CUHK
News Centre

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) will hold the Student Achievements in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Exhibition 2007 from today (29 January) to 3 February on campus. The opening ceremony today is officiated by Mr. Eddy Y. T. Chan, Commissioner for Innovation and Technology, Professor Lawrence J. Lau, Vice-Chancellor, and Professor Jack C. Y. Cheng, Pro-Vice-Chancellor.

Nowadays, innovative thinking and entrepreneurship have become the core elements for economic development. To develop talents to answer the need of our society, CUHK has applied a dual-focus on equipping students with the professional knowledge and nurturing their whole-person development and innovative thinking. Students are encouraged to apply innovation to practice and also embark on entrepreneurship. The exhibition displays an array of CUHK students’ innovative achievements in international, national and local competitions, including two projects — ‘The Millimetre-Scale Turning Centre’ and ‘A School to Learn’— which were awarded the Special Award in the 10th Challenge Cup last year. The Cup is considered the premier biennial national competition of extra-curricular technological projects of university students. The University has also become the only Hong Kong institution winning the top award of the Hong Kong and Macau Cup in the competition for three times in a row.

Mr. Eddy Y. T. Chan highly commended CUHK students on their outstanding performance in the Challenge Cup events over the years. He attributed their excellence in innovation and entrepreneurship to the inspiring guidance of teachers and excellent learning environment provided by the University. “The Chinese University of Hong Kong is keen at supporting students in their innovative exploration in technological development and business planning, which is best presented in today’s exhibition.”

The Millimetre-Scale Turning Centre is a milestone in the machine manufacturing processing industry. Despite its small size, it is capable of machining miniature components with complicated features such as mechanical watch components and semi-conductors. The project ‘A School to Learn’, which integrates traditional architectural style with modern building technologies, has shed new light on the approach of poverty relief. It cultivates a strong sense of community ownership in the villagers towards the school, and helps them to help themselves.

CUHK students have long been recognized for their innovative inventions. Each year, the University organizes the Vice-Chancellor’s Cup of Entrepreneurship (VCCE). Winners of the event perform with flying colours in many local and overseas competitions, such as the Young Entrepreneurs Development Council (YDC) E-Challenge, the Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge, Asia Moot Corp and Global Moot Corp.

Winners of these competitions frequently receive sponsorship to implement their plans as real start-up companies. For example, Golden Health, the champion of VCCE 2005 and winner of the Hong Kong YDC E-Challenge of the same year, was a plan to measure and record blood pressure using optical and electronic signals without the need for a cuff that constricts blood flow. After placing well in Asia Moot Corp, the students put their plan into practice under the name of Colisa Limited. With seed funding from SERAP they joined the Science Park incubation programme. They have done extensive product tests with a regional hospital and are now in the final stages of product roll-out, with the help of strategic manufacturing partner Telefield Limited.

VMiner, the champion of VCCE 2007, is another example. It provides retail stock market investors with software that gives instant advice based on artificial intelligence. The core technology that VMiner is using was developed by three Ph.D. students and two professors in the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management of the University over the last five years. VMiner will target the booming mainland China stock market in the near future.

The Student Achievements in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Exhibition 2007 will take place at the University Exhibition Hall, G/F, University Library, CUHK. Members of the public are welcome to view the exhibition during the opening hours as follows:

Monday to Friday : 8:20 am – 10:00 pm
Saturday : 8:20 am – 7:00 pm
Sunday : 1:00 pm – 7:00 pm