Reporter Chen Xing. Editor Chen Junjie.
The San Francisco Bay Area is the second largest metropolitan area in California, and the high-tech R&D center centered on Silicon Valley has huge influence around the world. The superior climate, natural harbor and developed educational resources are important advantages for the Bay Area to attract a large population and high-tech enterprises.
Domestically, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, a vibrant world-class urban agglomeration, has the same advantages as the San Francisco Bay Area and has the same mission—not only to promote coordinated regional economic development, but also to build itself into a An international science and technology innovation center with global influence.
In the process of promoting technological innovation and industrial upgrading in the Greater Bay Area, high-level comprehensive research universities play an important role—not only as the cradle of talent training, but also as an important base for scientific research and innovation. At the same time, with the booming economy of the Greater Bay Area, universities have also gained more development opportunities and resources, and the two complement each other.
In the higher education system of the Greater Bay Area, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (hereinafter referred to as CUHK) plays an important role. Its Shatin campus in Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen) have connected the flow and transformation of talents and research results. Recently, a reporter from “Daily Economic News” interviewed Shun Meixia, Vice President (Research) and Zhuo Min Chair Professor of Biomedicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, about the layout and plans of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in talent training, basic research, etc., as well as the development of universities in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Learn more about role planning in the Bay Area.
Meixia Shum, Vice-President (Research) and Zhuo Ming Chair Professor of Biomedicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Photo source: Photo courtesy of The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Create window research institutes in the mainland to achieve talent and regional linkage
In 1963, the Chinese University of Hong Kong was established with less than 1,400 students and 300 faculty members. In 2023, the school will celebrate its 60th anniversary. So far, it has more than 30,000 students and more than 8,000 faculty and staff.
In the latest “2024 QS World University Rankings by Subject”, CUHK ranks among the top 50 in the world in 19 subjects, including nursing, media studies, medicine and modern languages, as well as arts and humanities, life sciences and medicine Two subject areas.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin Campus Image source: Photo courtesy of The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Talking about the discipline construction achievements of CUHK, Shum Meixia mentioned in an exclusive interview with a reporter from “Daily Economic News” that the establishment of discipline advantages is inseparable from the investment of resources and the gathering of manpower. She mentioned that taking resources as an example, in the past 10 years or so, the mainland has invested extremely abundant resources in the field of scientific research. The Hong Kong SAR government of our country also attaches great importance to basic research and has invested far more resources in innovation and technology than in the past.
“From the perspective of disciplines and scientific research construction achievements, Hong Kong’s comprehensive research universities, including the Chinese University of Hong Kong, have also made efficient use of resources, especially in applied disciplines and the industrialization of basic scientific research. They have done a lot of work. “Cen Meixia said.
Taking the Chinese University of Hong Kong as an example, as early as 2021, 6 research centers were established to enter the InnoHK innovative Hong Kong R&D platform, a key project promoted by the Hong Kong SAR government.
The six research centers are: Neuromusculoskeletal Regenerative Medicine Center, Innovative Diagnostic Technology Center, Hong Kong Microbiome Innovation Center, Bozhi Perception Interaction Research Center, Hong Kong Logistics Robot Research Center and Medical Robot Innovation Technology Center. The research center is established with the goal of transforming the world-class research results of CUHK into social applications.
InnoHK is the flagship innovation and technology project of the Hong Kong SAR Government, committed to promoting global scientific research cooperation and allowing Hong Kong to occupy an important position in the global high-tech landscape. At the beginning of its establishment, a total of 28 R&D laboratories were selected to settle in InnoHK, among which CUHK occupies an important seat.
According to Liu Yunhui, director of the Tianshi Robotics Institute of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Logistics Robot Research Center, where he serves as director, and the Medical Robot Innovation Technology Center, where he serves as a team member, have both settled in InnoHK. Liu Yunhui told the reporter of “Daily Economic News” that the vision of these two research centers lies first in technological innovation, hoping to build a world-class logistics robot technology research and development center; secondly, in industrial implementation, through the transfer of technology property rights, intellectual property rights and business incubation. Promote the industrialization of research results; third, hope to cultivate high-end technical and industrial talents to contribute to the development of national science and technology innovation.
At present, the robots developed by Liu Yunhui’s team have achieved breakthroughs in three-dimensional imaging, flexible grasping and other technical directions, and the research results have been implemented in Cainiao Robot flexible logistics warehouses and TOYOTA Japanese factories.
In addition to helping Hong Kong establish an innovation and technology center, CUHK has also vigorously strengthened technological innovation cooperation with the mainland in recent years. In 2023, the CUHK Shenzhen-Hong Kong Innovation Research Institute (Futian) will be settled in the Loop; the CUHK Beijing Center will be established to build a Beijing-Hong Kong exchange platform and deepen industry-university-research cooperation. Shum Meixia said that building a window research institute in the mainland not only realizes the linkage between talents and regions, but also helps Hong Kong better integrate into the development pattern of the mainland.
Accelerate the transformation of scientific research results and promote more than 90 companies to obtain financial support
In the context of ushering in the golden age of innovation and technology development, Hong Kong is accelerating to build an influential international innovation and technology center. The scientific research achievements and innovation capabilities of CUHK have also injected new impetus into the technological innovation and industrial upgrading of Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area.
Innovation cannot just be written on paper. Whether it can be transformed into final results is a challenge for education and scientific research institutions.
Cen Meixia admitted that innovation not only requires the support of resources and talents, but also requires downstream transformation to form a complete closed loop. “Do you have intellectual property rights? Are there core industries that can use their results? Can you find investment?” These are all issues faced from invention to industrialization. “For universities, this is also something we need to learn, so we have invested a lot of resources in the past few years to explore how to improve this innovation and technology ecosystem.”
To this end, CUHK has formed a complete mechanism for research and innovation, covering the entire chain from research, innovation to enterprise. What is particularly critical is that the school strives to play a role in everything from pre-incubation, start-up, incubation and acceleration to venture capital and market launch. In addition, CUHK also took the lead in establishing the CUHK Innovation Company to use the commercialization platform to support innovative projects related to CUHK teachers and students.
Shum Meixia said that among the innovative projects promoted and supported by CUHK through the University Technology Start-up Funding Scheme, more than 90 companies have received financial support, and currently 3 to 4 have become listed companies. SenseTime and Simou Technology have become well-known public companies.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, a vibrant world-class urban agglomeration, has the same advantages as the San Francisco Bay Area and has the same mission – not only to promote coordinated regional economic development, but also to build itself into a global influence A powerful international science and technology innovation center.
The importance of schools and enterprises in promoting regional economic development is self-evident. As Cen Meixia said, the Bay Area in the United States has its unique status and location advantages precisely because it is home to universities such as Berkeley and Stanford and a number of well-known companies. The development of the Greater Bay Area is inseparable from the scientific research, education institutions and high-tech enterprises in the region. CUHK must not only exert its own scientific research strength, but also act as a magnet to attract more outstanding talents and corporate projects to gather here. .
Talent is the core element of innovation and technology. Educational and scientific research institutions must exert a “magnet” effect
Evolving research into physical profits and transmitting innovative results to the world is one of CUHK’s visions. And research has always been at the heart of the university.
In order to establish the development direction for the next stage, CUHK has released the “CUHK Strategic Plan 2021-2025”, which covers seven key areas: education, student experience, research and innovation, talent attraction and cultivation, and global perspective.
According to the above plan, China research, innovative biomedicine, information and automation technology, and environment and sustainable development are listed as four main research areas.
Discipline construction and research progress are inseparable from human capital. Data show that as of June 2020, CUHK has 8,140 full-time faculty members, of which teaching and research staff account for 41%. Sum Meixia said that in the next stage of the university’s development, improving the quality of the team is an important part and a major challenge.
She said that in recent years, CUHK has launched a strategic recruitment plan for the president, recruiting professors/visiting professorships, newly promoted professorships, and outstanding innovative scientists, and recruiting outstanding talents from home and abroad. Taking research assistant professors as an example, CUHK will start a three-year recruitment process with a quota of 30 positions per year. If the quota is reached, 90 research assistant professors will be reserved in three years. Taking postdoctoral positions as an example, the Chinese University of Hong Kong also plans to recruit about a hundred postdoctoral candidates in three years.
In addition to recruiting talents, the ability to cultivate talents yourself is also very important. Shum Meixia said that if Hong Kong wants to become an innovation and technology center, it cannot just rely on the introduction of talents, but must also have the ability to cultivate talents. This requires Hong Kong’s educational institutions and research institutions to be “magnets” themselves. “Discipline leaders attract outstanding researchers, academic giants attract postgraduate researchers, and well-known professors attract students. It can be said that talent is the core element of innovation and technology.”
Not only attracting and cultivating talents, but also retaining talents is a common problem faced by universities including the Chinese University of Hong Kong. When sharing her experience, Cen Meixia said, “In recent years, we have encouraged not to use the number of published papers and projects as the only indicators for evaluating faculty. Whether it is internal evaluation or external awards, we encourage teachers to obtain recognition from more dimensions, so as to “Exploration” is the premise for conducting research, and when you achieve something, you will be recognized and encouraged. This will have a fundamental change in the entire scientific research ecology and the university ecology.”
From this process, the school should consider what talents are needed, which is not just salary or supporting funds, but also related to the entire environment of the school and even the region. Therefore, CUHK has also launched supporting projects for faculty on campus, such as seed funds, etc. to help campus teams obtain start-up resources and have the opportunity to go out of campus and face social competition.
As the Chinese University of Hong Kong wrote in the “CUHK Strategic Plan 2021-2025”, the indicator for measuring a university is always the quality of its people. The quality of human capital not only affects the core undertakings of universities, but also affects the future development of Hong Kong.
Related links: Tuan Chongzhi, President of the Chinese University of Hong Kong: The university should encourage members to start businesses to directly commercialize research results
Tags: Exclusive interview VicePresident Chinese University Hong Kong Shum Meixia Accelerate integration mainlands development pattern transmit innovation results world Economic Network
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