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Twenty-one teams of students from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) received awards at the Hong Kong University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition 2019, held on 25 and 26 May. The University, with the largest number of awards among tertiary institutions in Hong Kong, has also received the Outstanding Institution Award and completed a sweep of all ten Mathematics and Physics / Mechanics and Control Systems awards under the Innovation category, which exemplified CUHK’s research and innovation excellence in these areas. 

Two CUHK teams received First-Class awards. They are “Multi-modality Digital Holography-based Two-photon Excitation Microscope” in the Innovation category, and “Smart Therapeutic Device for prevention and treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis” in the Entrepreneurship category.

Innovation First-class Award: Multi-modality Digital Holography-based Two-photon Excitation Microscope

Ren Mindan and his team members, who are PhD students from the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, won the first-class award with “Multi-modality Digital Holography-based Two-photon Excitation Microscope”. The system combines a powerful Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) random-access scanner with high-speed resonant galvo-scanners to realise many new functionalities that no current commercial solutions can provide, especially the optical imaging functions such as video-rate fluorescent imaging with simultaneous multi-point optical stimulation, ultrafast axial scanning, multi-plane imaging, and curved plane imaging.

Ren Mindan said they developed the mechanical units and operating software in a year and a half, under the supervision of Prof. Shih-Chi Chen, Associate Professor from the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering. The team is now working with the Hong Kong Eye Hospital, using this new invention to find out the molecular mechanisms of optic nerve diseases and degeneration.

Entrepreneurship First-class Award: Smart Therapeutic Device for prevention and treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis

It is predicted that by 2034, 30% of Hong Kong’s population will be elderly, aged 65 or above. With a growing elderly population, geriatric illness cases will balloon and bring serious medical challenges to our city. Zou Li and his team members, who are PhD students from the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, as well as the School of Biomedical Sciences, have designed a smart medical device for the prevention and treatment of knee osteoarthritis and related degenerative diseases. They hope that technologies can ease the pressure on the public health system brought by population ageing.

With a combination of low-level laser therapy (LLLT), heat therapy, acupuncture, and massage, this device can be applied to the different requirements in knee problems to help relieve the pain, speed up metabolism and accelerate the regeneration of tissue. Equipped with AI and Big Data systems, the device will modify the treatment according to the user’s condition to achieve personalised therapy. It can also be applied in hospitals and clinics, and used by people who seldom walk, such as home stayers, office workers, and people travelling on a long haul flight.

The Hong Kong University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition 2019 was organised by the Hong Kong New Generation Cultural Association.  A total of 676 students from 16 local tertiary institutions submitted 203 projects for the two categories of the competition, namely “Innovation” and “Entrepreneurship”.  Winning teams will represent Hong Kong at the biennial “Challenge Cup” National College Students’ Extracurricular Academic Science and Technology Contest, the China College Students’ “Internet Plus” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition and the Beijing-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Cup.

The following is the list of CUHK awarded projects: