected successfully to join the ASTRI Innovation Runway (AIR) Entrepreneurship Fellow Program as fellows on the final pitch day held on 19 October 2015 under the witness of Ms Gigi Chui, Manager of Innovation and Technology Commission, Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI and Dr. Jack Lau, Chief Marketing Officer of ASTRI.

The judging panel, composed of Dr. Justin Chuang, Vice President and Group Director (VPGD) of Communications Technologies cum Acting Director of Software & Systems of ASTRI, Dr. Alan Lam, Group CEO of Sengital Limited, Ms Agnes Nardi, CEO of Business Environment Council Limited, Mr Jason Wong, Partner of Ernst & Young, and Ms Joelle Woo, Director of Microsoft Hong Kong Limited, found it hard to choose the top 20 fellows among the innovative proposals and inspiring presentations delivered.

Total 47 teams with 130 applicants of different backgrounds applied the program since its launching in August. With the effort of 25 screening judges that comprised experts from industries and ASTRI, 38 candidates from 10 potential projects had been shortlisted to present their innovations to the judging panel on the final pitch day. After the keen competition, 20 fellows were selected to be the AIR Program fellows. These fellows will work on 6 outstanding projects:
To embark the entrepreneurship journey, the 6 winning projects will be showcased in the ASTRI Industry and University Collaboration Forum (IUCF) on 18 November.

The AIR program aims to assist young entrepreneurs with innovative ideas to start up their businesses. ASTRI will offer a monthly award, mentorship, networking activities, field trips, workshops, and trainings to the selected fellows to strengthen their capabilities in overcoming the obstacles at the initial stage of starting up, enabling them to purse their dream and develop their business successfully.

Judging panels and officials are delighted to see the spirits and passions of the candidates. (From left to right)
1) Dr. Alan Lam, Group CEO of Sengital Limited
2) Ms Gigi Chui, Manager of Innovation and Technology Commission
3) Ms Agnes Nardi, CEO of Business Environment Council Limited
4) Ms Joelle Woo, Director of Business Development & Developer Experience, Microsoft Hong Kong Limited
5) Mr Jason Wong, Partner of Ernst & Young
6) Dr. Jack Lau, Chief Marketing Officer of ASTRI
7) Dr. Justin Chuang, VPGD of Communications Technologies cum Acting Director of Software and Systems, ASTRI

AIR program candidates and judging panel on the final pitch day.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) held its Orientation Day for Undergraduate Admissions on the 24th October and ASTRI’s talent acquisition team were invited to the Faculty of Engineering’s Undergraduate Admission booth held at Ho Sin Hang Engineering Building. Invited for the first time this year, ASTRI had the opportunity to collaborate with the engineering faculty to promote ASTRI’s internship and graduate work opportunities to students from different backgrounds. They include JUPAS and Non-JUPAS applicants, mainland students, and students with overseas or sub-degree qualifications.

The Orientation Day also offered a great opportunity for ASTRI’s talent acquisition team to interact with close to 3000 visitors many whom were secondary students, school teachers and parents. During the interaction, we had the opportunity to understand the prospective students’ interest in CUHK and engineering as their preferred profession. It is exciting to interact with so many energetic future engineers!

Ms Annie Choi, JP, Commissioner for Innovation and Technology visited ASTRI on 22 October to familiarize ASTRI and understand the latest development of its R&D projects. Apart from meeting and discussion with senior management and technology division leaders of ASTRI, lab tour to ASTRI Security Lab and IC Design Lab were arranged. Technology divisions also gave live demonstrations on wireless technologies and i-Beacon technologies.

Dr. John Koo, Director of Cyber-Physical Systems, ASTRI recently gave talk and participated in a sharing session to talk about robotics and industry 4.0.

On 15 October, Dr. Koo gave a talk titled “Robotics and Industry 4.0” at the Hong Kong Electronic Industry Summit – Future Trend of Robotics and Industry 4.0 at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. Dr. John Koo and a number of speakers from the industry shared their views on different governmental initiatives including Industry 4.0 from Germany, Made in China 2025 from China, and Advanced Manufacturing from United States of America. In particular, Dr. Koo explained the concept of Cyber-Physical Systems and its relation to Smart Factory defined in Industry 4.0.   The summit was organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and Hong Kong Electronic Industries Association Limited.

On 16 October, Dr. Koo participated in the panel discussion of the Sharing Session on Germany’s Industry 4.0 which was held at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park organized by Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation. Dr. Koo shared his view on Industry 4.0 with panelists come from the industry. The panel further discussed about Re-Industrialization of Hong Kong Manufacturing.

15 October 2015

16 October 2015

Dr. Justin Chuang, Vice President and Group Director of Communications Technologies and Acting Director of Software & Systems of ASTRI visited Google’s headquarter in Mountain View, California, the U.S. in late September and became the pioneer to try out the latest Google’s new self-driving cars. The car equipped with specific sensors and software that handle the driving.

More information about Google Self-Driving Car Project is available at: http://www.google.com/selfdrivingcar/