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Big Data & Business Analytics Workshop

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Simitri Hong Kong Limited was invited to perform a Big Data & Business Analytics Workshop on 30thApril 2018.  I was one of participants and would like to summarize some contents of the workshop.  Mr. Philip Chan (Senior Consultant, Simitri) was our trainer.   The workshop objectives were to gain insight into “Big Data” and how to use to make better decisions.  Mr. Philip Chan said Big Data had characteristic on Bias (偏向性) but not Absolute (絕對性).  It based on past data but did not consider future trend. 


Big Data could be described by 5 Vs and they were Volume, Velocity, Variety and Veracity, as well as Value.  


Then Mr. Philip Chan shared customer behaviors that mainly had four hears and they were greedy (貪心), curiosity (好奇心), vanity (虛榮心) and fear (恐懼心).  After that he briefed the benefits of Big Data included three main reasons included “Increase Shareholder Value”, “Increase Customer Value” and “Increase Employee Value”.  


The key steps used Big Data:
i)                    Understand
ii)                  Predict
iii)                Manage and Control
Mr. Philip Chan then briefed two types of thinking for Big Data that one is Intuition and the other is Analysis.  He explained the word of “context” in Intuition thinking that related to feeling and the other similar word “content” that related to fact. 

After that he mentioned the Big Data Analysis Framework as follows:
Discovery – Developing the process and collecting the data
Insights – Organizing, analyzing, and visualizing the data
Actions – Making decisions based on the data
Outcomes – Executing the decisions and measuring results
Planning sequence was Outcomes, Actions, Insights and Discovery.


Reversely, implementing sequence was Discovery, Insights, Actions and Outcomes.


During the exercise, trainer demonstrated that “When you focus on the details, you lose track of the big picture.” Indicating that understanding the Problem or Outcomes required you to see the big picture (zoom out) and focus on the details (zoom in).  The six common mistakes when defining business problems, objectives and/or goals were showed as following diagram.  


The three key components of an effective problem statement was introduced and they were “Object”, “Deviation” and “Evidence”.  Then he briefed the goal statement using SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound).  


He also introduced Decision Matrix of Impact vs Effort for Action stage.  He suggested to start from Easy to Difficult.  


For Insights, four steps for collecting the data showed as follows:
Step 1: What do you really need to know in order to decide?
Step 2: What kind of data are you going to measure?
Step 3: Where will the data come from?
Step 4: What analytical software and tools will you use?
And then he briefed some common tools for Big Data.


Finally, trainer explained some common mistakes when using Big Data to make decisions as follows:
“Good Data vs Bad Data”
“Correlation vs Causation”
“Flawed Assumptions”

At the end, Mr. Philip Chan presented certificate to us and we took a photo for memory.


Reference:


HKQAA Startup Coaching to HKSTP Incubatee

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HKSTP and HKQAA signed MoU to support Start-ups in HKSTP since 2015 and the HKQAA Startup Registration Scheme has launched since 2016.  Now HKQAA Registration – Startup and HKSTP Quality Startup Management System scheme joined hands to assist HKSTP incubatees to enhance their management skill and increase their recognition for business through HKQAA free One-to-One coaching and HKSTP Quality System unit knowledge sharing for upgrading to ISO certification support.  On 3rd May 2018, Mr. Adams Wong (HKQAA) and Ms. Brenda Ling (HKQAA) gave coaching to Veridian Biotechnology Limited and we took a group photo for memory during the meeting.

(Left: Ms. Brenda Ling, Mr. Adams Wong, Dr. Bin Ye (CEO), Mr. Ken Lee, Mr. Brian Hei and I)

Before the coaching, we had meeting on 27th April 2018 and I briefed how QS unit support their certification requirement through knowledge sharing. They would like to apply ISO 9001 and ISO 17025 (HOKLAS) for their protein testing and other testing employing biotechnology.



Another incubatee I met was Belun Technology Company Limited on 2nd May 2018 and their product was ring for measuring sleeping pattern.  They would like to know more about ISO 27001 and EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).  We also took a photo for memory.

(Left: I, Mr. Raymond To (Hardware Artisit, R&D), Mr. Morton Mo and Ms. Lydia Leung)

Hopefully, our Quality Startup Management System scheme and HKQAA Startup registration scheme would help them to develop their business successfully. 

Reference:
HKQAA Hong Kong Registration - Start-ups - http://hkqaa.org/en_regservice.php?catid=13
Related Past Activities:
20180117: Startup Meeting with Hong Kong Startup Council and CityU - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2018/01/startup-meeting-with-hong-kong-startup.html
20180110: Startup Meeting among HKSTP, HKQAA and InvestHK - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2018/01/startup-meeting-among-hkstp-hkqaa-and.html
20171220: HKSTP & HKQAA meeting with EMSD for Startup Innovation Procurement - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2017/12/hkstp-hkqaa-meeting-with-emsd-for.html
20170719: HKQAA Startup Coaching to CityU Inno-preneur “HANDS” - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2017/07/hkqaa-startup-coaching-to-cityu-inno.html

Zhejiang University – PolyU Joint Center: The 20th Anniversary Ceremony Summit for Quality Management Master Program

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The Zhejiang University – The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Joint Center (浙江大學-香港理工大學聯合中心): The 20th Anniversary Ceremony Summit for Quality Management Master Program (浙江大學香港理工大學品質管理(QM)碩士項目合作辦學二十周年慶典高峰論壇) was held in Hangzhou on 5th May 2018. The theme of summit was “Meet China's Wisdom • Share Quality in the Future” (遇見中國智慧共享品質未來).  I was honor to be invited as keynote speaker for this summit.  Before the summit, we had a lunch with guests together.

(Row 1 Left: Prof. Xiong wei (熊偉), Prof. Kee-hung Lai (黎基雄), Prof. Liu Tingfang (劉庭芳), Dr. YK Chan (陳旭球);
Row 2 Left: Ms. Minda Chiang, Ms. Xu Lixin (徐立新), Dr. Lotto KH Lai (黎劍虹), Prof. Andy C.L. Yeung (楊昌良), Ms. Zheng Jieyu (鄭洁瑜), Dr. YH Hung (洪奕顯), Mr. Han Jianbo (韓劍波), Mr. Wang Qibing (王琪冰) and Mr. He Songyuan (賀松元))

I appreciated Dr. YH Hung (洪奕顯) invitation and we took a photo in front of summit backdrop.


In the beginning, Prof. Wei Jiang (魏江) (浙江大學管理學院院長) gave opening speech.  Firstly, he used a poem appreciated the beautiful of Hangzhou.  He said quality is human-centric and then he introduced the 20th anniversary of QM joint project with the following expectation:
i)                    In 2049, the project continuously succeed to train up QM talent
ii)                  Increase Zhejiang University status and ranking
iii)                Alumni and teacher self-enhancement and led Quality into Industry.

Lastly, he quoted Mr. Xi Jinping (President of the People's Republic of China) saying that “Zhejiang University’s Today, China’s Tomorrow”. 


Prof. Kee-hung Lai (黎基雄) (Professor, Associate Dean (Academic Support), Faculty of Business, PolyU) gave an opening speech.  He firstly introduced PolyU history and achievement such as high ranking in young university and the TIME.  Then he reviewed the QM joint program approved since 1999.  It was a very good cooperation program to train up QM talent to apply their professional in different industries.  


Then we took a group photo.


I (Chairman, HKSQ) was the first keynote speaker and my topic named “Hong Kong Quality Innovation Way – Extenics & AI” (香港品質創新之路可拓学与人工智能研究).  


Beginning, I briefed the history of Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) which established since 1986.  HKSQ is world partner of America Society for Quality (ASQ) and founding member of Asia Network for Quality (ANQ).  We recognized as Professional Body by Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification (HKCTC) since 2009.  In 2016, we (HKSQ, CAQ, CSQ and SQI) co-organzied the 1st World Summit for Chinese Quality (WSCQ) in Hong Kong.  It is the first event HKSQ introduced “Extenics” to quality professional in Hong Kong.  


Then key strategy in China and Hong Kong in future 10 years were briefed. In China, there were “One Belt One Road”, “Made in China 2025”, and “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area”. Specific strategies in Hong Kong were “Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop” and “Reindustrialization in Hong Kong”.  One of important strategy was “New generation of AI development plan”.  


Quality and Innovation are two major items to be focused by “Made in China 2025”.  I mentioned the development of tools between quality and innovation through three industrial revolutions.  Per Prof. Cai Wen, the 1stindustrial revolution was extension of Arm (power), the 2ndindustrial revolution caused by extension of Leg, Ear & Eye. The 3rdindustrial revolution was computer power and IT that extension of part of human brain.  The coming 4thindustrial revolution was from AI power that extension of human intelligence. 


After that I introduced the formation of “Extenics” in which Prof. Cai Wen started to study the law, theory and method for dealing with incompatible problems since 1976.  The birth of “Extenics” was in 1983 based on the paper named “Extension Set and Incompatible Problem”.  


Extension Innovation Method through Four Steps were introduced.  They were Model, Extension, Transformation and Selection (METS). 


First, Second and Third Creative Methods based on “Extenics” was introduced and discussed.  The First Creative Method (named 無中生有) started from customer needs and solve the contradiction of unsatisfied needs.  The Second Creative Method (named有中求變) started from the existing product and extending their function or other characteristic to get the new product.  The Third Creative Method (named 改缺成優) started from the default of the existing product to improve it to be new product.


Finally the integration of Extenics, TRIZ and Innovation Culture together for holistic approach was proposed and integrated into Quality Innovation Management System based on ISO 9001:2015 and CEN/TS 16555-1 and its series was discussed.


Lastly, I briefed the coming ISO trend for Innovation Management System standard development named ISO 50501. I was the first Hong Kong observer in the ISO/TC 279.


At the end, I concluded that AI was a large set, Machine Learning was subset but its core was Deep Learning.  I proposed that from Learning to Thinking that would be included Machine Thinking and Deep Thinking.  Human’s deep thinking could be considered as Creativity and most of creative ideas were come from solving contradiction problems.  So I quoted Prof. Cai Wen said “Let’s develop and promote the China original discipline “Extenics” together.”


The second speaker was Prof. Liu Tingfang (劉庭芳) (清華大學醫院管理研究院創始人,院長高級顧問) and his topic was “The Application of AI in One Hospital Multi-district Medical and Safety Homogenization Management” (AI在一院多區醫療與安全同質化管理中的應用).  Firstly, he briefed the history of One Hospital Multi-district and its challenges.


Prof. Liu quoted some challenges of hospital in different districts included Human Resource, Medical Resource logistic and Information sharing mechanism.  Because of each hospital management system was difference, the overall medical quality was low.  


Then Prof. Liu identified some hazards if under non-homogenization management included safety problem, waste of resource and affected the brand and patients trust. 


Finally, Prof. Liu summarized some research results of One Hospital Multi-district Medical and Safety Homogenization Management and found that some key factors caused non-homogenization management such as different operation procedures, different standards, different management model, staff quality, service quality level, equipment level and culture, etc. 


At the end, Prof. Liu discussed how AI assisted One Hospital Multi-district Medical and Safety Homogenization Management that standardized the service in each hospital and enhance the efficiency of consultation and optimization of human resource. 

 The third speaker was Ms. Wang Yuanzhang (王元珞) (杭州錦江集團有限公司董事長) and her presentation entitled “Gathering University and Enterprise Wise for Win-Win Situation, Enhancing the Integration between Industry and Education” (匯聚校企智慧謀共贏, 深化產學融合結碩果).  In the beginning, Ms. Wang shared about her life in Zhejiang University and introduced the Hangzhou Jinjiang Group which established in 1993. The Company mainly operates environmental energy, non-ferrous metal and chemical business, including waste incineration power generation, alumina production and salt chemical production. 


Then she introduced their contribution on industrial standards (mainly in waste incineration power generation) establishment in which cooperated with Zhejiang University since 2012.  


Moreover, they had participated to establish National Engineering Laboratory for waste incineration power generation with Zhejiang University in 2017.  They aimed to train professionals in heat energy generation.  Finally, Ms. Wang shared concluded their group’s mission in four statements that were “Resource Sharing, Mutual Benefit, Collaborative Innovation and Educate Talent” (資源共享, 互利共贏, 協同創新, 合力育人).


The fourth speaker was Ms. Xu Lixin (徐立新) (浙江遠傳信息技術股份有限公司董事長) and her topic named “Smart Service Technology embraces the Future” (智慧服務技術擁抱未來).  Firstly, Ms. Xu briefed the different of top 10 companies in the world between 2008 and 2018.  7 of 10 companies were internet related.  


Then Ms. Xu reviewed three AI waves in 1974, 1987 and now.  She quoted Gartner that AI would be the most destructive technology in coming 10 years. She said AI like electricity which existed anywhere.  


Moreover, she briefed the international AI great companies’ strategy and R&D directions including Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple.


And then she mentioned China government’s policy which focused on AI and Smart Manufacturing since 2015 including Made in China 2025, Internet+, The Thirteenth Five Year Plan and New Generation of AI Development Plan, etc.


China AI ecosystem development was discussed in which separated into Basic Level, Technology Level and Application Level.  Our industries were leading in application level but comparative weak at basic level.  


Finally, Ms. Xu predicted AI would over human job from 3~5 year, 5~10year and 10~15year and quoted Mr. Li Kaifu (李開複) statement that AI probably replaced your job if that job problem could be made a decision within 5s. 


Finally, Ms. Xu introduced their product named Ms. “小远” and she concluded her talk using alumni suggestion that the future has come; “Xiaoyuan” is not far (未來已來, 小远不远).


The last speaker was Dr. YK Chan (陳旭球) (Chairman, Six Sigma Institute) and his presentation topic entitled “The Importance of Quality in the Fourth Industrial Revolution” (質量在第四次工業革命的重要性).  


In the beginning, Dr. Chan discussed what is quality? It was separated into three level and saying Big Quality, Soft Quality and Hard Quality.  Business Excellence Model (BEM) was the whole concept “Big” for different industries including government, hospital, etc.


Then he introduced the Fourth Industrial Revolution (or Industry 4.0) that was employing Cyber-Physical System (CPS).  The key elements in Industry 4.0 was found to be related the elements of Business Excellence Model (BEM).


And then Dr. Chan compared today’s technology and future technology in industry. The manufacturers and supply chains were connected together.


Dr. Chan said that we needed different tools to enhance the productivity under the 4thindustrial revolution and such tools including TOC, TPM, JIT, LEAN, Six Sigma, etc.


Lastly, Dr. Chan concluded that Made in China 2025 caused two types of change.  One is CPS transformation and the other is Management Model transformation.  He proposed to use TOC increase productivity under BEM and then using LEAN to reduce waste, as well as, using Six Sigma to increase quality and reduce cost.  (Remark: For more information about Dr. Chan’s topic, please view the reference in the Minitab Seminar on 1stSep 2017.)


The last session, Prof. Xiong wei (熊偉) (Professor, Service Science and Operations Management, School of Management, Zhejiang University) chaired the round table discussion.  He raised three questions and they were:
i)                    What is the future Smart City?
ii)                  What are the opportunity and challenge in Industry 4.0 (I4.0)?
iii)                How to implement QM in your industry effective and efficiency?


The first guest was Mr. He Songyuan (賀松元) (浙江志誠軟件有限公司董事) said self-driving car would be the future of smart city and smart parking would be highly demanded.  Automotive company and internet company would be integrated in near future.  He suggested to thinking in QM angel for company operation. 


The second guest was Ms. Zheng Jieyu (鄭洁瑜) and she thought about smart city should be more convenience, healthy, safety and smart.  In I4.0, he mentioned the innovation thinking was important that included interactive internet and industrial internet.  Craftsmanship (工匠精神) was very important.  Internal quality should be more important.


The third guest was Mr. Wang Qibing (王琪冰) (浙江省電梯產業技術創新聯盟秘書長) and he shared in three dimensions that citizen used technology, military technology and industry.  Mr. Wang said improvement of China technology and innovation development should need competitors.  One belt and one road was another opportunity.  Finally, he said quality is an experience. 

The fourth guest was Mr. Huang Yuzhou (黃宇舟) (阿里巴巴集團飛豬副總裁) and he said internet was the driver to push the improvement in the society. For example, the AI for traffic lamp could improve the traffic efficiency in Zhejiang. For I4.0, he said our young generations were full of perspective.  Our new energy was big data and he expected in near future that we only had mobile and passport; we could visit the world easily.  Mr. Huang said service quality is solving the customer’s pain point.  


The fifth guest was Mr. Han Jianbo (韓劍波) (信雅達泛泰科技董事長兼CEO) and he mentioned the future smart city would focused on finance and product.  He said important of ABCD stated for AI, Block Chain, Cloud and Data.  He added large amount of special bank appeared.  Mr. Han said to use PDCA and should balance the efficiency and safety.


The last guest was Mr. Zhang Yuping (張欲平) (傳化智聯股份有限公司教研與運營總監) and he shared that startup in IT could be few people with good idea and then one or two month created pilot program but startup in manufacturing was not as fast as IT.  From idea to manufacturing product, we needed to consider safety, supply chain and efficiency.  Online and offline should be same important under I4.0.  Lastly, Mr. Zhang identified quality into three dimensions and they were Customer, Staff and Stakeholder.  


At the end, Prof. Andy CL Leung (楊昌良) gave closing remark.  He said the MSc in QM established since 1998 and we had more than 1000 alumni.  Prof. Leung reviewed that he studied QM since 1995 with 23 years on quality research.  He expected this QM platform could contribute and promote China Quality.


After the summit, I took a photo with Prof. Andy CL Leung (楊昌良) and Mr. Daniel Ruan (阮興國) (President, Hangzhou Alumni Association, Zhejiang University – PolyU Joint Center). 


I also took a photo with Ms. Xu Lixin (徐立新) and with their robot Ms. “小远


The summit venue was “Dragon Hotel, Hangzhou China”.


On 6thMay 2018 (Sunday), Minda and I visited Hangzhou West Lake.


Hangzhou West Lake wide view


We went to the Baidi Causeway (白堤).


The background should be the LeiFeng Tower (雷峰塔).  We went to the tower during study mission in April 2014. (See reference)


When we arrived at the airport, we met Prof. Vivian WW Yam (Chair Professor of Chemistry, HKU) again.  She attended the Annual Conference of the Chinese Chemical Society from 5 to 8 May 2018.  The first time I met Prof. Vivian Yam was in ASHK 1st Science and Technology Innovation Summit on 6th Dec 2015. 



Reference:
浙江大學-香港理工大學聯合中心 - http://www.zupuc.org/
The 31stAcademic Annual Conference of the Chinese Chemical Society - http://www.chemsoc.org.cn/meeting/31st/#
20140415: Pre-HKSQ Study Mission Activities (Hangzhou) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2014/04/pre-hksq-study-mission-activities.html
20151206: ASHK 1st Science and Technology Innovation Summit - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2015/12/ashk-1st-science-and-technology.html
20170901: Minitab Seminar on “Data driven Business toward Excellence” - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2017/09/minitab-seminar-on-data-driven-business.html

ESG Leadership Seminar - How to secure your jobs & business against AI disruption

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The Executive Study Group (ESG) seminar 2018 – Leadership Seminar named “How to secure your jobs & business against AI disruption” was held by the ESG, Asia Pacific Institute for Strategy Limited (APIFS) and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp (HKSTPC) on 8 May 2018.  During the seminar, I met my first boss Mr. Dominic Lam (COO, CMA Testing) and we took photo with Dr. Mark Lee for memory.  


Then we also met Mr. Simon Hui (Past Chairman of CityU Eminence Society) and we took a photo in the hall.


In the beginning, Dr. Mark Lee briefed the background of ESG and explained their learning method named "Connect and Develop" as he usually quoted Steve Jobs' statement that "Creativity is just connecting things." 


Firstly, he mentioned the stock prices of the world-level advertising agent “WPP plc” that decrease seriously because of time change and internet economic removed agents.  60% of occupations affected significantly by AI era.  Then he said the impact of automation was higher in the developed countries than developing countries.  He also quoted a local media company as example (Stock no. 1716).


Dr. Lee said your job was high probability to be replaced if it was related to processing data, collecting data and predictable physical.  


Then we had a group discussion based on Michael Porter’s Value Chain model.  Primary activities included Inbound logistics, Operations, Outbound Logistics, Marketing & Sales and Service.  Support activities included Firm Infrastructure, HR Management, Technology and Procurement.  Most of participants agreed Firm infrastructure (accounting & finance) would be replaced by AI and Technology (R&D, Engineering) wouldn’t be replaced.


After that Dr. Mark Lee introduced Porter’s 5 Forces and they were Competitive Rivalry within an Industry, Bargaining Power of Suppliers, Bargaining Power of Customers, Threat of New Entrants and Threat of Substitute Products.


And then Dr. Lee briefed the first method was to understand your Industry Structure Wall and quoted Prof. Michael Porter (Harvard Business School) statement that “Industry structure drives competition and profitability, not whether an industry is emerging or mature, high tech or low tech, regulated or unregulated.”  Dr. Lee said positioning was the foundation of a strategy 


In the next session, Dr. Lee discussed the positioning in the middle between Human and Machines.  Human strengths included creativity, improvisation and dexterity; while Machine strengths included speed, accuracy and repetition.  


Dr. Lee suggested taking advantage of each other’s complementary strengths like a bridge between Human and machine. 


There would be some new position for human in this gap including Ambassadors, Trainers, Creative Directors, Explainers, Process Engineers and Safe Guards.


During case study, Dr. Lee quoted Stitch Fix that employed machine learning with human touch to recommend different style of dress for their customers.  


Another case was Koko in which we taught AI to be compassionate through machine learning.  Its objective was to talk people using the appropriate amount of empathy, compassion and maybe even humor.


For the role of Creative Director, he used “Generative Design” to explain that AI could generative many different designs based on rules that you couldn’t imagine it.


Then a group discussion was performed.  We discussed could HK industries applied “Generative Design” at basic level in 3 years.  Most people selected unlikely because of conservative culture.


After that Dr. Lee raised some new jobs in AI era such as Algorithm Forensics Analyst who knew Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME) method.  They needed to explain why AI generated such conclusion based on algorithm.  


For the role of Process Engineers, it employed Augmented-Reality-enabled (AR) for technician’s workspace.  That was process change.  


The last role was Safe Guards, they should ensure the proper use of AI, and avoid programming error.  Therefore, context designers were needed to have a overall (Big) figure.


Compliance Role kept the Quality of AI such as AI Safety Engineers.  Some risks were identified such as unintended consequence analysis, ethics affairs, geographic discrimination, subtler biases, etc.  


At the end, Dr. Mark Lee quoted Michael Porter’s foundation of a strategy as conclusion that (i) building defenses against the competitive forces or (ii) finding a position in the industry where the forces are weakest.  


Reference:
Asia Pacific Institute for Strategy Limited (亞太策略研究所有限公司) www.apifs.org
ESG facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/esg08

ISSC Asia Quality Management Symposium 2018 cum Annual Dinner

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International Six Sigma Council (ISSC) Asia Quality Management (AQM) Symposium is the flagship event and held on 10thMay 2018.  The symposium theme is “Quality Growth beyond Excellence through Innovation”.  The symposium scope spans from the application of QFD, LEAN, TRIZ and Extenics (可拓學) to the exploration of enormous opportunities though Innovation.  Before the symposium, all speaker took a group photo.

(Left: Dr. Jason Kong (Vice-Chairman/Marketing, ISSC), Dr. Catherine Chan, Dr. CO Chan (President, ISSC), Ms. Ada YS Fung BBS JP (previous Deputy Director of Housing (Development & Construction), Dr. Victor Lo, Dr. Wei Pan and I)

In the beginning, Dr. CO Chan (President, ISSC) gave an opening remarks.  He said ISSC had servicing quality field for 12 years.  He briefed the success of WhatsApp that innovation could be started from small things. In 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for US$19 billion!


Ms. Ada YS Fung BBS JP (Former Deputy Director of Housing (Development & Construction) was the keynote speaker and her topic named “Quality is Not an Act; It is a Habit”.  Firstly, she shared the Housing Authority (HA) vision, mission and core values.  They used people-centric approach with competent, dedicated and performance-oriented team.  


Then Ms. Ada Fung discussed their team’s challenges included External parties, Employer and Contractor.  She found that Quality People, Quality System and Quality Product were client need. Therefore, HA had many different program to focus on people management.


And then she said they needed systems for management including ISO 9001, ISO 14001, HKQAA CSR Index (ISO 26000), ISO 50001 and Building Materials Control System (ISO 31000) and EFQM, etc.  Ms. Ada Fung mentioned the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) was focused on people.  After implemented such systems and continuous improvement, their customer satisfaction index increased from 70% to >90% recently.  One of activities reflected HA focused on staff that was Staff Barometer Survey, HA based on the people result for internal improvement.  


After that Ms. Ada Fung briefed some cases in which solved problems by Innovation.  One of cases named the 2ndGeneration Acoustic Balcony which installed in Wah Ha Estate at Chai Wan.


Ms. Ada Fung also mentioned how they implemented their idea.  Firstly, they had R&D Steering Committee with objectives included cost effectiveness, quality through innovation, and quality through sustainability for evaluating effectiveness of individual R&D projects.  For new technology implementation, their collaboration round table involved HA, Contractor, Academia, Consultant, Manufacturer, Regulator, Sub-Contractor, Supplier and Laboratory.  Then she introduced the 5 stages of Implementation of R&D: 1. Exploration, 2. Piloting, 3. Monitoring, 4. Reviewing, and 5. Mass Application.


Finally, Ms. Ada Fung introduced the Building Information Modeling (BIM) in full design and construction cycle. Lastly, she shared her dream to us that was to integrate the BIM and Geographic Information System (GIS) since 2011.  Recently, Autodesk and Esri announced the start a new relationship to build a bridge between BIM and GIS mapping technology on 15 Nov 2017.


After the keynote speech, all guests received trophy and took a group photo.


The second speaker was Dr. Catherine Chan (Founder & President, Hong Kong QFD Association) and her speech was “The Way QFD Manages and Develops Innovation”.  Dr. Chan mentioned seeking ideas for new products and new service using QFD.


Firstly, Dr. Catherine Chan briefed that Enterprises were busy with seeking for new ideas and finding ways for cutting costs.  Innovation is required for “New & Improved”. So that she raised a concept that included Knowledge, Innovation and Sustain to finding new things.  The fundamentals QFD Innovation were from “Knowledge Sharing & Creation” and “Inspire Ideas & Formulate”. 


Then Dr. Catherine Chan introduced Nonaka’s SECI Model which combined with QFD related to knowledge management.


After that Dr. Chan briefed how QFD for innovation through the following points:
1.      Gain inspiration from exploring customers’ needs
2.      Highlight areas for innovation through quality planning
3.      Support innovation and carefully adopt suggestions
Lastly, Dr. Chan concluded practicing QFD could promote the inspiration of new ideas.


Dr. Victor Lo (Honorary Lecturer, IMSE Dept., HKU) was the third speaker and his presentation title was “The Development of the Innovative Quality Improvement (IQI) model with Design thinking & TRIZ”.  He said the first wave was Quality and the coming wave was Innovation.  Innovation is the mega trend.


Then Dr. Victor Lo quoted McKinsey & Company’s 2015 survey on innovation and creativity that was found 84% global executives believed innovation was very important but only 6% of executives were happy about employee innovation performance.  Based on Lego foundation study, human creative thinking scores would be decrease by age and almost to be zero over 25 years old.


After that Dr. Victor Lo briefed the TRIZ methodology to solve industry problems using 40 inventive principles.  He raised one of 40 principles as example that was IP 13 – Inversion. And then he also shared his dream to develop a method could be universally applicable.  


Dr. Lo then summarized his Innovation Quality Improvement (IQI) model and briefed the innovation definition included “Need New + Function Value” (需新用值) and PKIR Model   (問知創行) where P – Problem identification, K – Knowledge acquisition, I – Ideation and R – Realization.


Finally, Dr. Victor Lo said “Innovation is a skill that can be learnt and it is a process that can be managed.” He also showed the overall flow chart for promoting the innovation and against psychological inertia.


At the end, he employed one of TRIZ tools named “Nine Window” to find out “What and How to Innovation?”  


Tea Break
During the break, I took a photo with quality friends.

(Left: I, Mr. Harry Li (President, IISE (HK)) and Mr. Henry Soo (Director of Operation, ISCEA.HK))

(Left: Dr. Jason Kong (Vice-Chairman/Marketing, ISSC) and Mr. Solomon Poon (VP, Quality and Operations Excellence, Greater China Organization, Sanmina))

I (Dr. Lotto Lai - Chairman, HKSQ) was the fourth speaker and my presentation entitled “Hong Kong Quality Innovation Way – Innovation Culture based on Extenics (可拓學)”.   My presentation contents included introduction of HKSQ, key strategy in China and Hong Kong, Extenics, Three Creative Methodology under Extenics and Integrated USA, RUSSIA & CHINA innovation methodology, as well as, Innovation Management System.


Firstly, I briefed the HKSQ history since 1986.  We were world partner with America Society for Quality (ASQ) and founding member of Asia Network for Quality (ANQ), as well as, the founding member of World Alliance for Chinese Quality (WACQ).  Our flagship annual event was HKSQ Company-based Student Project Competition and participants in ASQ Conference, ANQ Congress and WACQ Summit.


Then I briefed some key strategies such as One Belt One Road, Made in China 2025, and “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area”, as well as, “Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop” and “Reindustrialization in Hong Kong”.  One of China new strategies was related to my topic was “New generation of AI development plan”.


After that I explained the definition of Quality Innovation and briefed the history of Quality and Innovation tools development, as well as, matching with four industrial revolution.  Per Prof. Cai Wen, the 1st industrial revolution was extension of Arm (power), the 2nd industrial revolution caused by extension of Leg, Ear & Eye. The 3rd industrial revolution was computer power and IT that extension of part of human brain.  The coming 4th industrial revolution was from AI power that extension of human intelligence.


I introduced Prof. Cai Wen (founder of “Extenics”) who studied the law, theory and method for dealing with incompatible problems since 1976.  The birth of “Extenics” was in 1983 based on his first paper of this topic named “Extension Set and Incompatible Problem”.  And then I briefed the fundamental theory and started from Basic-element in which separated into 3 key elements and they were Object, Characteristic and Value.  Nevertheless, I introduced the Extension Four Step Method named Model, Extension, Transformation and Selection (METS).


In METS, I explained more in Extension that included two methods for enhancing your thinking.  One was Extensible Analysis and the other was Conjugate Analysis.  In Extensible Analysis, it included four methods named “Divergence”, “Correlative”, “Implication” and “Opening-up”.  In Conjugate Analysis, all things were considered into four dimensions and they were Nonmaterial Part and Material Part (Physical), Soft Part and Hard Part (Systematic), Latent Part and Apparent Part (Dynamic), as well as, Negative Part and Positive Part (Antithetic).  


First, Second and Third Creative Methods based on Extenics was introduced and discussed.  The First Creative Method (無中生有) started from customer needs and solve the contradiction of unsatisfied needs. It needed to use the Conjugate Need analysis.  The Second Creative Method (有中求變) started from the existing product and extending their function or other characteristic to get the new product.  It usually employed Extensible Analysis.  The Third Creative Method (改缺成優) started from the default of the existing product to improve it to be new product. It needed to use METS method to solve the problem.  


Finally, I demonstrated some studies on “Extenics” and briefed industrial case such as Baby First Education Group was the first Hong Kong Company trained and employed “Extenics”


Lastly, the integration of Extenics, TRIZ and Innovation Culture together for holistic approach was proposed and integrated into Quality Innovation Management System based on ISO 9001:2015 and CEN/TS 16555-1 and its series was discussed, as well as, introduced the coming ISO standard ISO 50501 Innovation Management System.  And then I quoted Prof. Cai Wen statement as conclusion that “Let’s develop and promote the China original discipline “Extenics” together.”


The last speaker was Dr. Wei Pan (Executive Director, Center for Innovation in Construction & Infrastructure Development, HKU) and his topic entitled “Enhancing Construction Productivity and Quality through Innovation”.   Dr. Wei Pan briefed his topic contents included rethinking theory, examining productivity and quality, challenges to Hong Kong, and shared some examples of innovations.


In the beginning, Dr. Wei Pan briefed the Construction Productivity in which had four-fold theoretical approach and they were “Ontology”(本體論), “Epistemology”(認識論), “Methodology”(方法論) and “Axiology”(價值論). 


Then Dr. Wei Pan explained that construction productivity could be regarded as a measure of outputs that were obtained by a combination of inputs.  Those output could be tangible and intangible.  The calculation showed as follows:
Construction Productivity = Optimum Outputs / Optimum Inputs
= Less construction time and cost + Intangible outcomes + Long-term impacts.


And then Dr. Wei Pan briefed the construction productivity based on Epistemology.  


After that Dr. Wei Pan mentioned the methodology such as evaluation framework using Total Factor Productivity (TFP) which was defined as the ratio of outputs (construction output) to all inputs (intermediate, labor and capital, etc.) used for producing the outputs.  He also introduced productivity measurement models from Singapore, US and UK.  


Socio-technical values construction productivity belonged in Axiology.  It included Contractor, Project Manager, Project Owner, Site Labor and End-user, as well as, other stakeholders.  


Finally, Dr. Wei Pan shared some example about Consraint, Strategy and Existing Measures to us. One of their project named “Lean Construction for Improving Productivity in the Hong Kong Construction Industry” was discussed.  Lean Construction aimed lean production, reducing waste and minimizing resources.  


At the end, Dr. Wei Pan summarized his talk in the following points:
1.      Construction productivity and quality are systems concepts
2.      Systems strategies are required for productivity enhancement
3.      Lean construction is an important approach
4.      Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) is a disruptively innovation Solution. 

In panel discussion, Dr. CO Chan (President, ISSC) was chair and all speakers discussed about participants questions.  Our discussion topic included education on innovation, implementation and promotion of innovation, as well as, innovation culture.   


After the symposium, we went to the venue of ISSC annual dinner. I met many friend here and took some photo for memory.

(Left: Dr. Sammy Wan (Past President, IISE(HK)) and I)
HKSQ Representatives

(Left: Dr. Catherine Chan, I and Dr. Aaron Tong)
Sanmina Team

(Left: Mr. William Chui (VP), Dr. CO Chan (ISSC), I (HKSQ), Mr. Solomon Poon (VP – Quality and Operation Excellence) and Mr. Edward Law (Director, Operations))
GP team

(Left: Dr. Sammy Wan, Mr. Cheung (Knowledge Management, GP), Mr. Larry Lee (Customer Services & Compliance Quality Manager), Dr. Aaron Tong, I and Mr. Harry Li (President, IISE (HK))

(Left: Mr. Henry Soo (Director of Operation, ISCEA.HK), I and Ms. Sarah Mak (Regional Executive Director of the Quality Management Division of ASQ))

Before the annual dinner, Dr. Jason Kong (Vice-Chairman/Marketing, ISSC) presented certificates to all supporting organization. I represented Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) to receive the certificate. 


In the beginning of annual dinner, Dr. CO Chan (President, ISSC) gave a welcome speech.  He reviewed the vision, mission and value of ISSC, as well as quality related activities in the past year.  


Dr. Sammy Wan (Past President, IISE(HK)) was the keynote speaker of ISSC Annual Dinner 2018 and his presentation topic entitled “Applying Lean Thinking in Construction Industry to Build for the Future”.  


Firstly, he reviewed the efficiency of construction industry in USA and found that was declining compared with other industry. Then Dr. Wan mentioned the lean thinking in construction because of many wastes using schedule to push for work.


With extremely poor coordination and communication, a large amount of pending works could escalate after starting work.  So inadequate preconditions could arise conflicts at works and design changes or errors were primary sources of rework that was key production waste.  Dr. Wan stated to use Lean and BIM together that had synergy effects to save cost and reduce waste and increase efficiencies.  


At the end, Dr. Sammy Wan concluded Lean thinking in the industry was crucial.  And he predicted that BIM and Digitalization was the key to change the industry very soon and very dramatically.


Dr. CO Chan (President, ISSC) presented the trophy to Dr. Sammy Wan.


All guests in table 1 & 2 took a group photo.


ISSC representatives had a toast to all guests and dinner started.


During the lucky draw session, Dr. Aaron Tong presented a gift to Dr. Catherine Chan.  She was so lucky!


Amazing that I was won the other lucky draw and Mr. Solomon Poon gave the gift to me.


It was a very successful Symposium and Annual Dinner.  Before left, we took a photo with Dr. CO Chan and Dr. Jason Kong to express our appreciation for their invitation.


Reference:
International Six Sigma Council - http://www.isixsigmacouncil.org/
It is my nine times to join ISSC annual dinner since 2010.  I would like to summarize ISSC annual night that I participated and recorded below:
20150611: AQBPA Award Ceremony Cum ISSC Annual Dinner 2015 - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2015/06/aqbpa-award-ceremony-cum-issc-annual.html

Prof. Cai Wen visit HKSTP and Dinner with HKSQ Exco members

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I was honor that Prof. Cai Wen (蔡文) (Director, Institute of Extenics and Innovation Methods, Guangdong University of Technology)(Founder of Extenics and The Director of International Academy of Extenics (HK)) visited HKSTP on 11thMay 2018. In the afternoon, I arranged to visit HKSTP technology platforms - Data Studio, and then visited our laboratories.  After that we had dinner in Kowloon Tong with HKSQ executive committee members. Prof. Cai Wen (蔡文) (President, Guangzhou Extenics Information Technology Co., Ltd.) (廣州可拓學信息科技有限公司董事長) came with Ms. He Rongrong (何昕容) (Assistant of President, Guangzhou Extenics Information Technology Co., Ltd.) (廣州可拓學信息科技有限公司董事長助理) and we took a photo in front of Charles K Kao Auditorium (Golden Egg) for memory.


Since Prof. Cai Wen would like to explore the cooperation to enhancing Extenics and Artificial Intelligence project such as Extensive Data Mining and Extensive Strategy Generation System, I arranged to visit our Data Studio which was an open data platform in Hong Kong.  Our partner company representative explained different data platforms and its applications.  


Then they showed their applications using data mining such as salary income and solar car charger infrastructure through newspaper (on time) searching.


Before finished the visit in Data Studio, we took a photo in front of data showcase.


After that I led them to visit our Green Building 18 and we visited the roof garden.


And then we visited IC Failure Analysis Laboratory.  My colleague (Mr. Gary Wong) explained the equipment and its application for decap of IC and demonstrated some results to us.


Finally, we visited to the Probe and Test Centre for wafer and IC testing under clean room environment.  We took a photo in front of clean room.  


Before we went for dinner, we took a group photo in front of our Brand HKSTP.


Lastly, we had dinner with HKSQ exco members in Kowloon Tong.

(Left: Ms. Minda Chiang, I, Prof. Cai Wen, Dr. KS Chin and Ms. He Rongrong)

Reference:
Guangzhou Extenics Information Technology Co., Ltd. - http://ketuoxue.com/

HKQF Partnerships Commendation Ceremony cum QF 10th Anniversary Celebration

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Hong Kong Qualification Framework (HKQF) arranged a QF Partnerships Commendation Ceremony cum QF 10th Anniversary Celebration on 14th May 2017 at the Central Government Office.  HKQF is a platform covering academic, vocational and continuing education sectors to promote lifelong learning with a view to continuously enhancing the quality, professionalism and competitiveness of our workforce in an increasingly globalized and knowledge-based economy.  I (member, Industry Training Advisory Committee for Testing, Inspection & Certification Industry (TIC-ITAC)) was honor to be invited for attending this ceremony.  I took a photo in front of the banner using their camera.  I could get the photo immediately.


I signed on the hearth card and place into the banner.


In the beginning, Mr. Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, JP (Secretary for Education) gave welcome speech. He appreciated all organizations; society and government departments supported HKQF. He also mentioned the Government would inject $1.2 billion into the QF under Chief Executive's 2017 Policy Address. 


The leaflet recorded major milestone of HKQF in the past ten years.


The celebration started with all ITAC representatives. 


Video of celebration
Ir. Felix Chan was Chairperson of Industry Training Advisory Committee for Testing, Inspection & Certification Industry (TIC-ITAC) and who stand in the middle with white coat. 


Group photo of Star Employers


Group photo of Star Training Organizations


Group photo of Star Friends including all supporting organizations


After the group photo, MC asked the representatives transferred the star torch to the secondary students, indicating to pass the star to next generation (薪火相傳).


Video of pass the star to next generation
https://youtu.be/aA8fWnqMOXk

At the end, all ITAC committee members gave a toast to all participants.


During the tea time, HKQF made a cookie as gift. 


Reference:
Testing, Inspection and Certification Industry Training Advisory Committee (ITAC) - http://www.hkqf.gov.hk/ind/en/tic.aspx
Members of Testing, Inspection and Certification Industry Training Advisory Committee (ITAC) at https://www.hkqf.gov.hk/en/itac/index.html
20110103: Qualifications Framework Cocktail Reception 2011 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2011/01/qualifications-framework-cocktail.html
20161129: HKQF Partnerships Commendation Ceremony - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2016/11/hkqf-partnerships-commendation-ceremony.html

ITAC Secretary visit to HKSTP

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I am honor that Mr. Matthew Yien (HKQF – ITAC Secretary) visited HKSTP laboratory on 15th May 2018.  We had a short meeting to discuss the coming activities for HKQF in Testing, Inspection and Certification industries.  I introduced the background of Science Park and our laboratories facilities.  Then we took a photo in front of my office for memory.


And then I led Mr. Matthew Yien to visit the Reliability Laboratories, IC Failure Analysis, and Biomedical Technology Support Centre, as well as, Probe and Test Development Centre.  We took a photo in front of the clean room.  


After that we visited the Charles K Kao Auditorium (Golden Egg) and took a photo for memory.  We went inside the auditorium in which had 283 seats for conference and seminar use.  In future, it could be arranged HKQFIndustry Training Advisory Committee for Testing, Inspection & Certification Industry (TIC-ITAC) activities in here.


Reference:
Hong Kong Qualifications Framework (HKQF) - http://www.hkqf.gov.hk/guie/home.asp
Members of Testing, Inspection and Certification Industry Training Advisory Committee (ITAC) at https://www.hkqf.gov.hk/en/itac/index.html


HKQAA Symposium 2018 (Part 1)

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HKQAA Symposium is flagship annual event organized by Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) on18thMay 2018.  Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) is one of supporting organizations since 2006.  The symposium’s frame in 2018entitledTowards Sustainable Economy: Diversgent Thinking in Business Strategies” and I would like to summarize it below for sharing.  Before the symposium, I took a photo with HKQAA friends in front of the symposium banner.

(Left: Dr. Micheal Lam (CEO, HKQAA), Ir. Dr. Hon Lo Wai Kwok (Chairman, HKQAA), Dr. Nigel Croft (Chairman, ISO/TC 176/SC 2 (Quality Systems); Associate Technical Director, HKQAA)) and I)

(Left: Prof. KC Ho (Dean, School of Science and Technology, OUHK), I and Prof. Stephen WK Ng (President, The Institute of Purchasing & Supply of Hong Kong))

(Left: Mr. Bryan Peng, I and Ir C.S. Ho (Deputy Chairman, HKQAA))

Morning Session
In the beginning, Ir. Dr. Hon Lo Wai Kwok (Chairman, HKQAA) gave a welcome speech.  He said sustainability is an important business issue today.  Government were encouraging enterprises to help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through various regulations and incentives for implementing green finance. This year symposium aimed to bring together ideas and navigate new strategic directions, so as to create both economic and social value in the community.  


And then Ir C.S. Ho (Deputy Chairman, HKQAA) gave an opening remarks.  He said business world entered to the era of sustainability.   HKQAA promoted sustainability more than ten years and assisted enterprises to catch this trend.  He introduced that HKQAA directly took part in the technical committee of ISO/TC 207/SC 4 and its related working group to develop ISO/NP 14030 Green bonds – Environmental performance of nominated projects and assets.


MoU Signing Ceremony – HKQAA and Hong Kong Polar Research Institute


The first speaker was Dr. Nigel Croft (Chairman, ISO Technical Subcommittee on Quality Systems) and his topic entitled “Role of ISO Standards in Promoting Green Finance and Sustainable Business”.  Firstly, he mentioned the mission of ISO that supported sustainable and equitable economic growth and promoting innovation and protect health, safety and the environment.  He also quoted Kofi Annan (Nobel Peace Prize 2001) statement on ISO General Assembly Sep 2004 that “ISO standards are crucial to sustainable development as they are key source of technological know-how”. 


Then Dr. Nigel Croft introduced Green Bonds standards including ISO 14030-1, -2 & -3.  He said green debt instruments used to enhance and promote financing of environmental improvements that included not limited to green bonds.  Green Bonds used to allocate funds towards projects and assets that could result in potential environmental benefits such as aligning with global climate goals and conserving natural resources. 


The scope of ISO 14030 standards covered Green Bonds and various types of fixed-income investments, but not equity products.  The definition of “Green” is “set of attributes that demonstrates a net environmental benefit”.  Environmental goals /issues/ policy included followings:
-          Climate change mitigation
-          Climate adaptation
-          Healthy natural habitats including protected and enhanced biodiversity
-          Water resource management and conservation
-          Waste minimization
-          Pollution prevention and control
ISO 14030-1 related Green Bond Principles and requirement on performance
ISO 14030-2 focused on Taxonomy
ISO 14030-3 provided requirements for verification


And then Dr. Nigel Croft briefed the timeline of ISO 14030 series that it expected to be published in Nov 2019.  He said the standards’ role supported UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.  Finally, he concluded that using the standards wisely, and they could help to promote Hong Kong’s sustainability initiatives.


Mr. Joseph HL Chan (Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, the Government of the HKSAR) was invited to give the Keynote Remarks.  He said investment on green project increased since 2016. Many Chinese banks were actively in green financial product including insurance in liability of green or pollution.  Green development mechanism on funding in China was establishing.  Hong Kong as a Financial Centre in Asia that government committed to environment and provided green bonds and insurance service.  


Mr. Daniel Wong (Director and Head of Research & Analytics, Hang Seng Indexes Company Limited) was the third speaker and his presentation named “Strategic Values of Sustainable and Responsible Investment”.  His talk content included Values of Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) and Ecology to Drive the Growth of SRI.  


Mr. Wong said Sustainable Business considered not only Economic Costs but also concerned Environmental Costs. He raised some examples of sustainable practices in Business included Fossil fuels vs Renewable energy, Paper documents vs Electronic correspondence, and Traditional model vs New designs to reduce waste.  Then he mentioned 7 Sustainable & Responsible Investment Strategies in the following diagram.


And then Mr. Wong briefed SRI benefit to Business, Investors and Society.  On the other hand, SRI had challenges such as “No universal standards”, “Limiting investment choices” and “Media allegations”.  However, the growth of SRI Asset was very high especially in Japan through government promotion.


After that Mr. Wong briefed Hong Kong situation that HKEX strengthened the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Reporting Guide in the listing rules since Dec 2015. In China, China Securities Regulatory Commission also set up ESG Reporting Guide in Dec 2017.

Finally, he stated HKQAA Assessment Model in 7 core subjects and they were “Community Involvement and Development”, “Consumer Issues”, “Fair Operating Practices”, “The Environment”, “Labour Practices”, “Corporate Governance”, and “Human Rights”.  Lastly, Mr. Wong briefed the ecology to drive SRI included Fund Managers, Listed Companies, Index Compilers and Investors & Asset Owners.  He concluded that Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index could aspire to be the best which embraced ESG and Sustainable Investment.


The fourth speaker was Mr. Mushtaq Kapasi (Chief Representative, Asia-Pacific, International Capital Market Association) and his presentation topic was “Recent Developments of International Green Finance Principles”.  Firstly, Mr. Kapasi mentioned some challenge on the transition to a sustainable global economy. 


Then Mr. Kapasi introduced the Green, Social and Sustainability Bonds to us.  Because of high market potential, socially responsible and ESG investing was becoming a mainstream approach in financial markets.  Annual Green Bond issuance had multiplied 13x since 2013 to over US$155 billion in 2017; as well as, Social and Sustainability Bond issuance had grown 17x since 2013.


After that he briefed the principles of Green Bond and Social Bond.  There were four pillars and external review recommendations included “Use of Proceeds”, “Process for Project Evaluation and Selection”, Management of Proceeds” and “Reporting”.  


Finally, Mr. Kapasi mentioned the market development of green finance activities included Market Led and Official Sector Led participation.  


During Tea break, I met my CityU SEEM students and took a photo for memory. 

(Left: Ms. Natalie LAW (WTT HK Ltd; HKSQ Exco member), Ms. Fion Chun Ka Po (Hip Hing Engineering Co., Ltd.), I, Ms. Sindy Lai (Shiu Wing Steel Limited) and Ms. Kwok Hau Yee (Urban Property Management Ltd.))

I also met CityU EngD Cohort Dr. Amie Lai.


Panel Discussion I – How Green Finance Can Help Improve Environment and Foster Development
Dr Nigel Croft (Chairman, ISO Technical Subcommittee on Quality System) was a facilitator and Panelist included (Left) Dr. Raymond Yau (GM, Technical Services and Sustainable Development, Swire Properties Limited), Mr. David Pan (Treasurer, MTR Corporation Limited) and Mr. Cui Hanling (Managing Director of Board Office, Modern Land (China) Co., Limited). 


Dr. Nigel Croft asked what motivations for Green Bond / Green Finance were?  Mr. David Pan said to expansion of the investment base and support HK to be Green Finance Hub.  Dr. Raymond Yau said to development the Green Bond platform.  Mr. Cui Hanling said it was different from 20 years ago.  At that time, investors would ask why Green but now it was the mega trend. 

Panel Discussion II – Shape a Sustainable Capital Market in Great Bay Area: From ESG to Green Financing
Dr. Wilson Chan (Associate Director, MBA Programme, City University of Hong Kong) was facilitator of this panel discussion.  We both are member of CityU Eminence Society.


Panelists included (Left) Mr. Daniel Wong (Director and Head of Research & Analytics, Hang Seng Indexes Company Limited), Mr. Mushtaq Kapasi (Chief Representative, Asia-Pacific, International Capital Market Association), Mr. Pat-nie Woo (Member, Market Development Committee, Financial Services Development Council) and Ms. Dominique Duval (Sustainable Banking – Head of Asia-Pacific, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank). 

Dr. Wilson Chan asked the following questions:
i)                    Please briefly introduce the way(s) or measurement(s) from your perspectives how to achieve the subjected expectation
ii)                  The latest trends?
iii)                Key challenges and opportunities in the era of sustainability?
iv)                Investment in / values of green finance instruments? Or
v)                  Future development expectation?


After finished the part 1 of HKQAA symposium, we were invited to have lunch with guest speakers.  I was in the table with Dr. Nigel Croft and took a group photo.


I recognized some new friends as follows:
Mr. Glenn Lin (Managing Director, New Energy Financing and Consulting Limited) (Left 1st in Row 2)
Ms. Song Aolin (Project Manager, Capital Operation, China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection (HK) Investment Co., Ltd.) (Left 1st in Row 1)
Mr. Kado Zhang (HKQAA) (Right 1st in Row 2)
Mr. Li Peng (Assistant Director, Financial Innovation Division) (李鵬金融創新處助理處長, 前海蛇口自貿片區管委會)

Previous HKQAA Symposium:
2016: HKQAA Symposium – Startups Registration Scheme Kicks off - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2016/05/hkqaa-symposium-startups-registration.html
2014: HKQAA 25th Anniversary Forum & Celebration Cocktail Reception - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2014/11/hkqaa-25th-anniversary-forum.html

Reference:

HKQAA Symposium 2018 (Part 2)

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HKQAA Symposium is flagship annual event organized by Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) on18thMay 2018.  Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) is one of supporting organizations since 2006.  The symposium’s frame in 2018entitledTowards Sustainable Economy: Diversgent Thinking in Business Strategies” and I would like to summarize it below for sharing.  Before the afternoon session of the symposium, Ms. Amie Lai and I took a photo with Dr. David Chung that we are CityU EngD cohorts.  


Afternoon Session

Dr. Michael PH Lam (CEO, HKQAA) gave an opening speech.  He said sustainable development had become one of the keys to long-term success for organizations. In keeping with the development of the national Green Finance policy and being supported by the HK Government, HKQAA kicked off the Green Finance Certification Scheme in January 2018.  Moreover, HKQAA expert had been nominated by ITC and China National Institute of Standardization to directly take part in the technical committee of ISO/TC 207/SC4 and its related working group to develop ISO/NP 14030 Green bonds – Environmental performance of nominated projects and assets.  


Dr. David Chung (Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Innovation and Technology Bureau, HKSAR) was the keynote speaker and his topic entitled “Build a Sustainable City with Innovation, Artificial Intelligence and Technology”.  Firstly, Dr. David Chung briefed Hong Kong Economic Transformation from Manufacturing Hub (1960-70) to De-Industrialization (Mid-80s) and now in Service Economy.  In future, we needed Re-Industrialization.


Then Dr. David Chung introduced the 2017 Policy Address on Innovation and Technology.  He mentioned Hong Kong’s Advantages on Innovation and Technology that we had five universities among the world’s top 100 and strong & reliable global professional services in legal, finance, accounting, corporate management and engineering fields. 


He also briefed our Startup ecosystem in which more than 2000 start-up in Hong Kong and increased by 80% in the past 3 years.  Recently, 3 unicorns appeared from HKSTP and Cyberport.  Innovation & Technology Funded Projects were also introduced and the key areas included sustainability, green tech, AI, Robotics and Healthcare that totally had 217 projects with funding amount upto $469,261,867.  


Finally, Dr. David Chung mentioned the future directions including Talent Building (e.g. $500 million “Technology Talent Scheme”), Encourage Venture Investment (e.g. $2 billion Venture Fund to co-invest with venture capitalists), Technology Infrastructure (e.g. HK-Shenzhen Innovation & Technology Park (HSITP), and Open Up Government Data (e.g. Hospital Authority’s Big Data Analytic Platform), Popular Science Education, Review Legislation & Regulations and Chang Government Procurement Rules. 
Dr. Wingco Lo JP (Vice-chairman, the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund Promotion and Development Sub-Committee) was the second speaker and his presentation named "Social Capital: A New Perspective for Social Responsibility and Sustainable Economy”.  Firstly, he introduced a chain fast-food restaurant group which had collaborated with an NGO to connect with ethnic minorities and offered job opportunities for them so as to achieve WIN-WIN-WIN solution for sustainable economy.


Then Dr. Lo explained how to make it work. Firtly, defining a corporate objective greater than the business itself and embracing cross-sectoral collaboration. To meet Corporate Social Responsibility through Social Capital Building which could achieve Sustainable Development and Economic Prosperity.  And then he mentioned Community Investment & Inclusion Fund (CIIF) history and objectives.


After that Dr. Lo stated four main drivers of social development in modern societies and they were Cultural capital, Human capital, Economic capital and Social capital.  Six Core Dimensions of Social Capital were briefed and they were Social Networks, Trust & Solidarity, Social Cohesion & Inclusion, Information & Communication, Mutual-help & Reciprocity, and Social Participation.


Lastly, Dr. Lo said Corporate Social Capital defined that “Investments in social capital could help build trust between the firm and its stakeholders and could improve the performance of the firm.  He showed the Corporate Social Capital growth curve for explanation.  


Mr. CY Chan (Co-Owner, Head of Talent Engagement & Corporate Social Investment, HKBN Group) was the third speaker and his topic was “HKBN’s LUCA – Legal Unfair Competitive Advantage”.  He said that they pursued both Purpose and Profits.  Their purpose was “Make our Hong Kong a better place to live” and make purposeful profits.  They believed upon doing what is right, profits will follow.


One interested points was they didn’t have staff but only Talents.  They were Co-owners in HKBN with LIFE-work Priority.  Their culture built up through Leading Disruption@Annual Management Experiential Trip.  Moreover, co-owner in HKBN had opportunities to study university degree through “Next Station University”. 


For community investment, they outsourced operations to social enterprises. Moreover, HKBN established TALENT CSI Fund in 2015 for Social Responsibility activities.  At the end, he introduced their program in video named “NET’s Be Wise” to promote cyber wellness.  


During Tea break, I met Ms. Fay Lo (LPG Health Safety Security & Environment Manager, DSG Energy Limited) my junior classmate in BCH Dept., CityU and we took a photo for memory.


I also meet a friend Cookie.


Prof. CY Jim (Chair of Geography, Department of Geography, HKU) was the fourth speaker and his presentation named “Greening the Urban Environment: Trends and Opportunities”.  His speech was focused on some key issues included quantity and quality of urban green infrastructure, accessibility and distance to green spaces, social economic and health benefits and climate-change adaptation, etc.


Then Prof. Jim discussed how to maximize ecological functions including Berlin’s Biotope Area Factor (BAF) and Nature-based solutions for sustainable and liveable cities.  The principles and computation of BAF was mentioned. 


After that Prof. Jim demonstrated many different countries greening as examples such as Singapore high and complex vegetation cover, Tokyo maximize green plot ratio & offer people-friendly green spaces, Leuven cover park surface predominantly with greenery, Paris & Seoul Install urban lawns, etc.  


At the end, Prof. Jim quoted CLP Sky woodland & green wall in Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong.  He concluded his talk that Nuture a culture of meritorious urban greening using innovative solution to constraints of compact city greening.  We needed to integrate greenery into sustainable and liveable cities and treat greening as an indispensable Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI).


The fifth speaker was Mr. Glenn Lin (Managing Director, New Energy Financing and Consulting Company Limited) and his topic entitled “Strategies of Integrating Renewable Energy in Buildings and Green Projects”.  He introduced that New Energy Financing and Consulting Limited (NEFIN) is a total solution project development and turnkey solution provider in the renewable energy industry with a focus on photovoltaic (PV).  NEFIKON Solar Asset Management and its application was mentioned.


Then He briefed GreenRewardsTM– Green Products which offers the best selection of green and environmentally friendly products for home, green business, school and office supplies.  One of key features was solar powered waste compactor. 


The last speaker in afternoon session was Dr. Nigel Croft (Chairman, ISO Technical Subcommittee on Quality Systems) and his presentation entitled "Systematic Approaches to Managing Sustainability Risks – Latest News about ISO 31000, ISO 45001 and ISO 50001".  In the beginning, Dr. Nigel Croft said new ISO 9004:2018 standard just issued in April 2018 in which defined “Sustained Success”.


Then Dr. Nigel Croft descripted the definition of risk through different standards but he like Wikipedia definition that “the potential of losing something of value, weighed against the potential to gain something of value”.  Opportunity in Wikipedia definition was “a time or set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something”. 


After that He briefed ISO 31000 that first published in 2009 and updated in 2018. It simplified and streamlined content and revised the principles of risk management.  Leadership by top management was emphasized.


ISO 45001 issued in Mar 2018 and it was a long journey to achieve ISO standard.  Risk-based thinking for the management as well as for analysis of hazards were focused.  


New ISO 50001:2018 standard was expected to be published in August 2018.  The key changes were to adopt ISO High Level Structure (HLS), to clarifies that types of energy within the EnMS scope and boundaries was not able to be excluded, as well as, energy review.  Moreover, it clarified EnPI and Energy Baselines (EnBs) text to improve understanding of these concepts.  At the end, Dr. Nigel Croft concluded that 2018 would be the publication of some new standards and revisions to existing standards within the ISO portfolio to support sustainable development.  


Panel Discussion was performed at the end of Afternoon Session and the guest moderator wasDr. Nigel Croft.  Panelists were: (Left)
-          Dr. Wingco Lo JP (Vice-chairman, the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund Promotion and Development Sub-Committee)
-          Mr. CY Chan (Co-Owner, Head of Talent Engagement & Corporate Social Investment, HKBN Group)
-          Dr. Michael H. Wong (Director, University of Waterloo (HK) Foundation Limited)
-          Prof. CY Jim (Chair of Geography, Department of Geography, HKU)
-          Mr. Glenn Lin (Managing Director, NEFIN)


During the discussion, Dr. Michael Wong said innovation come about interaction and culture change took a long time.  Dr. Wingco Lo said training local people for greening skill and built up relationship with elder people in the community.  Mr. CY Chan told us that their goal was worked with more customers and talent in the community.  Investment on purpose but not only for money he said.  Prof. CY Jim suggest HK government focused to green infrastructure with more complex ecosystem.  Mr. Glenn Lin promoted to use smart renewal energy (RE) system.  Finally, Nigel said innovation come up like coffee shop in Cambridge that talk and listen people from different disciplines. 

Previous HKQAA Symposium:
2016: HKQAA Symposium – Startups Registration Scheme Kicks off - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2016/05/hkqaa-symposium-startups-registration.html
2014: HKQAA 25th Anniversary Forum & Celebration Cocktail Reception - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2014/11/hkqaa-25th-anniversary-forum.html

Reference:

Visit to CEPREI in Guangzhou

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I was honor to be invited by Ms. Ji Ling (Consultant, Senior Engineer) (紀玲–顧問,高級工程師) to visit China Electronic Product Reliability and Environmental Testing Research Institute (CEPREI) in Guangzhou.  They had three Chinese names. (中國賽寶實驗室、工業和信息化部電子第五研究所、中國電子產品可靠性與環境試驗研究所). A group photo was taken in the lobby.  

In the middle (Left 6th), Dr. Aaron Tong (TQM, HKSQ), Mr. WANG Xiao-han (王曉晗–副总工), Dr. KS Chin (CityU, HKSQ), Ms. Ji Ling (紀玲–顧問), I (HKSTP, HKSQ) and Mr. Edward Wong (Manager, Business Development)) (Photo was taken in afternoon so HSBC participants were not here included Dr. Franklin Tong who is former CEO in ASTRI)

The building of CEPREI


We visited the Quality Testing Centre for BeiDou (北斗) Navigation Satellite.


And then we visited to Reliability and Environmental Engineering Center.


The introduction poster mentioned the center’s core service was for implementing “Made in China 2025”.


We also visited CEPREI Quality Inspection and Testing Center.


I took a photo in front of the CEPREI Information Security Research Center.  Some laboratories showed videos about hacking the drone and mobile app.  


The service in this center included Security service, technical consultation, training and R&D, etc.


During the lunch time, we passed the CEPREI Training Building.


We had lunch in their self-service restaurant.  Actually it was not self-service that we feel good service and good food as well.


In afternoon, we continued our visit such as CEPREI Calibration & Testing Centre.  Many laboratories in Hong Kong were depended on CEPREI on-site calibration services.


Then we visited their Software Quality Engineering Research Center.


The representative introduced their platform capability to us. 


After that we visited the CEPREI Certification Body.


It is the oldest certification body in China and had established since 1979.


When we come back to the conference room, I saw a model for the whole CEPREI buildings.


In the exchanging meeting, Mr. WANG Xiao-han (王曉晗–副总工) introduce CEPREI background and service to us.


Then Mr. YANG Xiaoming (Director – Technology and Planning Office) (楊曉明 - 處長) (Right hand side of Mr. WANG) mentioned the collaboration plan in Great Bay Area and he also briefed their collaboration with some local universities.  

Dr. Aaron Tong presented the Quality Innovation in the Great Bay Area.


He introduced his “Minus” methodology for QA.


Then Dr. KS Chin presented the SEEM Dept. of CityU and briefed their research projects.


CityU was ranked very high in the world (upto 49th according to QS in 2017).


Lastly, I briefed Science Park facilities and introduced Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) to them. Moreover, I prepared a set of information of HKSTP & HKSQ, as well as, Extenics for CEPREI reference.  We took a photo for memory at the end.


Reference:
CEPREI Calibration and Testing Center - http://www.ceprei.com

Dinner with Prof. Cai Wen and visit Guangzhou Extenics Information Technology Co., Ltd (廣州可拓學信息科技有限公司)

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Dr. KS Chin and I were honor to be invited by Prof. Cai Wen (蔡文) (President, Guangzhou Extenics Information Technology Co., Ltd.) (廣州可拓學信息科技有限公司董事長) and Ms. He Rongrong (何昕容) (Assistant of President, Guangzhou Extenics Information Technology Co., Ltd.) (廣州可拓學信息科技有限公司董事長助理) to have dinner together on 18th May 2018 in Guangzhou.


Prof. Cai Wen led us to have a special food in Guangzhou culture modernization restaurant named Backstreet (后街唐廚).


Some special foods like tortoise, bird in net, big like bread, etc.


The egg was made by Syrup.


Then we went to the office of Guangzhou Extenics Information Technology Co., Ltd. We saw the sculpture in front of the IFC.


Prof. CaiWen’s office was located in the co-working space in Guangzhou named “World Union Space (世聯空間)” in IFC, Guangzhou.


We took a photo in front of the world map implying to promote Extenics world-wide.


Then Dr. Aaron Tong joined us to discuss the development plan of Extenics in near future.


Reference:
Guangzhou Extenics Information Technology Co., Ltd. - http://ketuoxue.com/
20180511: Prof. Cai Wen visit HKSTP and Dinner with HKSQ Exco members - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2018/05/prof-cai-wen-visit-hkstp-and-dinner.html

Visit to Whampoa Military Academy (黃埔軍校) in Guangzhou

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After visit to CEPREI and meeting Prof. Cai Wen yesterday, Dr. Aaron Tong and I visited Memorial of the Original Site of Whampoa Military Academy (黃埔軍校舊址紀念館) in Guangzhou on 19thMay 2018.  I would like to share this trip in the following. Photo taken in front of Army Officer School (陸軍軍官學校).


Firstly, we went to the Yuzhu station.


Then Aaron and I tried to use “ofo” bicycle to go to the pier.  But we got the wrong way.


Then we rental the tricycle to go to pier and only RMB$10.


We arrived the Yuzhu pier and the schedule was once per hour.


Aaron and I took a photo for memory.


In the ferry, limited seats arranged near window but no seats in the middle area.


Arrived the Whampoa Military Academy (Original Site) pier, I selfie for memory.


We also took a photo in front of Sun Premier Monument (孫總理紀念碑)


Sun Yat-sen statement “革命尚未成功同志仍需努力” was found in front of Army Officer School.


Aaron also took a photo in here.


Then we went to the Great Parlour.  Inside the room, the history of Whampoa Military Academy was exhibited.  


The story of the Great Parlour was stated.


In the past, outstanding students were awarded a short sword named “中正劍”. 


Whampoa Military Academy Song was showed.


Zhou Enlai (周恩來) (the first Premier of the People's Republic of China) was also the alumni of Whampoa Military Academy.  


The academy hierarchy of Whampoa Military Academy was demonstrated.


Graduate history was showed and there were only 7thgraduation. 


Whampoa Military Academy had many sub-campus (分校) in different locations in China.


After that we visited Whampoa Military Equipment Exhibition Hall (黃埔軍事裝備展覽館).


Tank 


Fright & Missile 


Top Ten Marshals  (十大元帥)


Different types of medal (勳章)


Before left, I brought a souvenir for memory cost only RMB$15. (Remark: It can’t enter MTR and Train during security check.)


After that we went to the Alibaba Experience Shop for online and offline named Box Horse Fresh
(盒馬鮮生)


The slogan was “Better Life Right Here” (生活)


All foods / vegetables had bar code.


For online shopping, staff would packing what items you ordered and send to your home.


We selected seafood and cooking service on-site.  (However, it was waiting too long more than 1 hour.)


Different prices for different cooking request was showed.


We had a good dinner with Aaron’s friends (Left 2nd : Circle Yuen and Gigi).



Reference:
黃埔軍校舊址紀念館- http://www.gz.gov.cn/gzgov/hslvjd/201702/826975a3881249d2a9d53801ea608695.shtml

Hong Kong Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Inauguration Ceremony (香港人工智能實驗室成立儀式)

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Alibaba Group Holding Limited, SenseTime and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) had launched The HKAI Lab, a not-for-profit initiative with the aim to support innovation in the field of AI in Hong Kong on 21st May 2018 in the Charles K Kao Auditorium (Golden Egg).  Before the ceremony, we took some photos for memory. Photo with Alibaba and ITB

(Left: Mr. Teddy Lui (Operations Director, Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund) (呂紹勇), Dr. David Chung (Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Innovation and Technology Bureau, HKSAR), I (Committee Member of Extenics Society, Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence (CAAI)) (中國人工智能學會可拓學專業委員會委員) and Mr. 邱彼特 (虛凡) (技術戰略部高級專家) (Senior Advisor, Technology Strategy Department, Alibaba Group)

Photo with HKQAA friends and Incubation Program colleages

(Left: Ms. Reese Kwan, I, Ms. Brenda Ling (HKQAA), Mr. Adams Wong (HKQAA) and Mr. Gallen Leung)

CityU EngD cohort took a photo in the venue.

(Left: Mr. Curie Lee, Dr. David Chung and I)

In the beginning, Mrs. Fanny Law (Chairperson of HKSTP) gave a welcome speech.  She said Industry-University-Institute (產學研) cooperation was very important.  Now China government and HKSAR highly supported Innovation and Technology in Hong Kong.  We had right time and place (天時、地利、人和) for Innovation and Technology.


The Hon Mrs. Carrie Lam (Chief Executive, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) gave a keynote speech.  She said China Government strongly supported Hong Kong to be International Innovation and Technology Centre and R&D funding from China would pass to Hong Kong. Moreover, Legco agreed to the budget for pre-phase engineering work in the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park Limited (HSITP).  She added the platform of AI & Robotic was one of I&T development plan in Hong Kong.  Finally, she hope every success of the The HKAI Lab.


Then Mr. Joe Tsai (Executive Vice Chairman of Alibaba Group) explained to establish The HKAI Lab that why AI? Why Hong Kong?  AI is the key strategy direction to be developed in Alibaba Group. For example, AI was employed in TaoBao (淘寶) and the application named “千人千面” in which used Big Data Analytic to provide information for individual interested product/service.  He selected Hong Kong because it had good business environment and strong inclusive characteristic. Finally, he said HK needed to attract more talent, capital and enhance the size of ecosystem.


Prof. Xiao’ou Tang (Founder, SenseTime) said The HKAI Lab had three key points.
i)                    Non-profit making organization because it established for long time development
ii)                  Open platform that could attract more companies to join AI family together
iii)                National Strategy to be followed that to build HK as International I&T Centre
Then Prof. Tang mentioned The Academy for Discovery, Adventure, Momentum and Outlook, DAMO) (阿里巴巴達摩院) invested RMB 100b for Innovation and Technology within 3 years.  


The MOU signing for establishing The HKAI Lab among three parties.


The HKAI Lab Inauguration Ceremony



Guests and mentors took a group photo.


Reference:
行政長官出席「香港人工智能實驗室」成立儀式致辭全文- http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201805/21/P2018052100730.htm

CityU Inno-preneurship Mentoring Meet-up Dinner 2018

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I was honor to be invited by CityU Knowledge Transfer Office as Inno-preneurship mentor to assist our junior cohort in this year again and joined the Meet-up Dinner on 28th May 2018.  The Inno-preneurship Mentoring Scheme is exclusive for CityU communities who desire to turn their creative ideas into start-ups.  I was assigned as mentor to Hands Life Science and met the CEO Mr. Marco So who was graduated in BCH Department, CityU (Now named CHEM Department). Moreover, I introduced Dr. Samson Tam (Partner, Hong Kong-Shenzhen United Investment Fund) to him for advising about business and investment issues. Then we took a photo for memory.

(Left: Mr. Boris Yim (Founder, Scooter Technology Limitied), Dr. Samson Tam, Mr. Marco So and I)

I also met my EngD Cohort Dr. W.L. Ha (Executive Vice President – Technology, Computime Limited) and his mentees (Bucky company).

(Left: Mr. Silver Pang, Mr. Tse Hok Kam, I, Ms. Stephanie Kwok and Dr. W.L. Ha)

In the beginning, Mr. Clement Lam (Associate Director of Knowledge Transfer Office, CityU) gave a welcome speech and he appreciated all mentors and mentees contribution on Inno-preneurship mentoring scheme. 


So many participants here tonight.


Then Mr. Tony Chan (CityU Shenzhen Research Institute (CityUSRI)) introduced their Innovation Commons (SZ) to us.  He also said CityUSRI got the number 1 on research funding and number 1 of PhD (300) graduated in Shenzhen.  He had confident that commercialization to become enterprise in CityUSRI would be number 1 in the future.  He also introduced Shenzhen government’s funding support upto RMB 1 million for startup and upto RMB 1.5 million for PhD graduates in CityU!


The details of Innovation Commons (SZ) was showed in the following leaflet.


A Thinker sculpture was observed that let me to review the cooperation between HKSTP and CityU KTO since 2014.  I linked up HKSTP Incubation Program (Incu-App) to CityU Apps Lab on 27th Jun2014.  Then CityU Innopreneurship Ecosystem Launch Ceremony was held on 23rd Nov 2015 that Mr. Peter Mok (Head of Incubation Program, HKSTP) was invited to be one of their board members. We formed Joint Incubation Programme at that time.  After that Pre-Incubation Programme was launched in March 2017 by CityU and HKSTP offering further support to CityU supported start-ups and student entrepreneurship teams. 


Reference:
CityU Inno-preneurship Mentoring Scheme - http://www.cityu.edu.hk/kto/index.aspx?id=PG-1600012
20151123: CityU Innopreneurship Ecosystem Launch Ceremony 2015 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2015/11/cityu-innopreneurship-ecosystem-launch.html
20170627: CityU Inno-preneurship Mentoring Meet-up Event - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2017/06/cityu-inno-preneurship-mentoring-meet.html
20170705: HKSTP TecONE Investment Series Seminar and Visit IncuBio “HANDS” - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2017/07/hkstp-tecone-investment-series-seminar.html
20170719: HKQAA Startup Coaching to CityU Inno-preneur “HANDS” - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2017/07/hkqaa-startup-coaching-to-cityu-inno.html
20180308: The 1st CityU Innopreneurship meeting with HANDS 2018 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2018/03/the-1st-cityu-innopreneurship-meeting.html


FHKI Industrialist Forum 2018

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The Federation of Hong Kong Industries (FHKI), with support of HKSTP, KPMG and KPMG organized the Industrialist Forum to provide platform where industrialists, investors/capital providers, academia and government officials exchanged views on the prospects of Hong Kong industries.  Industrialist Forum 2018 was held on 30th May 2018, which aimed to tie in technology and innovation initiatives rolled by the HKSAR government in Policy Address and the Budget so as to look into the prospectus of advanced manufacturing in Hong Kong.  I met HKSQ senior member Mr. Albert Cheung who was one of speakers in the forum and we took a photo for memory.


In the beginning, Mr. Jimmy Kwok (Chairman, FHKI) gave a welcome speech.  Firstly, he briefed HKSAR government new initiative to support industries and SME.  He mentioned that cooperation between government and industries could create new market and new value.  


Mr. Paul Chan, GBM, GBS, MH, JP (Financial Secretary, HKSAR) was guest-of-honour and gave opening speech.  He said Innovation and Entrepreneurship were a global trend.  Since ITB established in 2015, we were not discussed “Do or Not” but “How to catch up”.  He shared his visit onHangzhou (杭州) and Guizhou (貴州) and observed their development on internet, big data, AI and smart city, etc. He said we had world class universities, top tier talents, excellence legal system, and IP protection, etc. He had confident that Hong Kong to be Global Innovation and Technology Centre.  


Group photo


AM Session – Plug into I&T for New Businesses
The first keynote speaker was Mr.Nicholas Yang, GBS, JP (Secretary for Innovation and Technology, HKSAR) and his topic entitled “Innovation and Technology Initiatives Rolled out by the Government”.  Firstly, he briefed several new policies on Innovation and Technology (I&T) especially on Re-industrialization.  We focused on Advance Manufacturing, AI, Data Analytics, etc. to retain and attract high value-added industries in Hong Kong. He added that we had new infrastructure, HKPC & HKSTP co-working space, ITFs and education input such as post-doc subsidies.  He hoped to lead re-industrialization through Government-Industry-University-Institute (官產學研) collaboration. 


The second keynote speaker was Mr. TK Chiang (Managing Director, CLP Power HK Ltd.) and his presentation named “Digital Utility of the Future”. In the beginning, Mr. Chiang said that technology changed the world, making yesterday’s impossible into today’s possible.  


Then Mr. Chiang mentioned CLP Power’s Smart and Innovative Initiatives included Smart Environment, Smart Operation, Smart Energy Management, Smart Mobility and Smart Grid.  


After that he selected three of initiatives for sharing.  The first one was Smart Environment that their electricity sales increase but total emission reduced through deploying new gas storage and generation technologies so as to driving for better air quality and lower carbon. Secondary, Feed-In Tariff would be effective on 1st Oct 2018 to encourage private PV system connection to Grid so that we could play a part in combating climate change.  Another initiative was used VR for Power System Training.  At the end, he introduced CLP Smart Energy Experience Centre which employed AI Chatbot and smart home system where some technologies were from Science Park companies.


Dr. NT Cheung (Head (IT & Health Informatics) & Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Hong Kong Hospital Authority) was the third keynote speaker and his presentation title was“The Data-Driven, Cloud-Powered Mobile Future of Healthcare in Hong Kong”.  He briefed the Hong Kong’s Dual Track Healthcare System included public (2.8% GDP with 88% inpatients) and private (2.9%GDP with 12% inpatients).  Then he introduced Hospital Authority which established in 1991 and their eHealthe journey.


After that Dr. Cheung briefed Clinical Management System (CMS) IV – 5Ps and they were Patient Centred, Paperless, Protocol Driven, Closed Loop and Personalized.  Then he stated 3 key disruptive technologies we faced were Mobile, Cloud & IoT, as well as, Big Data & Machine Learning.  And then he briefed IT Innovation Framework to us.  HA Data Collaboration Lab (HADCL) was employed that HA Cloud together with HA Data would improve HA’s care delivery so as to enhance care quality and efficiency. 


Finally, he briefed HA’s Big Data included 11M patients, 467M episodes of care, 2.7B laboratory results, 3.7M operation records, 990M drug items and 100TB radiology images per year, etc.  He also share Hong Kong Healthcare Cloud vision to us at the end.


Mr. Andy Bien (Chief Information Officer, The Airport Authority Hong Kong) was the fourth keynote speaker and his topic was “The Smart Airport”.  Firstly, Mr. Bien briefed HKIA was the third busy airport in the world and was the first busy on air cargo traffic in 2017.  


Then Mr. Bien stated the traffic growth at HKIA upto 155% of Passenger, 206% of Cargo and 158% of Air Traffic Movement from 1998 to 2017!  They had the following challenges including rapid grow, capacity constraint, labor shortage and passenger expectation increased.  Therefore,  a new runway (3rdRunway System) was planned to be built. 


After that Mr. Bien briefed they made use of innovation and technology to enhance efficiency and deliver superior passenger experience.  Some key enabling technologies for Smart Airport Vision were mentioned such as Advanced Biometrics (single token for passenger journey), Mobile & Self Service Technology (Check-in Anywhere Anytime), Robotics (Baggage Loading Assistance and Automated Bridge Docking) and Digital Twin (Combined use of GIS, BIM, 3D Reality Model for visualization and modelling data).  


Finally, he shared their collaboration with the industry including HKSTP, Cyberport, R&D centres, HKPC, ASTRI and universities.  He also introduced their unique Hong Kong Invention included Next Generation Check-in Kiosk (iCUSS), Automatic AEL Inspection, My Tag, Trolley Availability Management, AR Signage Translation, AR Way Finding and Hybrid RFID/Barcode Scanner. 


Successful Case Study (I)
Dr. Miles Wen (CEO, Fano Labs Limited) shared his case named “The Rise of Speech and Natural Language Processing Technologies”.  In the beginning, he introduced that Fano Labs is one of world’s best AI company in developing enterprise-scale speech and natural language processing technologies, with specialties in dialects.  


AI Chatbot of CLP Smart Energy Experience Centre was one of their project and Dr. Wen showed the video to demonstrate how clever the dialect was. 


Successful Case Study (II)
Mr. Simon Wong (CEO, Hong Kong R&D Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management Enabling Technologies (LSCM)) shared his application case named “Airport Technology Innovation by LSCM”.  Mr. Wong introduced LSGM centre which established in 2006 and hosted by HKU, CUHK and HKUST.  Their service included to conduct industry-oriented researches and providing consultance and market intelligence so as to facilitating IP commercialization.


Then he briefed airport technology solutions by LSCM including Airfield, Terminal and Cargo Centre, Baggage System, Infrastructure and Customer Service.  


In panel discussion session, Mr. Steve Chuang (Chairman, Hong Kong Electronics Industry Council, FHKI) was the chair of this session.


PM Session – Advanced Manufacturing: Way for HK Industries Moving Forward
Dr. Bernard Chan (Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, HKSAR) was special guest and gave a guest speech.  He said Hong Kong had spirit of entrepreneurship.  Then he mentioned the competitiveness of Hong Kong was still in high position.  He shared some directions of focus such as Government to Government (G2G), Exhibition & Tourism synergy effect, New Financial Funding (e.g. PASS) and Design Thinking.


Ms. Irene Chu (Head of New Economy and Life Sciences, KPMG) was the first keynote speaker in PM Session and her topic was “The Competitive Edge of Hong Kong in New Economy”.  In the beginning, Ms. Chu briefed Hong Kong government role for the development of the new economy including New IPO Ruling, New Policies and New Budget.


Then she briefed some strategy between Hong Kong Smart City and the Greater Bay Area (GBA).  After that Ms. Chu mentioned industries had the ability to strengthen Hong Kong such as Talent Pool, Government push factor and Investments.


At the end she introduced the transformation journey through nine steps to enhance competitive edge of Hong Kong in New Economy.


Mr. Kevin Brisebois (Director, Radius Innovation & Development, A Jabil Company) was the second keynote speaker and his presentation topic named “Digital Factory of the Future and Low Volume High Mix Management”.  He said that technology change causing two major shifts.  They were consumer expectation RISING and Barriers to entry for new competition DROPPING.  


Mr. Brisebois answered to surviving and thriving in the world of change that were Innovation, Speed, Agility and Trusted Partnerships.  Then he introduced their company which was a global leader in Supply Chain Expertise and its capability to assist manufacturers to fit the change.  


Finally, he introduced their real-time global information and intelligence service including Big data analytics, Machine to Machine (M2M) Learning, Cognitive Computing and E2E ecosystem visibility.  Its innovation for the future steps were stated as conclusion.  


The third keynote speaker in the PM Session was Dr. Wang Qi-yuan (Vice Manager, Robot Technical Centre, Shanghai-Fanuc Robotics Co., Ltd.) and his presentation title named “FANUC Robot and Intelligent Manufacturing”.  He briefed their mother company established in 1972 in Japan.  They had three types of services such as Factory Automation, ROBOT and ROBO MACHINE. 


Dr. Wang briefed how machine learning employed in their product. Moreover, they could increase robotic arms for machine learning to reduce the learning time.


The fourth keynote speaker was Mr. Tony Leung (Program Manager, ERI@N Accelerator, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) and his topic entitled “Overview of Advanced Manufacturing (Singapore) through Science and Technology”.  He said Industry 4.0 mean employees needed to master new digital skills and change their mindset.


Then Mr. Tony Leung briefed the trends including Digitization, AR & VR, Additives Manufacturing, 3D Printing Technology, Automation & Robots with AI, Cloud enabled Smart Factory, Data Driven, Sustainable Manufacturing, etc.   In here, Sustainable Manufacturing Process was briefed and they aimed to fulfill the projection of Singapore Carbon Emission by 2020.


After that Mr. Leung introduced Singapore Research and Innovation structure supported by NRF. Their Research, Innovation and Enterprise – RIE 2020 plan was also described.  


The Singapore Smart Industry Readiness Index had briefed as following diagram.  Lastly, he discussed the challenges of Singapore’s Advanced Manufacturing as follows:
-          Pressure from both regional competition and domestic restructuring
-          Rising operational costs, a domestic labor crunch and weakening Singapore dollar
-          Revamp manufacturing model into more innovation-based and high-value production
-          Adopt the Industry 4.0 model to enable digitalization and automation


After Coffee Break, the fifth keynote speakers were Mr. Lyan Law (Lead Consultant, Industry 4.0, HKPC) and Mr. Albert Cheung (Senior Manager, Trio Engineering Co., Ltd.) and their presentation title named “Making Industry 4.0 Happen for Hong Kong Industry”.  Mr. Lyan Law introduced HKPC smart manufacturing transformation for re-industrialization policy.  Firstly, he briefed their partner named Fraunhofer IPT from Germany to deploy Industry 4.0 for upgrading of SMEs in Hong Kong.  


Then Mr. Law introduced “Industrie 4.0 Smart Operation, Manufacturing & Factory Upgrade and Recognition Programme” which developed by Fraunhofer IPT & HKPC.  They provided an assessment model for OBM, ODM & OEM to evaluate industries’ “i4.0 Maturity Level & Migration Strategy”.  


In the following diagram, Hong Kong’s industries were in -1i to 0i level but Germany industries were stated from 1i to 3i level.


Mr. Albert MP Cheung was the second speaker who introduced TRIO journey towards Industry 4.0 through HKPC assistance.  They would like to transform their traditional production to smart factory for EMS products. Therefore, TRIO invited Frauhofer IPT and HKPC industry 4.0 experts to conduct “Industry 4.0 innovation management and technology assessment” on 24th Oct 2016.  


There were 3 steps towards Smart Enterprise as follows:
Phase One: Onsite evaluation of maturity level
Phase Two: Tailor-made i4.0 training and implemented pilot projects
Phase Three: implementation and achievement of i4.0 factory recognition
Finally, Mr. Albert Cheung told us their future development on Industry 4.0 were including “Data Transparency & Acquisition”, “Smart Data Analytics”, “Digital Tools Adoption & Development” and “Digital Key Performance Indicator”


Ms. Karmen Yeung (Partner, China Tax / Head of Industrial Manufacturing, KPMG) was the sixth keynote speaker and her topic was “Unveil the Comparative Advantage of Hong Kong”.  She raised that general tax considerations should be comparative advantage of HK.


Ms. Yeung said the existing tax policies was not enough to attract R&D but there were some policies changed recently.  It enhanced R&D incentive as following diagram.  


Lastly, Ms. Yeung used US Section 301 as example to explain the risk that should be considered.


Mr. Francis Lai (Senior Consultant, HKPC) was the seventh speaker and his topic named “Survey Findings & Insight of Strategic Industry Study on “Advanced Manufacturing in Hong Kong”.  He introduced that HKPC conducted a study to investigate and analyze the needs of those industries which were interested in setting up operations in Hong Kong in 2015.  Now, HKSTP was going to establish an Advanced Manufacturing Centre (AMC) in Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate in 2021-2022.


Then Mr. Francis Lai introduced their industry-wide study to update the needs and expectations in setting up advanced manufacturing operations in Hong Kong.  There were 500 questionnaires included 200 companies and then selected 20 companies for interview.  The key findings identified sensitive technologies and processes with IP right was best fit in Hong Kong. Key consideration was integrity of HK citizens and good quality image on “Made-in-HK” brand.  However, the key challenge was lack of industrial land, high rental fee and operation costs. 


The ranking of Industry with interest in setting up operation in HK were discussed and the top three were Electronics products plus IT, Robotics and automation equipment, and Precision metal parts plus precision mould & die.  Finally, some expectations such as “Products made in AMC” for promotion, waste treatment facilities, shuttle bus, cleanroom, etc. were discussed.  


Ir. Dr. HL Yiu (Head of Advanced Manufacturing, HKSTP) was the last keynote speaker and his topic entitled “Advanced Manufacturing Centre in Tseung Kwan O”.  Dr. Yiu would like to share re-industrialization around the world, industry engagements and findings, AMC and Technology Driven Re-industrialization.  (Beginning, he told us a joke that his initial HL means High Mix Low Volume that was manufacturer facing challenge.)


Dr. Yiu shared Mckinsey insights on manufacturing the future in the following four points:
1.      Manufacturing’s role is changing.
2.      Manufacturing is not monolithic.
3.      New dynamic era for manufacturing.
4.      Manufacturers and policy makers need new approaches and capabilities.
Then USA experience was discussed.


Singapore experience was also discussed.  


After that he said AMC is a pilot project for establishing smart production in Hong Kong that comprised modern industrial premises for highly automated production, high precision assembly and distribution of products and embedded service.  Dr. Yiu said the provisions and service as well as building specification could cover 90% of advance manufacturing needs.  



At the end, Dr. Yiu briefed the expected ecosystem in AMC included four dimension and they were “Shared Production Quality Testing”, “Co-located Testing Certifications”, “Communal Warehouse” and “Shared Techshop for Personalized High-Mix Manufacturing”. 

Reference:
20180329: FHKI International Forum: Cloud Computing, Big Data and AI in Realising an Intelligent Society - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2018/03/fhki-international-forum-cloud.html
20180213: FHKI Seminar on Bay Area Soar by Innovation and Industrial Upgrading Opportunities (大灣創新騰飛, 工業升級良機) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2018/02/fhki-seminar-on-bay-area-soar-by.html

HKSTP Board members visit CityU R&D Laboratories

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I was honor to line up HKSTP Board members to visit CityU and its R&D Laboratories including State Key Laboratory, ITF projects and Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory on 1st Jun 2018.  The story was that CityU alumni had dinner with CityU new Council Chairman Mr. Lester G Huang on 5th Mar 2018 and he would like to invite HKSTP Chairlady and Board members to visit CityU’s laboratories and facilities.  As CityU Alumni in CityU Eminence Society (CES) and Adjunct Professor in SEEM Dept., I passed Mr. Lester G Huang’s message to Mrs. Fanny LAW FAN (Chairperson, HKSTP) during Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park Limited House Warming on 14thMar 2018.  After several times communication, we arranged a whole day visit to introduce different achievement of CityU and hoped that more cooperation between HKSTP and CityU in near future.  In the beginning, we took a group photo in the meeting room.

 (Left 1strow: Ms. Cordelia Chung, Prof. Jian Lu (VP (R&T)), Mrs. Fanny Law Fan, Mr. Lester G Huang, Prof. Way Kuo (President), Mr. Billy Wong, Mr. Albert Wong, Mr. Richard Sun;
Left 2ndrow: Dr. Lotto Lai, Mr. Spencer Chan, Ms. Claudia Xu, Mr. Simon Wong, Ms. Erica Tse, Mr. Patrick Siu and Ms. Pik Kwan Lee)

Before the meeting, I took a photo with Ir. Patrick Siu (COO, HKSTP) in the venue.


I also took a photo with another colleague Mr. Spencer Chan (Sr. Manager, Business Development, HKSTP).


In the beginning, Mr.Lester Garson Huang (Chairman, The Council of CityU) gave welcome speech.  


President Prof. Way Kuo also gave an opening remark.


Then Prof. Jian Lu (Vice-President (Research & Technology), CityU) gave a talk named “City University of Hong Kong’s Research Performance”.  Firstly, he briefed CityU organization structure including KTO, China Mainland Affairs Office, etc.


Then Prof. Jian Lu introduced CityU’s world ranking rising from 154 in 2006 to 49 in 2018 under QS World University Ranking.  The Top 5 Hong Kong universities ranking in Asia based on QS World University Ranking was showed as following diagram.  According to the 2017 Best Global Universities Ranking published by US News & Report, CityU is ranked 11th in the world in Engineering (HKU: 40th; HKUST:23rd ).  We ranked 1stamong HK, Macau & Taiwan.  Based on the same report, our Computer Science is ranked 9th in the world and also ranked 1st among HK, Macau & Taiwan.  


In CityU Strategic Plan 2015-2020, three research challenges were identified as One Health, Digital Society and Smart City.  CityU’s scientific research included Financial management, Advanced materials, Microwave transmission, Optoelectronics, Nanotechnology, Marine environments, Life sciences, Computer mathematics, Creative media and Linguistic science.  UGC research assessment exercise (RAE) 2014 showed that CityU located in number 4 out of 7 institutions in Hong Kong


After that Prof. Jian Lu highlighted some RGC & ITF projects upto HK$300M. 


Research Institutes / Liaison Offices in Mainland China were briefed.


And then Prof Lu briefed Knowledge Transfer Office Status Report in Jun 2017.  I added that I had linked up HKSTP Incubation Program (Incu-App) to CityU Apps Lab since 2014.  Then CityU Innopreneurship Ecosystem Launch Ceremony was held on 23rd Nov 2015 that Mr. Peter Mok (Head of Incubation Program, HKSTP) was invited to be one of their board members. We formed Joint Incubation Programme at that time.  After that Pre-Incubation Programme was launched in March 2017 by CityU and HKSTP offering further support to CityU supported start-ups and student entrepreneurship teams.


For Patents, CityU is ranked number 1 in Hong Kong and we had 319 patents granted plus 434 patents pending by June 2017.  Moreover, CityU led IP Pool Expanision through Institutions with Collaboration Agreement.  Members were showed as follows:
In US: Stanford University, Arizona State University, Cedar Sinai Medical Center & Louisiana State University
In Canada: McMaster University
In Saudi Arabia: KAUST
In Singaport: Intellectual Property Intermediary Singapore (IPI)
In China: Shanghai University
We shared profit for IP licensing and the success factor of IP Pool was Professionals and Experts involvement for integration of IP and Industry.


After introduction of CityU achievement, Prof. Lu mentioned our startup companies from students, faculty members and alumni.  One of unicorn for 3D Sensing, AI, Solutions for Human-Machine Interface was ORBBEC.  Their milestone was stated since 2013.  


Another success knowledge transfer story was Vitargent which formed by PhD graduate in BCH and joined IncuBio Program in HKSTP.  (Remark: I had assisted them to achieve ISO 17025 HOKLAS accreditation to perform the specific tests “Determination of the acute toxicity of waste water to zebrafish eggs (Danio rerio) (ISO 15088:2007)” in 2012.)


Lastly, Mrs. Fanny Law Fan raised some questions such as are we ready too late?  Many research was in upstream.  Do downstream research still perform in Hong Kong?  She said government needed to have a big figure and rethinking our position.  How can government retain people in Hong Kong?  Are they effective?  Mrs. Fanny Law Fan focused on three points below:
i)                    Job creation
ii)                  Develop and increase level of Innovation & Technology in Hong Kong
iii)                Social and Economic Impacts
President suggested to think Great Bay Area as a whole and think about the win-win mechanism for both GBA and Hong Kong. 

At the end of this session, Mr. Lester G Huang presented a gift (CityU pin) to Mrs. Fanny Law Fan for memory.


The first location we visited was Centre of Super-Diamond and Advanced Film (COSDAF).  Prof. CS Lee was director of COSDAF and introduced the researches in this centre.  One of their researches was about Perovskite Solar Cells which was thin film technology and its conversion efficiency upto 19% (World record was 22% in Korea).


Prof. Wenjun Zhang briefed their studies to Mrs. Fanny Law Fan and board members such as synthesis of cBN/Diamond Composite Coatings enhancing cutting performance and Silicon Nanowires-based Anode Materials for Lithium Ion Batteries.


One of researches I selected to explain more in here was using nano technologies developed cancer drugs.  Most of cancer drugs were not dissolved in water.  If use oil or nano-participle adhesive the surface of drug, it had side-effect.  So that they developed Self-Assembled Nanodrugs (SANDs).  Their recently method was named Ice-template Assisted Method to develop nano-drugs in the grain boundary of ice.


The first State Key Laboratory we visited wasState Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution (SKLMP).  


Prof. Paul Lam was director of SKLMP and he briefed the history that CityU as the lead institution to submit a proposal to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of China to establish SKLMP in 2007.  The application was approved on 25th Nov 2009.  


Prof. Lam explained different research such as testing of Cigartoxin (雪卡毒素) for large sea fish.  He also told us the investment of SKLMP that 70M (in which 30M is matching fund from CityU) and then extension to use 22M more that totally invested ~1000M in SKLMP for 7 years.  After that ITC supported 2M per year and recently MOST support RMB 1M per year.  


A short break in the CityU Innovation Centre (also CityU Apps Lab).  Prof. Henry Chung and his team introduced their research product related to energy saving to us during the break.  Simon and Billy were very interested in their research in which could apply into building service.  


Prof. Henry Chung was director of Centre for Smart Energy Conversion and Utilization Research (CSCR) and he briefed that CSCR established in Oct 2006 and it focused on the fundamental and applied research inPower Electronics and its applications.  Energy saving and environmentally-friendly solutions for power supply, lighting and manufacturing industries were their key research direction.


Prof. Chung briefed their team had internship and exchange program for students, moreover, they supported students startup under TSSSU funding.  One of success programmes in the Testing Platform at EMSD was Smart Battery Diagnostics Systems in which HKSTP had involved in packaging and systems on chip technology.  


After that we visited the centre and observed their research results and products.


We had lunch in the Alumni Room.  Mrs. Fanny Law Fan, HKSTP CEO and Board members with CityU VPs and Professors were in the Head table.


CXOs of HKSTP and colleagues were in the second table and we took a photo for memory.


The first visit location in afternoon was Centre for Robotics and Automation (CRA) and Prof. Dong Sun (Director of CRA) presented the topic “Multi-Scale Robotics in CityU”. Prof. Sun introduced their researches including Automation for Manufacturing and Logistics, Motion tracking for robot task teaching, Continuum Robot for Micro-surgery, etc.


Intelligent Service Robotics for Smart City had different application and it was potential for cooperation with HKSTP Smart Region. 


Another research named Micromanipulation and Microrobotics for Cell Surgery was very interesting.  Finally, Prof. Sun concluded cell surgery robotics was a new theme of medical robotics. Optical, Mechanical and Electromagnetic manipulators were developed for cell surgery robotic system. This kinds of robot would lead to revolutionary medical therapies and achieve long term patient survival.


And then we visited Prof. Sun’s laboratory and his R&D student demonstrate small flying robot to us. 


Video record of their study was also showed.



The next location was Hong Kong Branch of National Precious Metals Material Engineering Research Center (NPMM) and Prof. Jian Lu was the director of NPMM.  


Prof. Jian Lu, who received the 12th Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award which is the most prestigious award for engineering and technology achievement in China, introduced different projects included ITF project to HKSTP board members.  


One of famous researches by Prof. Jian Lu was Atomic Structure and Properties of Bulk Metallic Glasses which published in Nature.  One of application of this new material technology was used in sensor technology for Food Safety and Medical/Health to enhance the sensitivity.  


We visied his laboratory and observed 3D ceramic printing technology. 


CityU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Company Ltd (CityU VDL) was subsidiary of the CityU which commenced operations on 4 Dec 2017. Its mission is to provide a comprehensive, timely and accurate veterinary diagnostic service to the veterinarians and researchers of Hong Kong.  


Dr. Fraser Hill (Director, CityU VDL) led us to visit different facilities in Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory such as Histopathology, Specimen Accessioning, Molecular Room, Serology, etc.


Oh! We saw the heard of horse.


We also visited the Post Mortem Room for horse.


After that we had a short break in the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves (SKLMW).  We took a group photo with Prof. Kwai-Man Luk (4th in Right) and Prof. Chi Hou Chan (2ndin Right) in front of SKLMW for memory.


Prof. Kwai-Man Luk introduced the water antenna to us.  Prof. Luk hadbeen conferred the prestigious IEEE AP-S John Kraus Antenna Award for his contributions to the invention of L-shaped Probe Fed Microstrip Antenna and the Magneto-electric Dipole Antenna for Wireless Communications.


Then Prof. Chi Hou Chan (Director, SKLMW) introduced different antenna test solution. Some of tests needed to use robotic arm in shield room.  Prof. Chan also briefed Terahertz Devices and Spectroscopy including Terahertz measurement, THz beam Scanning Metasurfaces, 3D Printing THz Antennas and Anomalous Diffraction from Metasurfaces, as well as, THz Active and Passive Filter, etc.


The last laboratory to be visited was 3D Atom Probe Tomography Laboratory.  Prof. CT Liu introduced the principles of Atom-probe-tomography (APT) operation principle to us.  The only technique could offering both 3D imaging and quantitative chemical analysis at atomic and nano scales.  Some applications for advanced Structural and Functional Materials were briefed such as steels, superalloys, nano-glass, Ti-Alloys, Ni-based Alloys, etc.


APT was much higher analytical sensitivity than other technologies such as FTIR, XPS, Raman, EDX, FE-AES, TOF-SIMS, etc.  Moreover, it was able to establish 3 D imaging at nanoscale level.  


Prof. Chan’s R&D student demonstrated how to operate APT.  It is the first and only one APT in Hong Kong cost HK$23M and its sample preparation employed FIB for cutting needles that cost HK$6M.  (Remark: University usually had a lot of discount. Actually, it may cost about double price for Industry / Commercial.)


Results of APT image was obtained that showed different elements in atom size distribution.


It was able to transform to 3D diagram.


At the end, Mrs. Fanny Law Fan discussed with Prof. Jian Lu about Innovation and Technology development in Hong Kong.  She focused two key points below:
i)                    National needs & Hong Kong advantage (國家所需, 香港所長.)
ii)                  Hong Kong Becomes International Innovation and Technology Center (香港成為國際創新科技中心)

Prof. Jian Lu introduced that CityU Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). IAS gathered top scientists in the world to contribute in Hong Kong. It could be the Hong Kong Science Laboratory if government supported.  Once enough resource we had, we could gather the top scientist in different field such as Quantum Communication for Naitonal needs.  Mrs. Fanny Law Fan said we needed to visit universities regularly and introduced government new I&T policy such as subsidy of post-doctorate supported their monthly income so as to retain R&D talents in Hong Kong.


Reference:
20180305: CityU Eminence Society – The 6th Exco Meeting and Dinner with new Council Chairman of CityU - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2018/03/cityu-eminence-society-6th-exco-meeting.html
20180314: Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park Limited House Warming - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2018/03/hong-kong-shenzhen-innovation-and.html
20180528: CityU Inno-preneurship Mentoring Meet-up Dinner 2018 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2018/05/cityu-inno-preneurship-mentoring-meet.html

IET & IEEE Technical Visit to Songshan Lake International Robot Industry Base and Googol Technology Park

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I joined the technical visit to Songshan Lake International Robot Industry Base and Songshan Lake Googol Technology Park on 2 Jun 2018.  The technical visit was co-organized by Joint Event with Informatics and Control Technology Section, IET hong Kong and IEEE Electronics Packaging Society.  We would first visit the Songshan Lake International Robotic Technology Park (BOTPARK) and then visit Googol Tech’s state-of-the-art R&D facilities and its testing laboratories at the Song Shan Lake.  I took a photo with Mr. Dong Guohua (Research Fellow, BOTPARK) (董國華研究員).


I took a photo inside the park.


Mr. Dong introduced the history of the park to us.  Songshan Lake International Robot Industry Base had made great efforts to foster three enterprise clusters and they were movement control and high-end equipment enterprise cluster, industry and service robot enterprise cluster and high-end consumer products enterprise cluster.  The Robot Base is divided into three parts with 9 function zones in total.  The three parts are robot aid innovation research institute, innovation incubation base and international robot industrial park.  There were many successful startup example including Googol Tech, DJI, QKM Technology and ePropilsion, etc. 


First step named HollyWood of Makers.  It showed the Great Bay Area. 


Second step showed the Robotics Timeline.  


Third step was Songshan Lake Xbot Park and its structure was introduced. Mr. Dong briefed the Songshan Lake TechX Institute which incubated talents in robotic.  


Guangdong University of Technology (GDUT) (廣東工業大學) was one of founders of Robotics School in Mar 2016! I am Fellow (PT) and Deputy Director (Academic Exchange Centre of Extenics) in the Research Institute of Extenics and Innovation Methods, GDUT, respectively.


The course details and requirement was showed as following diagram.  


Fourth step was Startup Resources, they had many VCs, HR Support, Key technology, Mentors, etc.  In here, I took a photo with my old friend Dr. TU Pingliang (Technical Manager, ASM Technology Hong Kong Limited) we recognized in EPA Centre, CityU since 2000.  

(Left: I, Dr. TU Pingliang, Mr. Dong Guohua and Mr. Ben Li (Managing Director, China Intelligence Technologies Ltd.))

Fifth step was Key Components.  Mr. Dong explained it to us.


Sixth step was Supply Chain.  


Seventh step and eighth step were Industry 4.0 and Agriculture 4.0, respectively.


One of success product by startup for going to Agriculture 4.0 was demonstrated.


Others success companies with through products were demonstrated such as DJI.


The last one Mr. Dong briefed to us was ePropulsion for electricity outboard engine.  This product let me reminded my BSC in Applied Physics final year project (FYP) in 1994.  It named “Implementation of Design Case in a Material Selection Expert System” in which one of case used the Divot tube of the boats’ outboard engine and used the expert system for choosing an optimal material.


Mr. Dennis Lin (Chairman, IET) and Dr. WK Yeung (Past Chairman, IET; Principal Engineer, MasterDynamic Limited) presented a souvenir to Dong Guohua.


Then we took a group photo. 


When we left, the whole building of international robot industrial park was saw.  


After lunch, we arrived the Songshan Lake Googol Technology Park.  Googol Technology, starting from HKUST in 1999, is the first high-tech company in Asia Pacific region specializing in R&D, production, marketing, and support of motion controllers and controller-based systems.  It provides a technological innovation platform for machine manufacturers, focusing on the four-core technology research – motion control technology, servo drive technology, machine vision technology and mechanical design optimization.  


When we arraived, Dr. Zhou Ling (周玲) (Director, Googol Technology (HK) Limited) led us to visit the Park.  


Firstly, she led us to visit their solution for humanless supermarket.


We went to the factor and we saw their economic small waste water treatment plant in the way.  It could solve small amount waste water treatment needs such as in the village.


There were many robotic arm and Googol Tech was only focused on control unit.  So the robotic arm was from suppliers (Japan or others) but the Googol control unit is core technology inside.  


We saw a robotic arm movement test.


The CNC 5 rolls controller was demonstrated.  


 And then we visited the Googol Paradox (Dongguan) Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (PARaDOX)


There plant had many different technologies included Electromechanical Engineering, Motion Control, Intelligent Control Engineering, and Robotics.  It mainly used for training. 


One of their projects was 3D printing sport shoes.  Dr. Zhou Ling showed her 3D printing sport shoes to us.


After that we visited Servotronix Googol Technology Limted.  Their control unit and core technology were assembly in here.  


Each cubical has one project cooperated with industries.  One of project was original made by China (including Robotic Arm and Control Unit) for welding robot.


Finishing the visit, we come back to the meeting room and I saw Quality Information Bulletin Board.  Quality is very important for startup and their pilot production.


Dr. Zhou Ling presented Googol Technology’s “The Road from Good to Great”.  


Mr. Frankie Kwok (Sales & Marketing Manager, Googol Tech) briefed the history of Googol Tech in which established by three Professor in HKUST since 1999.


Then he introduced their core technologies that were control and sensing.  Their marketing share was upto 40.7% in 2017. 


Paradox service, we had just visited, included Education, Automation and Precision machine.


Googol Business Model was introduced.


Finally, Dr. Zhou Ling explained the business model change to cloud service (e.g. private cloud for M2M).  

Mr. Dennis Lin (Chairman, IET) and Dr. WK Yeung (Past Chairman, IET; Principal Engineer, MasterDynamic Limited) presented a souvenir to Dr. Zhou Ling and Mr. Frankie Kwok. 


At the end, we took a group photo in front of Googol building entre.


Reference:
Googol Technology Limited - http://www.googoltech.com/web/eng/main.jsp
20170310: Technical Visit to EPACK Lab and JC Controlled Environment Test Facility - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2017/03/technical-visit-to-epack-lab-and-jc.html
20130712: Technical Visit to Nano & Advanced Materials Institute Ltd (NAMI) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2013/07/technical-visit-to-nano-advanced.html
20091008: Quality Sharing in HKUST - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2009/10/quality-sharing-in-hkust.html

HKQAA Food Waste Recycling Registration Scheme Ceremony

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I was honor to be invited HKQAA to participant the Food Waste Recycling Registration Scheme Ceremony cum Sharing Seminar on 8thJun 2018.  In line with EPD strategy for food waste, HKQAA took the lead to launch the HKQAA Hong Kong Registration – Food Waste Recycling to provide third-party conformity assessments for Food Waste Companion, Food Waste Collector and Recycler since 2017.  Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (HKSTP) and Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) are supporting organizations. Before the Ceremony, Mr. Ronald, YF Lau (Chairman, Hong Kong Food Hygiene Administrators Association; Honorary President, Hong Kong Food Council) and I took a photo for memory.


Ms. Brenda Ling, Mr. Adams Wong and I took a photo in front of the banner too.


A group photo of guests were taken.


In the beginning, Dr. Lo Wai Kwok (Chairman, HKQAA) gave a welcome speech.  He said one of WHO Sustainable Development Goals in 2030 was “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. Therefore, reducing food waste was aligned with that goal.  He said the development of HKQAA Hong Kong Registration – Food Waste Recycling was supported by Recycling Fund under EPD.  All registered Companions, Food Waste Collectors and Recyclers would post into the website for public searching.  


Mr. Tse Chin-wan (Under Secretary for the Environment, HKSAR) was the guest speaker and he said human challenge was lack of food in the history.  But we had more than 3000 ton food waste per day that was the challenge for us.  Landfill is not the solution for handling food waste because of used land and generated greenhouse gas.  Therefore, reducing food waste should start from the source.  However, collecting food waste was not an easy job. So that EPD promoted “Food Wise Hong Kong” (惜食約章) to save food and reduce food waste.  


Mr. Jimmy Kwok (Chairperson, Advisory Committee on Recycling Fund) gave guest speech.  He said that 30% of landfill solid waste was food waste.  He briefed the aims of Recycling Fund were to assist different collecting projects to reduce waste in Hong Kong and decrease the pressure on landfill.  HKQAAHong Kong Registration – Food Waste Recycling scheme worked as leader role to lead industry together and making better and greener Hong Kong. 


After that the presentation of certificate for Companions, Food Waste Collectors and Food Waste Recyclers performed and then group photo was taken.  


And then Ms. Meico Cheong (Business Manager, HKQAA)presented the topic named “HKQAA Hong Kong Registration – Food Waste Recycling”.  Firstly, she briefed the history of Recycle Funding since 2013.  There were two types of funding named “enterprise Support Programme” for recycle industry and “Industry Support Program” for NGO.  Recycling Fund aims to promote the recovery and recycling of waste by facilitating the upgrading of the operational capabilities and efficiency of the recycling industry for sustainable development 


Ms. Meico Cheong then mentioned that there were 20 Companions, 8 Food waste collectors and 7 Food waste recyclers in the HKQAA Hong Kong Registration – Food Waste Recycling Scheme. The description of Companions, Food waste collector and Food waste recycler was showed in the following diagram.  


Finally, Ms. Meico Cheong showed the certificates on each type of registration and also reviewed the overall performance of pilot test.  Companions were Organizations participating in food waste collection and source separation, such as: Restaurants, Food manufacturing factories or processing plants, Food retailers, supermarkets, food markets, Property management companies, Facility management companies.  Their overall performance on standard, daily operation, environmental and record management were good.  It was suggested that to consider avoiding too many food to be ordered and consider to give discount or free for due date food to reduce food waste generation.  


Food Waste Collector means Organizations participating in transporting food waste from source to recycling plant, such as: Collection, Separation, Transportation and Storage.  Food Waste Recycler means Organizations participating in recycling food waste to raw materials, semi-finished products or finished products.  Lastly, Ms. Meico Cheong shared the suggestions items as follows:
-          Food waster collector and recycler could feedback the quality of food waste to companions.
-          If contamination of food waste increase, provide enough training for frontline staff was needed.
-          In order to avoid food waste entered into landfill, it could increase manpower for handling and classification of food waste.
-          If food waste collect box broken, it also needed to be recycled.  


The second speaker was Mr. James Yeung (Cordis) and his topic named “Food Waste Management at Cordis, Hong Kong”.  He said that food waste occupies more than one third of the multiple solid waste.  He would focus on Environmental Impact, Cost Issue and Life Cycle to consider this problem.


Mr. James Yeung considered food waste reduction program and join the scheme because he forecasted the impact of municipal solid waste charging that would be launched in 2019.  


After that Mr. James Yeung briefed their 5 steps for recycle the food waste below:
i)                    Define recyclable food waste
ii)                  Preparation for food waste collection
iii)                Training relevant staffs
iv)                Monitoring on their daily practice
v)                  Continuous improvement
He showed some unrecyclable food waste which should avoid mixing into the recyclable one.


Different staff provided different training.


Different food waste bin provided that no. 1 for food waste recycling and no. 2 for general waste, as well as, no. 3 for shop/liquid.


The last speaker was Mr. Joseph Yeung (WayLung Waste Service Limited) and his presentation named “Food Waste Collection Experience Sharing”.  Firstly, he showed good and bad quality of food waste to us.  Some bad example usually met the difficulties on source separation.  The problems were come from insufficient space for source separation and for collection bin storage.


Mr. Yeung suggested some solutions such as different size bins for food waste collection and trucks to fit for the environment.


He introduced different types of truck for collecting.  The first one (Green at left upper corner) named Side Loader which was shielded but collecting from the top. The second one (Blue at right lower corner) named Tailgate Tuck which was more common truck.  The third one (Blue at right upper corner) called REL and fourth one (White / Blue at left lower corner) called Skip Loader that had mechanical part to push food waste that would cause lacking and smell problem.  


Lastly, Dr. Michael Lam (CEO, HKQAA) gave closing remark.  He said that food waste for landfill was not aligned with sustainability principles.  He shared that a circular economic conference in Finland in 2017 that circular economic and sustainability development were the mega trend.  We needed to promote source classification of food waste and work together with all stakeholders to create sustainable future.  


Reference:
HKQAA Hong Kong Registration – Food Waste Recycling - http://www.hkqaa.org/en_regservice.php?catid=16
20160513: HKQAA Symposium – Startups Registration Scheme Kicks off - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2016/05/hkqaa-symposium-startups-registration.html
20151008: HKQAA Hong Kong Registration Ceremony of Recycling Services Pilot Program and Kickoff of Eco-friendly Series - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2015/10/hkqaa-hong-kong-registration-ceremony.html
20141215: HKQAA Hong Kong Cooking Oil Registration Scheme Launching Ceremony cum Pilot Programme Presentation Ceremony - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2014/12/hkqaa-hong-kong-cooking-oil.html

CityU Workshop on AI in the Era of Big Data

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I received invitation to attend the Workshop on Artificial Intelligence in the Era of Big Data, which organized by the Department of Computer Science of City University of Hong Kong, on 7thJun 2018. The workshop aimed to provide a platform for academics and students to learn about the latest development in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science through keynote talks given by high-calibre scholars. The Workshop also offered a forum for participants to exchange knowledge, as well as share their views and insights on the development trends.  Before that I met Dr. Ken Yau (Instructor I, SEEM Dept., CityU) and we took a photo in front of the banner.


I was honor to meet Prof. Jun Wang (Chair Profoessor of Computational Intelligence, CS Dept., CityU) and took a photo for memory.




I also meet Dr. Louis Liu (Instructor I, SEEM Dept., CityU) in the hall.


In the beginning, Prof. Alex Jen (Provost, Chair Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science, CityU) gave opening remarks.  He said it was a platform to exchange the new knowledge in AI and CityU would be focused on Data Science and establishing School of Data Science soon.


Then Prof. Hong Yan (Dean, College of Science and Engineering, Chair Professor of Computer Engineering, CityU) gave opening speech.  He reviewed his learning in AI in the past.  He said Neural Network and AI depended on data.  The more data available, the better performance obtained. This workshop expected to introduce new ideas and crazy idea.


Group photo was taken.

(Left: Prof TAN, Kay Chen, Prof. Haibo He, Prof. Jie Lu, Prof KWONG, Tak Wu Sam, Prof. Alex Jen, Prof. Zidong Wang, Prof. Yaochu Jin, Prof. Hong Yan, Prof. Jun Wang and Prof.)  

The first keynote speaker was Prof. Haibo He (Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems; Robert Haas Endowed Chair Professor, Department of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Rhode Island, USA) and his topic entitled “Big Data: An Imbalanced Learning Perspective”. Firstly, Prof. He introduced the University of Rhode Island and their new College of Engineering Building which would be finished construction in July 2019.  Then he briefed the challenge of Big Data that “How to transform the big data into useful information and knowledge to support decision-making!”


Then Prof. He introduced Big Data included statistic data, behavioral data and causal data.  Those sophistication data collected and then analyzed so as to extract knowledge for decision support.  There were n-V dimension of Big Data included Volume, Velocity and Variety, etc. 


And then Prof. He introduced Imbalanced Learning an emerging and critical challenge for the Big Data Era.  He said “Imbalance is ubiquitous and prevalent in many real world applications such as disease screening, intrusion detection system, fraud detection and spam filtering, etc.  Then he demonstrated the between-class and within-class imbalance data to express this concept.  There were different dimensions of imbalanced data included “Between-class and Within-class”, “Intrinsic and Extrinsic” and “Relative and Absolute”. 


After that Prof. He briefed Sampling methods, Cost-sensitive methods and Kernel-based methods.  He mentioned how to evaluate the performance of imbalanced learning alorithms through “Singular assessment metrics”, “Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves”, “Precision-Recall (PR) curve”, “Cost Curves” and “Assessment Metrics for Multiclass Imbalanced Learning”.  He also revisited of Synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) using feature space similarities which showed in the following diagram. 


Finally, Prof. He discussed deep learning for imbalanced data in his paper in 2017.  The key idea was to train Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) and use the Generator Network to generate new data.  Lastly, he discussed four opportunities and Challenges as follows:
i)                    Understanding the fundamental principles,
ii)                  A uniform benchmark platform,
iii)                Standardized evaluation practices, and
iv)                Emergent topics on imbalanced learning.


The second keynote speaker was Prof. Yaochu Jin (Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems; Editor-in-Chief, Complex & Intelligent Systems; Professor in Computational Intelligence, Department of Computer Science, University of Surrey, UK) and his presentation title was “Data-driven Surrogate-assisted Evolutionary Optimization of Expensive Optimization Problems”.  He also briefed the University of Surrey in which was one of four successful research parks in the UK.


Prof. Jin firstly introduced optimization and problem formation.  He said that optimization was a mathematical discipline that concerned the finding of minima and maxima of functions (objectives), subject to constraints included Objective function, Decision variables and Constraints. Typical industrial design flow from concept or design to verification was discussed. 


Then Data Driven Evolutionary Optimization was discussed.  He explained evolutionary algorithms and other meta-heuristic search methods were a class of population-based, guided stochastic search heuristics inspired from biological evolution and swarm behaviors of social animals.  Data Driven Evolutionary Optimization was from evolutionary computation to machine learning with support by Data Science.


After that Prof. Jin pointed out some challenges in Data, Machine Learning and Optimization.
Challenges in Data: Data resources, Big data and Small data
Challenges in Machine Learning: Data clustering/dimension reduction & sensitivity analysis, Actively learning, Semi-supervised learning, Transfer learning, Dynamic and incremental learning, as well as, Ensemble learning.
Challenges in Optimization: Problem formulation, Large-scale optimization, Multi- / many-objective optimization, Optimization in the presence of uncertainties, Computational complexity and Extremely highly constrained.  


After lunch break, I took some photos with keynote speakers and professors in CS Dept., CityU.
Prof. Haibo He and I


Prof. Yaochu Jin and I


Prof. Jie Lu, Dr. Keung Wai, Jacky (Assistant Professor, CS Dept, CityU) and I


The third keynote speaker was Prof. Jie Lu (Editor-In-Chief, Knowledge-Based Systems; Editor-In-Chief, International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems; Director of Centre for Artificial Intelligence; Associate Dean (Research Excellence) and Distinguished Professor, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, Australia) and her presentation topic named “Concept Drift”.  She would introduced Concept drift’s definition, challenges, detection, understanding and adaptation.  


In the beginning, she introduced machine learning that was a computational process of discovering patterns (knowledge) from historical information.  Its overall goal was to extract useful information from data and transform it into an understandable structure for further use. 


Then Prof. Lu mentioned two scenarios of machine learning and they were “static data” and “stream data”.  In Stream Data (using Dynamic Model), unpredictable variation of data distribution may occur that is the concept drift problem. 


After that she briefed the process of learning under concept drift in the following steps.
i)                    Training and learning
ii)                  Make predictions
iii)                Drift detection
iv)                Drift understanding
v)                  Drift adaptation
There were two strategies for handle concept drift.  The first one named “Lazy Strategy” that once a concept drift was detected, the models would be updated. And the second one named “Active Strategy” that update models constantly, without standalone drift detection step.  Lastly, Prof. Lu said training data and testing data conformed the same pattern was the assumption of machine learning.  If it no longer hold for stream data, we needed to learn under concept drift to stop making mistakes before they turned out to a disaster.  


The last keynote speaker was Prof. Zidong Wang (Editor-in-Chief, Neurocomputing; Professor of Dynamical Systems and Computing, Department of Computer Science, Brunel University London, UK) and his presentation was “ Reproducibility in Big Data Analysis: A bad data perspective”.  Firstly, Prof. Wang mentioned the hottest term ABC that A for AI, B for Big Data and C for Cloud Computing.  


Then Prof. Wang briefed some common data analysis methods in six types and they were Classification, Clustering, Regression, Optimization, Association Analysis and Outlier/Novelty Detection.  He also discussed reproducibility of research that over 70% of researchers were not able to reproduce another scientist’s experiments, while more than half failed to reproduce their own experiments.  Poor data analysis is one of the top three reasons (other two were selective reporting and pressure to public) (Nature 2016). 


After that Prof. Wang said it was missing the sixth V in Big Data that was Volatility (波動性) that caused from bad data or complexity.  The complexity in big data included Uncertainty, Randomness, Nonlinearity, Time delay, Distrubance, Fault, Missing information, High dimension, Fragility, Mode switching, etc. 


Lastly, Prof. Wang used big data from bioinformatics – gene expression image analysis as an example to express the data quality.  He concluded that “Big is not always better and fast computing is not the unique solution.  The volatility of data analysis should not be ignore and sometime bad data is good for research.”


Panel Discussion entitled “Opportunities and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence” was arranged at the end
Prof. Jun Wang (City University of Hong Kong) was the moderator. 
Panel members:
Prof. Haibo He (University of Rhode Island, USA)
Prof. Kay Chen Tan (City University of Hong Kong)
Prof. Yaochu Jin (University of Surrey, UK)
Prof. Jie Lu (University of Technology Sydney, Australia)
Prof. Zidong Wang (Brunel University London, UK)

Firstly, Prof. Jun Wang briefed AI from Big Data through the steps (Big Data Information Knowledge Wisdom ←→ Intelligence).


Then Prof. He mentioned AI is Everywhere and then he asked four question for our discussion below.
i)                    Weak AI (narrow AI) or Strong AI (artificial general intelligence)?
ii)                  Deep Learning: How deep is deep enough?
iii)                Big data or small data?
iv)                Decision-making with uncertainty

And then Prof. Yaochu Jin also raised some questions as follows:
i)                    Big Data AI vs Small Data AI
ii)                  Application AI vs Sustainable AI (Deep learning is not yet conceptual breakthrough)
iii)                Powerful AI vs Secure AI

Prof. Jie Lu also shared her views on opportunities and challenges in AI.  She raised three opportunities including Technique Support, Industry Support and Social Support.  She also discussed three technical challenges such as Labelled data, Black-box and Working with imperfect AI.  Another challenge was social challenges that related privacy, humanity, responsibility and jobs.

After that Prof. Kay Chen Tan shared his view on AI Evolution from Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and then to Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI).

Lastly, Prof. Zidong Wang briefed some challenges with big data analysis below.
i)                    Analyses techniques fall behind
ii)                  Reproducibility crisis
iii)                The missing 6th V (volatility)
iv)                Lack of understanding of bad data
v)                  Multi-objective data analysis.

At the end, Prof. Kwong Tak Wu, Sam (Head & Professor, CS Dept., CityU) presented souvenirs to each speakers and took a group photo.


After the workshop, I recognized Prof. Sam Kwong.


I also recognized Prof. Prof. Kay Chen Tan. Hopefully, we would had cooperation with HKSTP in near future.


Reference:
Computer Science Dept., CityU - http://www.cs.cityu.edu.hk/
吳文俊人工智能科學技術獎- http://www.wuwenjunkejijiang.cn/wj/index.aspx

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