(From left) Professor Norman C. Tien, Taikoo Professor of Engineering and Head of Innovation Academy and Dr C.K. Chui, Director of Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing
From creating the world’s fastest robotic fish on rescue mission, advanced models of electric vehicles to the best walkers for the elderly, the Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing (Innovation Wing) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has been abuzz with exploratory activities by aspiring students.
Predominantly from HKU’s Engineering Faculty, the young inventors are being nurtured to be top innovators. Ample space, latest equipment and precious networking opportunities are on offer at the Innovation Wing, located at Hui Oi Chow Science Building in the heart of the campus, covering an area of 2,400 square meters.
The LED wall in the LG floor of the building features posts from social media platforms of diverse innovation-related projects and activities. It is right next to the brainstorming area where large crowds of students gather to pitch their research ideas and recruit prospective teammates at the beginning of semester. The ringing of the golden bell in the area symbolizes the start of an exciting journey for would-be innovators.
Above all, the Innovation Wing is a place to inspire, equip students and introduce their works to the public. Students are in constant contact with professors involved in top-notch research, and enjoy access to advanced technology.
Magnet for talents
The 1st pitching event
The Head of the Innovation Academy, which is responsible for the programmes and activities at the Innovation Wing, Professor Norman Tien, who is also the Taikoo Professor of Engineering, strongly believes in human beings’ potential in creativity. He expects the Academy to be a magnet for talents. “We want to stimulate young people to explore in the field of innovation and technology.”
“Throughout history there has been innovation, creativity by mankind. Some students may have ideas but not the resources, facilities, platform to realise their dream. We are providing a place where dreams can come true. It is not often that a place exists where everything come together, for example, equipment, nice space, gatherings, resources, etc. To attract more students to come, we will continue to expand and enhance line-up of different programmes and activities.”
The Innovation Wing started off as an innovation makerspace project initiated by the Faculty of Engineering in 2017. Then with generous donations from Mr and Mrs Tam Wing Fan and the Government UGC funding, the project developed into the Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing, which was completed in late 2020.
Besides a huge makerspace equipped with state-of-the-art facilities where students can work on their dream inventions, advanced equipment such as micron-scale precision 3D printers that uses projection stereolithography technology can be found at thematic workshops dedicated to the development in prominent fields such as healthcare and smart applications.
Students receive training in using certain equipment, while getting hands-on experience in making useful products from scratch. At thematic workshops, they are exposed to the latest technology shown in their Professors’ work. They also learn about communicating their thoughts with potential users in the specially built Podcast Studio.
The Innovation Wing was also where participants in competitions related to the design and development of robots such as automated guided vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, AI solutions, electric vehicles, smart and wearable devices, and other students did their final year projects, alongside their teachers.
Director of the Innovation Wing, Dr C.K. Chui, said: “Undergraduate students tend to make use of common technologies in their projects, while there are new inventions from professors’ research that may provide novel approaches and new insights to solve problems. Innovation Wing provides a bridge for our Undergraduate students to learn and access some of the latest research outcomes for developing their practical applications.”
Passion-driven projects
The Winner for the Inno Show Award – the world fastest Robotic Fish
Dr Chui added that one of the projects that has attracted much attention is the Robotic Fish project that broke the Guinness World Record in ‘bringing to life’ the world’s fastest robotic fish. Initially the idea of some graduate students, its team members have been relentless in their quest for equipping SNAPP the fish with search, rescue and patrol functions, through the use of artificial intelligence-based vision system and drones.
“They worked day and night because they share the common goal; they built a lot of prototypes with different designs and failed along the way, they faced lots of challenges but eventually overcame all of them. Students pursuing their dreams here are very persevere and passionate.” said Dr Chui.
The importance of collaboration
Diverse projects are on the horizon, with many possibly involving collaborations with various departments and faculties. Indeed, under the pilot InnoHub programme, the Innovation Wing opens its door wide to students from all 10 Faculties at HKU from this academic year.
Each Faculty can nominate five students and one teacher, to be called academic champion, to develop a project of their choice. They can pitch ideas to attract interest and support. Some student-initiated projects already underway look promising, such as the one participated by law students on developing an AI software platform providing instant legal assistance to needy individuals. “This is an example of how you can bring technology to different spheres,” said Professor Tien. “There are also students looking at creating a speech therapy tool through AI. We facilitate project development by providing resources, connections to teachers and other students; some have attracted potential investors.”
Often projects today require interdisciplinary input, says Professor Tien. “Take the example of video games, insights from computer scientists alone would not be enough. You need artists, designers, musicians or even psychologists to create the best video games.”
At the end of each semester, an Inno Show is held showcasing the ground-breaking results of group research efforts. As a result of the public activity, student inventors could get further support from impressed venture capitalists or industrialists, potentially creating their own start-ups, or becoming influencers. “Some teams are making progress in forming start-ups,” said Professor Tien. “I am very confident of the academy driving innovation.”
Students from different disciplines working together in Innovation Wing
Also held regularly, the Sharing session features talks by prominent scientists, innovators from the industries or researchers in relevant fields. Again it serves the purpose of inspiring students to think big on potential innovative projects.
The Dream Chamber on the ground floor, a room stocked with manuals, books penned by industry veterans, provides a quiet environment for students to formulate ideas or chat with like-minded friends.
Pointing to the saying displayed near the entrance of the Innovation Wing, by American author and activist Maya Angelou – “One cannot use up creativity; the more you use the more you have”, Dr Chui is optimistic about creative ideas – from diverse disciplines - flourishing at the place, even to the effect of addressing grand challenges facing today’s world.
“The Dream Chamber”- a place to inspire students
From the new academic year onwards, students will be able to receive credits for working on self-initiated projects. They are free to form their own teams to work together towards making advanced inventions. “We adopt the idea of student-initiated projects because we believe that students will be motivated doing what they like. No one gets tired working on something they are passionate about,” said Dr Chui.
Future expansion and development
Students presented the souvenir that was made by using the facilities in Innovation Wing to HKU President Professor Xiang Zhang in the Inaugural Sharing
An extension of the Innovation Wing – Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing Two – which is connected with the existing structure by a covered walkway will be a place to showcase the advanced research output of HKU Engineering professors. Innovation Wing Two was open in late December 2021.
On the future of technology development, Professor Tien maintained Hong Kong is still in an advantageous position. “The research-intensive universities here are strong. Besides the universities, we have the financial centre, wealth and a high standard of living. Researchers for some top-notch technologies like to be in Hong Kong. HKU can nurture talents for the area. Talents and ideas can grow here in Hong Kong.”
For budding innovators, it might all start at the Innovation Wing. “There are Inno Centres everywhere but you can only see some unique technology at the Innovation Wing. That’s something that makes us stand out from the others,” Professor Tien added. “Eventually we want it to be the place to be.”