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Professor Rocky S. Tuan, Vice-Chancellor and President of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) recently attended the 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai. The conference, on the theme of “A New Era Empowered by Artificial Intelligence”, was co-organised by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the Shanghai Municipal Government. It brought together the world’s most influential artificial intelligence (AI) scientists, academicians, entrepreneurs and government officials to engage in high-level dialogues on leading AI technologies and focuses of the AI industry.

At the conference, CUHK joined hands with 15 universities around the world, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Sydney, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Beihang University, as well as SenseTime, the world’s leading AI company, to initiate a Global AI Academic Alliance. An establishment ceremony was held at the opening of WAIC. The alliance was founded to boost cross-disciplinary exchanges and promote international collaboration on AI technology, constructing mechanisms and platforms to provide diversified opportunities for AI study, talent training and research developments.

The Alliance held a roundtable discussion of university presidents at Shanghai Jiao Tong University during the WAIC. President Tuan exchanged ideas with participating university leaders and academic members in the field of AI on topics ranging from academic research to high-end talent training. The founder of SenseTime, Professor Tang Xiaoou of Department of Information Engineering of CUHK, hosted the roundtable discussion. Representatives attending the alliance roundtable included Professor Eric Grimson, Honorary President of the MIT, ProfessorJiang Sixian, Party Secretary of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Professor Xu Ningsheng, President of Fudan University, Professor Wang Shuguo, President of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Professor Pan Jianwei, Executive Vice President of the University of Science and Technology of China, Dr Michael Spence, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, and Professor Lin Shan, Vice President of Nanyang Technological University of Singapore.

Professor Tuan also gave a speech and joined the discussion sessions at the thematic forums of the WAIC. Specific topics included AI innovation environment and the collaboration connecting academia, research and industry.  At the Main Forum of WAIC, Professor Tang of CUHK also delivered a speech entitled “AI Love without Boundaries” to share his thoughts on the global artificial intelligence industry.

Based on the University’s world-leading research excellence, CUHK has identified four major areas in its strategic plan as research priorities. Intelligent Reasoning is one of the cross-cutting themes in these areas which focuses interdisciplinary research directions to reach the next level of excellence and breakthrough, and fulfil societal needs on a national and global scale.