The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has established six InnoHK Centres covering health, biomedicine, robotics and artificial intelligence under the InnoHK initiative, a HK$10-billion (US$1.3-billion) scheme of the Hong Kong Government to develop the city as the hub for global research collaboration. In partnership with prestigious universities worldwide, including the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Karolinska Institutet, University of California, Berkeley, ETH Zurich, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the centres apply CUHK’s world-class research discoveries to generate translational impact and cultivate talents in the innovation and technology sector, supporting Hong Kong as a global powerhouse of innovation connecting the world with the rapidly emerging research and innovation ecosystem of the Greater Bay Area.
Restorative medicine enhancing the quality of life
Collaborating Institution: Karolinska Institutet
Co-led by Prof. Patrick Yung and Prof. Woody Chan from the Faculty of Medicine, The Center for Neuromusculoskeletal Restorative Medicine integrates talents, expertise and technologies from biomedical science and engineering to restore structure and function to neuromusculoskeletal tissues and organs injured, diseased and degenerated by aging, sports injury and trauma.
Unlocking secrets of human body with a drop of blood
Collaborating Institutions: University of Oxford, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, and Imperial College London
Led by Prof. Dennis Lo from the Faculty of Medicine, The Centre for Novostics aims to push forward the frontier of molecular diagnostics and the development of cutting-edge diagnostics based on cell-free nucleic acids in blood and other bodily fluids. Examples are the non-invasive prenatal test which benefits pregnant women worldwide and the novel non-invasive tests for cancer detection. These research areas will accelerate the application of liquid biopsy and promote Hong Kong as a leading molecular diagnostic centre in the world.
Probiotics boosting human immunity
Collaborating Institutions: University of Cambridge, The University of Chicago and The University of Melbourne
Being the only centre studying human gut microbiota in Asia, the Microbiota I-Center is co-directed by Prof. Siew Ng and Prof. Francis Chan from the Faculty of Medicine. The Center develops a novel class of microbiome diagnostics and live biotherapeutics for common diseases including obesity, cancer, autism, inflammatory disorders and COVID-19 by identifying corresponding faecal bacterial gene markers.
Artificial intelligence being part of everyday lives
Collaborating Institutions: Massachusetts Institute of Technology and The University of Manchester
Piloted by Prof. Helen Meng from the Faculty of Engineering, the Centre for Perceptual and Interactive Intelligence connects artificial intelligence and research with industry to accelerate social implementation and meet industrial demands. Its research focuses include computer vision, multilingual speech and language technologies, natural language processing, and AI-enabled design automation.
Elevating the logistics industry with robotics and AI technologies
Collaborating Institution: University of California, Berkeley
The Hong Kong Centre for Logistics Robotics was established by Prof. Yunhui Liu from the Faculty of Engineering. It focuses on the research and development of robotics and artificial intelligence technologies for future workplaces, in particular the advancement of robot intelligence in terms of smart perception, smart interactions, smart manipulation and smart moving.
Asia’s first preclinical platform for medical robotics
Collaborating Institutions: ETH Zurich, Imperial College London, and Johns Hopkins University
Co-directed by Prof. Philip Chiu from the Faculty of Medicine and Prof. Samuel Au from the Faculty of Engineering, the Multi-Scale Medical Robotics Center brings the worlds of medicine and engineering together. The hybrid operating room is equipped with a number of advanced medical devices. Not only does it serve as the first synergistic platform in Asia in enriching research and development in medical robotics for clinical translation, it also promotes the commercialisation of novel medical robotics technologies.
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