Subject Area: Biology and Medicine
Project Title: Center for Next Generation Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technologies for Accessible Healthcare
Project Coordinator: Prof Ed Xuekui WU (HKU)
Abstract
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is one of the most transformative medical innovations in modern healthcare. It is non-invasive and non-ionizing, providing highly sensitive and specific insights into tissue structures and pathological changes. MRI enables diagnosing and prognosing diseases such as strokes and cancers, assessing injuries and diseases across organs, and guiding interventional therapies. However, despite its substantial clinical value, MRI accessibility remains limited, hindering its full potential in healthcare. This limitation is mainly driven by the high costs of acquiring, installing, and operating conventional high-field (1.5/3 Tesla) superconducting scanners (i.e., typically costs HK$15M – HK$25M per unit). For example, within Hong Kong’s public healthcare system, patients face average waiting time of 12 to 18 months for a standard MRI examination.
Our team will establish a research center dedicated to developing disruptive MRI technologies for widespread and accessible healthcare utilization. This Area of Excellence (AoE) program will bring together leading experts from Hong Kong and around the world in MRI physics, engineering, image computing, artificial intelligence, and clinical medicine. The proposed highly simplified yet intelligent MRI technologies aim to create a new class of affordable, patient-centric, and computing-powered scanners capable of transforming healthcare delivery. Our long-term goal is to enable ubiquitous MRI access through disruptive innovations and to cultivate talents in next-generation MRI technologies in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. This AoE initiative will help position Hong Kong as a hub for healthcare technology innovations in the Greater Bay Area and Asia.
Subject Area: Engineering
Project Title: Centre of Smart Manufacturing
Project Coordinator: Prof George Guoquan HUANG (PolyU)
Abstract
In response to Hong Kong’s “New Industrialization” strategy, this Area of Excellence (AoE) project unites world-leading expertise across Advanced Manufacturing, IoT Smart Technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to establish the Centre of Smart Manufacturing (CoSM). The Centre aims to explore the necessary and sufficient conditions to drive breakthroughs in Smart Manufacturing from Industry 3.0 through 4.0 towards Industry 5.0. The project’s vision is to enable future smart factories to navigate manufacturing complexities much like autonomous vehicles using navigation system, leveraging real-time interoperability between cyber and physical spaces to ensure new products are manufactured with maximum resilience. The project’s mission is to innovate cyber-physical technologies that slice spatial-temporal windows of manufacturing operations to minimize complexity and uncertainty, thereby maximizing the resilience of order fulfilments. The project features four key innovations. First, Cyber-Physical Computers (CPCs) represent necessary technologies including hardware and software components for creating and computing digital twins of 5-M elements (human, machine, material, method and measurement) of manufacturing operations. Second, CPC incorporates the “Out of Order Execution (OoOE)” algorithms as a new way to manage factory operations. In-memory “look around” mechanisms are built on cyber-physical visibility and spatial-temporal traceability and minimize uncertainty and computational complexity. Third, domain-specific large models and application-oriented agents are first developed and trained for selected manufacturing scenarios and then deployed to end-edge-cloud CPCs in the hierarchy of manufacturing resources. Fourth, GenAI-embodied CPCs are used to empower and convert manufacturing units into autonomous smart micro-factories that are in-turn networked through routers and gateways to form the Cyber-Physical Internet (CPI). CPI handles Work-In-Progress (WIP) components and products just like the internet processes data. Cyber-physical technologies could redefine and simplify complex manufacturing operations and decision-making challenges, providing the manufacturing industry with opportunities for high-efficiency and resilient problem-solving.
Subject Area: Physical Sciences
Project Title: Hong Kong Centre for Neutron Scattering
Project Coordinator: Prof Xun-li WANG (CityU)
Abstract
Throughout human history, technological breakthroughs have been underpinned by the discovery and development of new materials, whose performance is governed by the underlying structure and dynamics. Neutron scattering is a powerful experimental technique for determining the structure and dynamics across different length and time scales.
The development of neutron scattering techniques began in the late 1940s, led by Drs. Clifford G. Shull and Bertram N. Brockhouse, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1994. Neutrons show where atoms are and what atoms do, i.e., the structure and dynamics. Compared to other experimental methods, neutron scattering offers several distinct advantages. First, neutrons are highly penetrating for most materials. Therefore, neutron scattering results are representative of the specimens under study. For the same reason, experiments with sample environments can be readily implemented. These features have enabled in operando studies of real materials under realistic operating conditions (often extreme). Second, neutrons are sensitive to light elements, such as H, O, Li, and C. Neutrons’ sensitivity to H has been widely used to precisely locate hydrogen atoms, leading to broad applications in soft matter and life sciences. Third, neutrons possess spin and magnetic moment, making neutron scattering an ideal probe for studying magnetism. Fourth, thermal and cold neutrons have energies comparable to those of atomic motion. As a result, neutron scattering has been exploited as a unique tool to investigate dynamic processes in materials. These studies have made original contributions to our knowledge of complex interactions in materials, from magnetism in superconductors to dynamics in complex fluids and biological systems. Last but not least, neutron scattering has direct industrial applications. A notable example is non-destructive residual stress mapping in engineering components, which provides critical data for the safety and lifetime assessment of key equipment (e.g., high-speed trains or nuclear reactors) or infrastructure (e.g., bridges) in society.
The overarching goal of this project is to establish the Hong Kong Center for Neutron Scattering (HKCNS) to advance Hong Kong towards international excellence in this cutting-edge field. This project is built on a strong partnership and close collaboration with the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS), a world-class facility located in Dongguan, ~70 km north of Hong Kong. With CSNS, China joins the US, UK, and Japan as the only nations that provide pulsed neutron sources for research and development. HKCNS is a Hong Kong-based hub that promotes the use of CSNS by providing (i) a critical mass in instrument expertise and coordinated research programmes, (ii) new methodology, instrumentation concepts, and advanced data-analysis capabilities leading to high-impact research output, and (iii) structured training and support for an expanding user base in Hong Kong.
Subject Area: Biology and Medicine
Project Title: Centre for Safe, Sustainable and Legal Wildlife Trade
Project Coordinator: Prof Juha Merilä (HKU)
Abstract
Global biodiversity, public health, and ecosystem integrity face severe threats from unsustainable, unregulated, and often criminal wildlife trade. As a major global trading gateway and transit hub, Hong Kong processes and re-exports extraordinary volumes of wildlife products and live animals. To address these challenges, the newly established Centre for Safe, Sustainable and Legal Wildlife Trade aims to pioneer cutting-edge solutions that support a secure, legally compliant, and disease-free trade ecosystem. Led by Project Coordinator Professor Juha Merilä and hosted by the Conservation Forensics Laboratory at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), this initiative creates a multidisciplinary alliance of world-class experts spanning ecology, computer science, law, public health, sociology, and non-governmental organizations. Funded with an exploratory one-year grant, the project sets out clear goals built upon three strategic pillars: establishing legality through forensic science, safeguarding public health via advanced disease screening, and ensuring long-term trade sustainability. By integrating advanced technology with community and policy engagement, the Centre intends to establish Hong Kong as a regional exemplar and global leader in biodiversity management and safe bio-trade.