HKUST Annual Report 2023-2024

9 HKUST Annual Report 2023-2024 among local universities, including the largest single funding amount of over HK$87 million. These cutting- edge research projects aim to generate new knowledge and technologies for extreme weather forecasting and mitigation in the Greater Bay Area, landslide risk management, and regulation of digital assets. The inaugural round of the RAISe+ Scheme provided another major funding boost, with HKUST receiving support for five projects in line with our strategic research foci— biomedical science, robotics and microelectronics, and sustainability. In the 2023-24 academic year, three HKUST academics were honored with grants from the Research Fellowship Schemes by the Research Grants Council (RGC). Reaching new heights, we celebrated a record-breaking achievement in July 2024, with six of our academics being named RGC Senior Research and Research Fellows for 2024-25. Uniting Academic and Societal Efforts to Maximize Impact Over the past year, we have consistently broadened our impact in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship. Several key activities were held to bring the technologies and start-ups of our prolific faculty, students, and alumni to the attention of potential collaborators, industry partners, and investors. Our flagship Unicorn Day 2024 spotlighted over 100 cutting-edge technologies and brought together 1,300 wide-ranging attendees. Meanwhile, hundreds of participants from academia, industry, and start-ups joined two HKUST Industry Engagement Day Plus (IED+) events. We launched the HKUST Redbird Innovation Fund, a HK$500 million initiative designed to establish Venture Investment Funds for high-potential DeepTech start-ups. Our vibrant knowledge transfer ecosystem has resulted in the licensing of one-third of our university’s patents to industry (a ratio comparable to top-tier universities in the United States), and the formation of over 1,700 HKUST- related start-ups since 2023-24. Building Bridges Around the World Widening our global engagement is imperative. As Executive President of the Asian Universities Alliance for 2023-24, I led efforts to deepen ties among member institutions. Meanwhile, following my election as Chair of the Association of East Asian Research Universities for 2024-25, I have been working to champion the development of higher education in Asia. In our Belt and Road endeavors, I led a delegation to the UAE and secured partnerships in research, technology transfer, and other areas. Our Belt and Road student intake received fresh impetus through HKUST and government scholarship schemes, drawing top young minds from countries such as Cameroon, Egypt, and Indonesia. On the broader international stage, our participation contributed to shaping the global agenda as we increased our presence at various global forums. These gatherings ranged from the World Economic Forum’s sessions in Davos and Dalian to the Seoul Forum. Moreover, leveraging our 315 worldwide partnerships, we initiated our Global Knowledge Network to foster research alongside esteemed institutional collaborators in various regions through joint research seed grants.