News & Stories

Have you ever struggled to catch a minibus to or from campus? It’s why a new “Finding Mini” app has been developed by HKUST alumni Jason Yuen, Simon Tsang, and current student Gash Tsui. “We deploy GPS module on each minibus, and sophisticated data algorithms developed by ourselves, with factors including weather, fluctuations of traffic, and real-time traffic conditions,” says Simon. While KMB buses already had an app for arrival times, the green minibuses did not. “We were very frustrated by this situation, because we could not compare arrival times between the double decker and minibus arrival times in Choi Hung, and the stops are on different ends of the street,” says Jason.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) expanded its eighth annual One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition to two more cities in China, making the total number of cities holding this competition to seven. Meanwhile, HKUST will introduce new initiatives for its one million dollar entrepreneurship competition in Hong Kong this year, in a bid to enhance diversity and experience of the participants, as well as facilitating public engagement in this contest.

Frank has had a dream of flying from a young age, and he showed a keen interest in the research and development of unmanned helicopter technology during his time at HKUST. In 2005, he and his team participated in ABU Robocon and won third prize among teams competing from across Asia. In 2006, he completed his final thesis at HKUST, which included the development of a flight control system for unmanned platforms. He then founded DJI based on this system, and became the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technical Officer of the company.

HKUST alums emphasize a strong team always brings better results for all. Long before he found Maxus Tech with his friends, Mark Zeng had HKUST on his radar as he was looking for a graduate program in Hong Kong. “I thought I would meet a lot of people from different backgrounds, and that I would keep in pace with the development of the technologies in Mainland, as HKUST probably had more exposure to technical progresses in Chinese market than say, schools in the US or the UK,” Mark recalls. As a student in HKUST, Mark soon made a lot of friends, but little did he know he would bring them along as partners and find a company together someday. After Mark graduated, he took a job in the banking sector, and it would seem that he was set for life.

Little did Sandra Sobanska know when she left her native Poland in 2014 to join HKUST’s Global Business undergraduate program, that within three years she could be part of a team staging anything quite like Hack Horizon. However this unique international - and airborne – hackathon is only the latest stage in the exciting journey Sobanska says she’s been on since her arrival in Hong Kong. 

Recent news covered Chris Ko from the class of 2017 about her vegetarian tea cafe in Tsim Sha Tsui, and how she made good use of every skill she learnt from HKUST’s EVMT program to realize her dream. “When I chose to apply to the Environmental Management and Technology (EVMT) program, I thought I would be learning about a wide range of environmental issues and their solutions,” said Chris. “But what’s more, I discovered what I wanted to do, and the program helped me achieved my goals.” EVMT offers students a unique opportunity to grasp scientific and technological concepts and translate them into practice-based and sustainable business ideas. The intense, cross disciplinary program only admits 15 students every year, making it one of the most competitive degree programs in Hong Kong.

Over 900 teams comprising students, startups and professionals participated in the seventh annual One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition organized by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in five cities this year, more than doubled over a year ago. The Competition was first extended to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Macau last year. Prof Gary Chan, Director of the Entrepreneurship Center, said it is encouraging to see the Competition, originally an initiative to nurture entrepreneurs at HKUST, to have grown into a regional contest that helps cultivate entrepreneurial spirits and promote exchange of ideas across the border. “We have witnessed not only an increase in scale, but also rising quality of the submitted proposals and depth of market traction,” said Prof Chan. We are particularly excited to see a record-high industrial sponsorship to the event this year.”

Late stage renal disease is debilitating. When their kidneys stop functioning, patients are treated through dialysis that have serious physical side effects and are costly for many. But change may soon be coming—a team of HKUST students has invented a solution that uses graphene to reduce dialysis treatment time and costs, and enhance its effectiveness. The team’s idea is simple yet previously untested. Dialysis usually filters out all blood impurities, but surface-modified graphene can trap targeted impurities, ensuring that vital salt and glucose are retained. As a result, life expectancy for patients should go up, and treatment time would also be greatly reduced.