7 6 HKUST Annual Report 2020-2021 PRESIDENT’S REPORT Transformational Times: Whether through bold yet prudent foresight, novel teaching initiatives, impactful research, comprehensive campus health measures, or the hard work of our offices and departments, colleagues and students have contributed their utmost over an extraordinary year, and fully deserve recognition and applause. Their dedication has enabled the University not only to continue our academic and research pursuits during the pandemic but also to directly assist in solving imminent challenges facing the regional and international communities, as evidenced by our innovation-led products and solutions, discoveries, and creative partnerships. Steadfast in Our Core Values: In addition to the public health crisis, fractures and disagreements have challenged Hong Kong over the past few years. In such polarized times, the University has strived to uphold our apolitical principle and focus on our core values, including academic freedom, diversity, inclusiveness, and mutual respect, all of which form the basis of our academic environment. Indeed, since the University’s founding days, we have been steadfast in our support of such openness, and this position continues. Addressing the Three Futures: At the same time, a renewed system-wide framework is required for us to move to the next level in our education, research, knowledge transfer, and societal contribution. In this regard, the HKUST Strategic Plan 2021-2028, launched at the start of 2021, will be instrumental in achieving our goals. As laid out in the new Plan, and reinforced in the HKUST Planning Exercise Proposal endorsed by the University Grants Committee (UGC), three interlinked themes – sustainable conduct, intelligent industrialization, and human capital – will guide HKUST in fulfilling our aspirations to make a difference to the future of living, the future of work, and the future of people: In a year when COVID-19 showed how unpredictable and transformative change can be, the HKUST community responded quickly to the many testing situations of 2020-21 with open-minded thinking and forward planning. This has set the University proactively on track to embrace the new normal of fast-moving times filled with both uncertainty and opportunity. Sustainable Conduct : We see sustainabi l i ty as an area of forever impact that affects everyone and must become a way of life to safeguard ecosystems for future generations. Reducing our eco footprint is only one part of our commitment to achieving true sustainability. HKUST members will leverage science and technology, policy, human behavior, and psychology to build smart and sustainable cities and lifestyles. Based on actual commitments made at our Clear Water Bay and Guangzhou campuses, the HKUST community is already actively engaged in supporting and working toward the global goal of sustainability in ways that are implementable, shared, agreeable, and seek to be scalable, as illuminated in our Sustainable Smart Campus as a Living Lab initiative (https://ssc.hkust.edu.hk/), HKUST 2028 Sustainability Challenge (https://sust.hkust.edu.hk/about/2028challenge), and net zero carbon drive. Intelligent Industrialization: Achieving sustainability will also require the creation of smart technologies for different forms of production and working practices, with the fourth industrial revolution scaling up fast across diverse sectors, some spurred by the pandemic. As an international science and technology innovator, HKUST has a pivotal role to play in advancing intelligent industrialization in emerging areas such as AI, robotics, biotechnology, big data, and renewable energy, and contributing to wise, evidencebased pol icymaking to ensure these advances work together with the planet, its resources, and people. In line with this, the University is robustly assisting members in transferring their technological innovation to boost social and economic development. Support and dedication of resources, including substantial donations secured recently, are fruitfully spurring entrepreneurship and viable startup companies founded by faculty and alumni in different industries. Likewise, academic and industry partnerships and collaborations formed across the globe are boosting the reach of our lab-to-market activities. Human Capital : Alongside sustainable conduct and intelligent industrialization, there is a pressing need to improve the quality of people’s lives in a world challenged by the ongoing health crisis and growing polarization. Through a focus on human-oriented research and endeavors in areas such as pedagogical rethinking and educational innovation, public health, aging and wellness, smart cities, and fintech, HKUST is seeking to build a better existence for people from birth to end. It is equally essential that we foster and sustain a quality workforce to address the complex problems the world faces. To achieve our goals, the University has made whole-person development an educational priority to nurture well-rounded individuals equipped with creative and critical thinking, entrepreneurial spirit, a sense of responsibility, compassion, and respect for diversity and social inclusion. HKUST’s new and revamped programs and curricula, such as our novel “Major + X” extended degree option, will help our members to develop such capabilities, inspiring them to redefine problems and create mindful solutions. Ongoing Endeavors: Our vision and strategy are being proactively supported by substantial development on the University’s Clear Water Bay campus as well as at the new HKUST(GZ) campus. Here in Hong Kong, numerous capital projects are taking place, including (1) the 1,300seat multi-purpose Shaw Auditorium, due to be completed in November 2021, will support and promote performance, creativity, and arts on campus; (2) the Jockey Club Global Graduate Tower, which offers more than 500 bed spaces, will support graduate students’ on-campus living, including family housing; (3) the Jockey Club i-Village, which provides 1,551 bed spaces, i.e. approximately more than one-third of the current capacity, will increase our much-needed undergraduate on-campus living; (4) the Martin Ka Shing Lee Innovation Building, which is under development, will support substantial additional capacity for research and knowledge transfer, especially in physical science and technology; and (5) the Life and Chemical Sciences and Technologies Building, which is due to start full development in 2022, will enhance our capacity in some key focused areas, including synthetic biology and multidisciplinary collaboration. During the transition period, before the new buildings are ready, we have reached an agreement with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks to use more than 14,000 square feet of working and research space in the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate. This will help meet immediate space needs from different activities on data science, robotics, fintech, smart city applications, among other emerging areas. Together, we have committed more than $4.6 billion to support the establishment of our new infrastructure, along with upgrades and renovation of multiple major research facilities at our Clear Water Bay campus. We greatly appreciate the strong support from the government, donors, and alumni, who see the importance and value of helping HKUST go forward energetically and enthusiastically. PRESIDENT’S REPORT
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