CUHK
News Centre

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) announced a new technology spin-off based on its ground breaking technology, 3G Networks Real-time Video Transcoder. Developed by Prof. LEE Yiu Bun Jack and his team at the Department of Information Engineering of CUHK, the new technology enables mobile users to view essentially any video available on the internet anytime anywhere.

As one of the founders of the new spin-off, Prof. Lee said the era of Mobile Internet has begun. “We have already successfully deployed the technology in Hong Kong. Our solution is proven and reliable. Smartone-Vodafone’s “Internet on Mobile” subscribers have been using the technology to view multimedia content from popular websites like YouTube and Yahoo! Video since July. It is high time for us to explore the global market.”

“According to recent statistics, the estimated 3G internet services market potential will rise from US$6.2 billion in 2007 to US$15 billion by the year 2009. Mobile service operators who can leverage multimedia online content to provide a broad spectrum of services will greatly improve their ARPU. The CUHK transcoder technology is a strategic weapon that enables us to fight our way into this fast growing market,” said Mr. William Yip, CEO of the startup. Mr. Yip is an expert in the area of telecommunications and an alumnus of the Faculty of Engineering of CUHK.

Students in Prof. Lee’s research laboratories, inspired by the new technology, are taking up research projects to expand the system to support more multimedia formats, more 3G and other mobile wireless handsets and PDAs. Some of them are interested in joining the new spin-offs.

“We are glad to see our effort has yielded another spin-off, which is an excellent example of successfully transferring university research results into real world business deployment. Our work has contributed to the regional economic development from the social perspective. From the standpoint of students, they are given a channel to turn their dreams into real products and services, even before graduation. With persistent devotion, the creative imagination of students will contribute into products of great impact one day through these spin-off companies,” said Prof. Wong Kam-Fai, Director of the Centre for Innovation and Technology of CUHK. The Centre has been the University’s major force to promote entrepreneurship on the campus. It actively identifies potential technologies developed by the University to be transferred to the industry through licensing and spin-offs.