HKUST Annual Report 2021-2022

5 HKUST Annual Report 2021-2022 EXPANDING OUR IMPACT With the opening of HKUST(GZ), the whole of HKUST including both Hong Kong (HK) Clear Water Bay (CWB) and GZ Nansha campuses will be working closely in collaboration and remaining uniquely positioned to broaden and deepen our contributions to society in significant ways. A cornerstone of the University’s renewed strategic plan, the Unified HKUST- Complementary Campuses framework will elevate our capacity as we commence a period of unprecedented development. Nurturing future graduates’ optimism and critical mindset via active learning, innovative actions, and cross-disciplinary thinking alongside solid disciplinary training, our dual academic structures will equip students with the skills and competencies needed to address current and future challenges. The pairing of HKUST and HKUST(GZ) also leaves us well prepared to drive curiosity-driven and mission-encouraged endeavors on a global scale which will be so beneficial for the future of both HKUST and academia worldwide. Ven t u r i ng beyond r esea r ch d i s cove r i es and breakthroughs, HKUST has long been the industry’s partner of choice for translating ideas into practical applications via collaborative research and knowledge transfer activities. Our members are also empowered to commercialize innovations through various entrepreneurship activities and incubation programs. To date, over 1,600 start-ups have been initiated by our students, staff, alumni, or incubated by the University. Seven out of the top 18 companies on the inaugural Unicorns HK 2021 list were founded or co-founded by HKUST faculty or alumni. NURTURING BRILLIANT MINDS AND THEIR WELLBEING Attracting visionary thinkers to HKUST is essential if we are to continue to take our impact to the next level of excellence. In doing so, we utilize different channels to recruit international talents with diverse expertise to spearhead research in emerging fields. In addition to green finance and FinTech, specific examples include quantum science and technology, sustainability and environmental science, AI and metaverse, intelligent industrialization, progressive humanity/arts and quantitatively oriented social sciences, stem cell biology, and health science and biomedical technology. Our faculty body also continues to expand and has added some 80 new recruits at CWB since 2021 alone while a further 150 faculty members have joined the GZ campus. Under the Unified HKUST framework, faculty on both campuses are encouraged to collaborate and coordinate closely through structured affiliation with each other’s academic units. Considering HKUST’s diverse population now includes some 3,800 staff and 16,000 students, our community members’ wellbeing remains a top priority. When hit hard by our fifth wave of Covid in early 2022, colleagues from different units quickly joined forces to mount a series of preventive initiatives aimed at mitigating potential impacts. Measures implemented included on-campus vaccination sessions for 1,500 HKUST community members and distribution of 90,000 rapid antigen test kits. Besides campus isolation and quarantine facilities, transport services, food and other supplies continued to be made available to members on campus. We have also boosted mental health support by increasing counselor numbers by 50% since the pandemic started; and launched other measures such as the therapy dog and peer counselor training programs. STRIVING FOR A NET-ZERO CAMPUS Reflecting the profound impact of unprecedented crises such as highly infectious viruses and seemingly unstoppable climate changes are having on all our lives, HKUST remains committed to building a more sustainable campus culture. Our primary objective is to inspire every member of our community to ignite their creativity and actualize the disruptive and scalable solutions needed to help safeguard the earth’s fragile natural balance. To this end, our newly inaugurated Net/ Zero Office is implementing a bold strategy called the 2028 Sustainability Challenge which will synchronize with HK government’s plan to halve carbon emissions before 2035 and become fully carbon neutral by 2050.