HKUST

🎉 Today marks HKUST's Founding Day. Exactly 35 years ago, an opening ceremony by the shores of Clear Water Bay officially sparked our story.

Let's open the time capsule and witness how much our home and community have evolved. The campus skyline may have changed, but the laughter, drive, and HKUST spirit have only grown stronger.

💬 What is your all-time favorite HKUST memory? Drop it in the comments!

#HKUST #HKUST35A #FoundingDay #ThenAndNow #CampusMemories

HKUST International Case Competition 2026 Concludes Successfully

The HKUST International Case Competition (HKICC) 2026, hosted by the HKUST Business School, concluded successfully. This year’s competition brought together outstanding students from 12 leading universities from around the world. Leveraging HKUST’s strengths in innovation, business education, and global connectivity, the competition provided a dynamic platform for participants to tackle complex business challenges, exchange ideas across cultures, and develop innovative solutions to real-world issues facing modern enterprises.

Following a series of highly competitive rounds, the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business stood out from the 12 participating teams to clinch the championship, while also taking home the Outstanding Business Concept Award. The University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and the National University of Singapore were named first and second runners-up respectively.

Supported by HSBC for the fourth consecutive year, the HKICC has grown into one of Asia's premier international business case competitions and a flagship platform for nurturing future business leaders.

Prof. Frederik ANSEEL, Dean of the HKUST Business School, said, "The success of HKICC underscores our commitment to developing globally minded business leaders through experiential learning and international exchange.”

Discover how top global minds are solving real-world business challenges in the comment.

#HKUST #HKUST35 #HKUSTInternationalCaseCompetition #BusinessEducation #International

From Burning Ideas to Global Icons: YouTube Co-Founder Steve Chen at HKUST!

How does a single spark scale into a platform used by billions? Yesterday, HKUST had the incredible honor of hosting Steve CHEN, Co-founder and former CTO of YouTube, for an electrifying and inspiring fireside chat!

Moderated by our Vice-President for Research and Development, Prof. Tim CHENG, the session bridged the gap between foundational software engineering and global human impact. Drawing from his legendary Silicon Valley experience, Steve shared invaluable insights on how early engineering choices, agility, and a culture of bold risk-taking transformed a niche video-sharing concept into a global phenomenon that fundamentally redefined how humanity communicates.

Key Takeaways from the Session:
·Trust the Burn: Be Brave. Don't let traditional boundaries hold you back. If you have an idea burning inside you, trust it and build it.
·Engineering for Scale: Early technical foundations and cultural adaptability are what allow a startup to scale into a global icon.
·Human-Centric Tech: True innovation isn't just about code—it's about creating platforms that empower communities and share knowledge globally.

The energy in the room was absolutely palpable! Over 330+ HKUST students, alumni, and staff packed the venue, culminating in a highly engaging, overwhelming, and thought-provoking Q&A session. Our campus thinkers and innovators left with a renewed vision of what it truly takes to build the future of global media.

Thank you, Steve Chen, for inspiring the next generation of global changemakers at HKUST!

#HKUST #SteveChen #YouTube #TechInnovation #KnowledgeTransfer #Entrepreneurship #SiliconValley #CreatingImpact

Bridging Vision and Venture: How HKUST and InnoHK Are Accelerating the Green Tech Transition

HKUST Industry Engagement Day Plus (IED+) concluded with a strong turnout, bringing together academia and industry under the theme “From Smart Electronics to Clean Energy: Driving the Sustainable Future.”

At HKUST, impactful innovation is driven by transforming world-class research into market-ready applications. IED+ demonstrated HKUST’s role as a super-connector, bridging academic discovery and industrial commercialization. Co-organised with two newly established InnoHK centers under the SEAM@InnoHK cluster, the Hong Kong Center for Renewable Energy and Storage (HKCRES) and the Power Semiconductors and Applications Center (PowerSAC), the event highlighted how lab-scale breakthroughs can be translated into scalable, real-world solutions.

With more than 130 industry leaders, investors and technology pioneers taking part, IED+ created a platform for cross-sector collaboration built around three core pillars:

💡 Insight into Action: 4 high-impact keynotes from industry and academia explored the green energy transition, highlighting how HKUST channels global expertise into advanced manufacturing strategies.

🔬 Research into Reality: Through 13 cutting-edge technology showcases, breakthroughs from HKUST’s new InnoHK centers were brought directly to market practitioners, creating opportunities for immediate exchange and collaboration.

🌱 Future-Proofing the Ecosystem: A featured panel discussion examined the urgent challenge of powering the AI era sustainably, demonstrating HKUST’s leadership in advancing cross-disciplinary growth across semiconductors, energy storage and smart energy systems.

Together, these exchanges reflect HKUST’s continued efforts to strengthen a robust innovation ecosystem where academic excellence accelerates industrial transformation and contributes to a more sustainable future.

Check out the IED+ event brochure in the comments!

#HKUST #InnoHK #HKCRES #PowerSAC #RenewableEnergy #PowerSemiconductors #SustainableAI #CreatingImpact

A Stamp Album from HKUST 📮

Before messages could cross the world in seconds, a stamp helped carry words, thoughts and feelings from one place to another.

Technology has changed that experience completely. Communication is faster, distance feels smaller, and innovation continues to reshape everyday life. Yet speed does not make human connection any less meaningful. The care behind a message and the moments we choose to treasure still matter.

This World Post Day, we are looking at HKUST through a familiar yet nostalgic medium. Light, architecture and traces of the University’s history come together in a small visual collection that connects progress with memory.

Take a closer look and rediscover HKUST through these small windows into the campus. 💌

#HKUST #WorldPostDay #HKUSTCampus #CampusMemories #Stamps

HKUST Researchers Reveal a Tiered Adaptation Strategy in Deep-Sea Chemosynthetic Symbiosis

A research team led by Prof. QIAN Peiyuan, Chair Professor of the Department of Ocean Science at HKUST, in collaboration with international partners, has made significant progress in uncovering how deep-sea chemosynthetic symbioses cope with environmental change. The findings reveal that metabolic flexibility in the symbionts, coupled with the host’s finely regulated population of bacterial symbionts, mutually sustains the host’s energy stability. This provides important in situ evidence of how chemosynthetic holobionts at deep-sea cold seeps remain resilient when energy supplies fluctuate and highlights the key role of a tiered adaptation strategy in sustaining the stability of cold seep ecosystems.

Apart from HKUST, the research was conducted in collaboration with the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (Guangzhou Marine Laboratory), Ocean University of China (OUC), the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS), and the University of Calgary in Canada. It represents an important outcome within the framework of two UN Decade Programmes namely “CliMetS” and “MOCSI”. The research was recently published in the leading international journal Science Advances, titled “In situ evidence of tiered adaptations buffering a chemosynthetic clam holobiont against environmental sulfide fluctuations”.

Explore more about HKUST’s research contributions to marine science in the comment.

#HKUST #HKUST35 #OceanScience #DeepSea #ResearchInnovation

Global Climate Experts Convene at HKUST to Advance the Future of Urban Weather Forecasting and Early Warnings

As climate change continues to intensify the frequency and severity of extreme weather events worldwide, a recent United Nations Environment Programme report warns that global temperatures are likely to exceed the 1.5°C threshold within the coming years, posing increasing risks to cities and communities around the world. To help address these challenges, HKUST is leading global collaboration in urban weather forecasting and climate resilience through the Urban-PREDICT International Coordination Office (the Office), established on campus in November 2025 under the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) World Weather Research Programme (WWRP).

Over the past year, the Office has brought together scientists, cities, and stakeholders from around the world to advance next-generation urban weather forecasting, hazard prediction, and climate resilience in the face of escalating climate risks. HKUST recently convened experts from the WWRP Urban-PREDICT of the WMO (Urban-PREDICT) Steering Group to evaluate progress made during the project's first year and chart future directions for international collaboration and research.

Co-chaired by Prof. CHEN Fei, Associate Head of the Division of Environment and Sustainability of HKUST and Prof. Soledad Garcia FERRARI, Professor of the University of Edinburgh, Urban-PREDICT brings together scientists from all six inhabited continents to develop next-generation urban-scale hazard prediction and early warning systems. Coordinated through the Office at the HKUST IAS Atmospheric Research Center, the initiative drives global research collaboration, city demonstration projects, and cross-sector partnerships. Through the integration of high-resolution modeling, AI-driven forecasting, effective risk communication, and community preparedness, Urban-PREDICT seeks to improve the prediction of urban weather hazards and ensure that scientific advances are translated into timely, understandable, and actionable warnings for governments, infrastructure operators, and communities.

Prof. Chen stated, "Through the Urban-PREDICT project, HKUST is combining ultra-high-resolution forecasting models and scientific observations with local knowledge, lived experiences, and governance practices.This integrated approach aims to strengthen urban climate resilience, enhance adaptive capacity, improve risk communication, and ultimately safeguard communities against increasingly frequent and severe weather events. "

Learn more about how HKUST leverages risk intelligence to guide disaster preparedness in the comment.

#HKUST #HKUST35 #WeatherForecasting #ResearchInnovation #Sustainability

When Scenery Becomes Characters at HKUST

Have you ever imagined seeing Chinese characters hidden in HKUST’s scenery? 📷

Some of the earliest Chinese characters were pictographs, inspired by the shapes of objects and scenes from everyday life. Drawing on this idea, we looked at the HKUST campus through a different lens.

From a new perspective, familiar campus scenes can take on unexpected forms and become strokes of a Chinese character.

Can you spot the Chinese characters hidden around campus? 📷

Share what you see in the comments!

#HKUST #HKUST35 #CampusArt #ChineseCharacters #CreativeCampus

HKUST Develops Self-Sustaining Seawater-to-Hydrogen System

A research team from HKUST, in collaboration with Arizona State University (ASU) and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), has developed a sustainable integrated seawater-to-hydrogen system that can produce hydrogen directly from seawater while converting waste heat from electrolysis into a resource for producing the purified water required for hydrogen production. By integrating hydrogen production, water generation, and thermal management into a single system, the technology could help reduce the reliance of green hydrogen production on freshwater resources and offer a new approach for sustainable hydrogen development in water-scarce regions.

The study was led by Prof. SHANG Chii, Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at HKUST, and Dr. Gabriela Scheibel CASSOL, a postdoctoral fellow in the same department and an HKUST PhD graduate in Environmental Engineering. The research team also included Prof. Paul WESTERHOFF of Arizona State University and corresponding author Dr. SONG Yinghao, a postdoctoral fellow at PolyU and HKUST PhD graduate in Civil Engineering. The research was published in Nature Communications, titled “Thermally symbiotic integration of osmotic membrane distillation and electrolysis for direct seawater hydrogen production.”

Find more about the Self-Sustaining Seawater-to-Hydrogen System in the comments.
#HKUST #HKUST35 #Sustainability #Seawater #ElectrolyzerWasteHeat #ResearchInnovations

When change arrives without warning, do you see uncertainty, or possibility?

Since 35 years ago, HKUST has embraced bold ideas, breakthrough innovations, and new frontiers. As we look ahead to the next chapter, Vice-President for Development Ir. Prof. John KWONG reflects on navigating uncertainty while staying grounded in purpose, values, and a commitment to excellence.

Why does Viktor Frankl's Man’s Search for Meaning remain Prof. Kwong's go-to source of inspiration? Watch the full video to discover the lesson that continues to guide his leadership.
#HKUST35 #WhereMiraclesHappen #HKUST #Leadership #Empower #HigherEducation

Deepening HKUST–University of Glasgow Collaboration in Research, Innovation and Talent Development

HKUST was delighted to welcome Prof. Rachel Sandison, Vice Principal (External Relations) and Deputy Vice Chancellor (External Engagement) of the University of Glasgow (UofG), for a visit to explore opportunities for strengthening collaboration between our two institutions.

The delegation met with senior HKUST representatives, including Prof. Tim Cheng, Vice-President for Research and Development; Prof. Jimmy Fung, Associate Provost (Teaching & Learning); Dr. Alison Lloyd, Associate Provost (Academic Strategy and Data Analytics). The meeting provided an opportunity to share updates on HKUST's latest developments and exchange views on how both universities can further advance innovation, internationalisation, talent development, and industry engagement.

Founded in 1451, UofG is one of the world's leading research-intensive universities and a fellow member of the Universitas 21 network. With complementary strengths and a shared commitment to global impact, both institutions explored opportunities to broaden collaboration across education, research, innovation, and external engagement.

The visit reflects the strong alignment between HKUST and UofG in fostering research excellence, nurturing globally minded talent, strengthening links with industry, and addressing shared global challenges through international collaboration. We look forward to building on our longstanding relationship and exploring new opportunities that create value for academia, industry, and society.

#HKUST #UniversityOfGlasgow #UofG #GlobalEngagement #InternationalPartnerships #ResearchCollaboration #Innovation #IndustryEngagement #Internationalisation #GlobalTalent #HigherEducation #Universitas21 #HKUST35