News

PolyU organises on-campus COVID-19 vaccination campaign for students and staff

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) organised an on-campus COVID-19 vaccination campaign for its students and staff via the outreach vaccination service launched by the Civil Service Bureau of the HKSAR Government. About 900 PolyU students and staff registered to receive the BioNTech-Comirnaty vaccine on 7 and 8 July, with the second injection scheduled on 28 and 29 July. Prior to this vaccination campaign, PolyU has been providing the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine through the University Health Service since March 2021. Professor Jin-Guang TENG, President of PolyU, said, “I am pleased to learn that the on-campus vaccination campaign received enthusiastic support from PolyU’s students and staff. Vaccination is a scientific way to effectively reduce the risk of spreading the virus, safeguard the health of the public and help provide a safe learning and working environment during the epidemic.” To enable the University to resume normal operations in teaching, learning and research, including the resumption of face-to-face classes and activities in the new academic year, the University strongly encourages its students and staff to get vaccinated as soon as possible or complete the vaccination 14 days prior to the academic year 2021/22.   ***** END *****

PolyU develops a range of advanced patented technologies to expedite smart city development in Hong Kong

In the “Hong Kong Smart City Blueprint 2.0” released in 2020, the Hong Kong government put forward a number of measures to capitalise on innovation and technology (I&T) to build a world-famous Smart Hong Kong characterised by a strong economy and high quality of living. Under this backdrop, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) established the Smart Cities Research Institute (SCRI) in 2020. As Director of SCRI, Professor Wenzhong SHI led his team to develop a number of cutting-edge patented technologies that help address various societal issues, including the revitalisation of old buildings, slope safety, prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the construction of spatial data infrastructure, hoping to provide comprehensive solutions for smart city development in Hong Kong and the Nation. The project received a Gold Medal at this year’s Special Edition 2021 Inventions Geneva Evaluation Days – Virtual Event. The following three PolyU-developed smart city technologies by Professor Shi’s team are vital in promoting smart city development: Three-dimensional (3D) Mobile Mapping System: Providing accurate 3D maps to support wide smart city applications According to the statistics in 2019, more than 10,000 old residential buildings are at least 50 years old in Hong Kong. Most of these old buildings do not have 3D indoor Building Information Models (BIM), which creates many challenges when it comes to reconstruction or maintenance. In view of this, the PolyU team has developed a lightweight and reliable 3D mobile mapping system (mobile mapping backpack), which can easily measure cities and obtain 3D maps with centimeter-level accuracy. It can be used to build spatial data infrastructure and can thus support smart city applications in many fields. The system adopts advanced technologies such as Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM), which is not restricted by the signal receiving area of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). It can carry out continuous data collection in different complex indoor and outdoor environments and is particularly suitable for high-density and complex urban environments, such as those in Hong Kong. Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) is a primary development direction of today’s construction industry. However, due to the large size of the modular components, the vehicles carrying these components have difficulties passing through some road sections in the urban areas of Hong Kong. To address the issue, the PolyU team worked in collaboration with the Hong Kong Construction Industry Council by making use of the mobile mapping backpack to conduct accurate 3D measurement of critical narrow road sections for identifying the location of obstacles, which could optimise the route for transporting oversized components without passing through narrow road sections. In addition, mobile mapping backpacks can be used to help obtain detailed indoor 3D models to support firefighting and provide evacuation routes for personnel at the fire scene. AI-based Landslide Recognition: Reporting landslide and facilitating disaster control Accurate and timely acquisition and update of spatial data infrastructure from remotely sensed big data is a long-standing challenge for smart city construction. Despite the increasingly widespread use of cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) technology in remote sensing object recognition, the accuracy and reliability of AI-based remote sensing object recognition still needs to be improved. The PolyU team has developed a series of AI-based algorithms to recognise various ground objects from remotely sensed data with higher accuracy and reliability, which supports the work of smart government in many areas such as urban planning and disaster mitigation. The PolyU team developed a software system that integrates these AI algorithms to assist the Hong Kong Civil Engineering and Development Department to recognise landslides, a major natural disaster in Hong Kong. The software system can automatically and quickly recognise and locate landslides with an accuracy up to over 90%. It can also extract rich information such as the shape, area, height, and trail of the landslides. This provides important technical support for landslide control in Hong Kong. Spatiotemporal Prediction of COVID-19 Onset Risk: To help public health agencies formulate more precise prevention and control strategies The use of I&T in combating COVID-19 is a key Smart Living initiative in the Hong Kong Smart City Blueprint 2.0. Based on its long-term advantage in the field of spatiotemporal big data analytics, the team led by Professor Shi developed the extended Weighted Kernel Density Model for predicting the COVID-19 symptom onset risk. The model can be used to predict the spatiotemporal onset risk continuously. The prediction accuracy in the next three days can reach more than 85%. Focusing on predicting the risk of the symptom onset of cases, this model can predict the development trend of the epidemic in a timelier manner and support the public health department to formulate more precise prevention and control strategies. Based on the self-developed Spatiotemporal Big Data Platform, Professor Shi and his team have developed a visualization platform for COVID-19 onset risk to showcase the latest developments and short-term forecasts of the epidemic. Professor John Shi said, “Smart cities is one of the key research focuses of the University. PolyU’s multidisciplinary research capabilities in the fields of urban informatics, artificial intelligence, robotics and data science will help us further enhance the research of smart city technology. Looking ahead, the PolyU Smart City Research Institute will concentrate its research on a range of smart cities applications such as transportation, the environment, and ageing issues, so as to expedite the development of smart cities in Hong Kong and the Nation.”   ***End***

PolyU welcomes additional funding for promoting virtual teaching and learning

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) welcomes the additional funding launched by the University Grants Committee (UGC) and the Quality Assurance Council (QAC) for universities to promote the development of virtual teaching and learning (VTL). Over the years, PolyU has laid a solid foundation for VTL. In response to this new initiative, PolyU will actively propose innovative solutions, and continue to strive in acquiring more resources to promote the University’s development of VTL. To address the long-term teaching and learning needs, our initial plans include: developing exemplary real-time delivery of online academic programmes and new paradigms of online teaching, as well as initiating VTL-related research. In light of the ongoing pandemic situation, PolyU has been using different online teaching and learning platforms, while constantly upgrading its classroom facilities and providing training and technical support to staff and students to accommodate online and synchronous teaching. PolyU is also committed to digital transformation - some examples include building a teaching and learning centre that supplies e-learning resources, and developing new online teaching solutions, such as using virtual reality (VR) technology in teaching, and establishing Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). PolyU has furthermore dedicated its efforts in developing a number of online science experiment platforms in recent years, including the newly launched “Borderless Lab 365”. The platform enables students to perform real-time science experiments remotely anywhere and anytime, thereby significantly improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning. This innovative platform is not only being used by the students of PolyU, but is also being deployed by various secondary schools. Feedback from teachers and students has been positive, this is a good testament to the competence of PolyU in effectively combining technology with teaching. Professor Wing-tak WONG, Deputy President and Provost of PolyU, said: “The UGC and QAC attach great importance to promoting VTL, which is in line with PolyU’s strategic development. We hope that with this additional funding in place, PolyU can secure more resources to accelerate the progress of VTL, so as to enhance the overall experience and effectiveness of teaching and learning.”   ***End***

PolyU master’s degree programmes train talents in occupational therapy and physiotherapy meeting urgent demand from the social welfare sector for healthcare/rehabilitation manpower

While the demand for healthcare services is growing drastically in Hong Kong, the supply of qualified therapists is far from adequate especially in the social welfare sector, bringing difficulties to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in meeting the healthcare and rehabilitation needs of society. To alleviate this manpower shortage, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) of HKSARG has been offering a Training Sponsorship Scheme in collaboration with The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and NGOs since 2012. The two master’s entry degree programmes PolyU is offering under this Scheme are Master in Occupational Therapy (MOT) and Master in Physiotherapy (MPT). Introduced in 2012, these two-year full-time programmes provide an opportunity for those who aspire to serve the community as competent and qualified therapists. Under this Scheme, potential talents are funded by NGOs to take part in a two-year master’s entry degree programme either in occupational therapy or physiotherapy. After graduation, these students are required to contribute to the work of the NGOs they signed up for three consecutive years. The Scheme has yielded good results with over 250 students having been trained in four cohorts under the Scheme to serve in NGOs that offer care and rehabilitation services for the elderly, persons with disabilities or children with special needs. Well received by the social welfare sector, the Scheme will be extended for another three cohorts in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The next cohort is open for application today (12 August 2020)

PolyU secures HK$18.2 million funding from Health and Medical Research Fund to conduct eight studies on COVID-19

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has secured over HK$18 million funding from the Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF) of the Food and Health Bureau (FHB), to commence eight research studies on COVID-19. These projects cover a wide range of disciplines including health technology, biomedical sciences, healthcare, rehabilitation as well as social sciences. PolyU hopes that research teams from different fields can contribute their expertise to supporting the local community in the fight against COVID-19 and to facilitating formulation of pandemic control measures, thus helping to protect the health of the general public.

PolyU collaborates with Macau University of Science and Technology to advance diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia

COVID-19 is taking its toll on the world, affecting more than 200 countries and regions. In the face of a surge in cases, rapid diagnosis and identification of high-risk patients for early intervention is crucial for controlling the pandemic. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is committed to the fight against COVID-19 and has been collaborating with various partners in the prevention and control of the disease.  PolyU today announced the launch of a new AI system jointly developed with the Macau University of Science and Technology (M.U.S.T.) in conjunction with other Chinese institutions, to assist in the rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia. This research was published in the prestigious international journal Cell, in a paper entitled “Clinically Applicable AI System for Accurate Diagnosis, Quantitative Measurements, and Prognosis of COVID-19 Pneumonia Using Computed Tomography” (link).   The novel AI-assisted diagnostic system, based on computed tomography (CT) chest imaging, can efficiently distinguish COVID-19 pneumonia from other viral pneumonia, and predict the severity level in 20 seconds, with an accuracy of up to 90% or above. It assists radiologists and physicians in performing a quick diagnosis, especially when the health system is overloaded.

留家抗疫 不忘增值 「理大與您: 網上專題講座系列」即將上線 (only Chinese version)

留家抗疫  不忘增值 「理大與您: 網上專題講座系列」即將上線 (only Chinese version)  

PolyU Senior Management donates 10 per cent of their salaries to support the needy students

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about severe impact on the global economy. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) today announced that the senior management including the President and all Vice Presidents will donate 10% of their salaries over a period of 12 months from April 2020 to help students with financial hardship. The details of the financial assistance scheme will be announced in due course.   President Jin-Guang TENG said, “The pandemic has been seriously affecting all businesses, and we are particularly concerned with the financial challenges faced by some of our students and their families due to the current situation. We hope this financial assistance scheme will help them in tiding over the difficult times.”   *****  End  *****

Bracing for a long battle against COVID-19: General Use Face Shields designed by PolyU ready for mass production

The situation in Hong Kong has become more critical amid the rise of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections. Experts have warned that members of the public should prepare for a long fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past few months, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has been closely monitoring the situation and has devised plans to help contain the spread of the coronavirus. In February 2020, PolyU designed and started producing disposable face shields for the Hospital Authority in order to alleviate the immediate need for protective gear amongst frontline medical professionals. PolyU today announced the launch of two new reusable face shields, namely “General Use Face Shield” and “Extra Protection Face Shield”, both of which will soon be available at affordable prices. It is hoped that the face shields could provide enhanced protection for the public in their daily lives and working environment thus minimising the risks of virus transmission in the community.

PolyU designs a new 3D-printed face shield for HA • Mass production in local factories will help fulfil the imminent needs of medical personnel

In the fight against the coronavirus epidemic, personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face shields and disposable gowns are badly needed in hospitals. With a view to alleviating the imminent need for protective gear amongst frontline medical professionals, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has been collaborating with Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QE) and the Hospital Authority (HA) respectively to design and produce 3D-printed eye shields and face shields. PolyU has mobilised all its 3D printers in its University Research Facility in 3D Printing (U3DP) and in other departments to operate 24 hours a day to produce 700 eye shields and over 800 face shields over the last 10 days.  With support from the local manufacturing industry with which PolyU has strong connections, the production of face shields has been increased to 10,000 pieces per day starting from today, and will reach 30,000 pieces per day by late March. It is hoped that this steady supply of face shields will help meet the imminent needs of Hong Kong's frontline medical personnel. "During the coronavirus outbreak, solidarity is one of the essential elements to battle the disease. The partnership between PolyU, HA/QE and the industry is a good example that embodies the spirit of 'when one place suffers, aid come from all sides'. We join hands to overcome these difficult times together," said Professor Alexander WAI Ping-kong, Vice President (Research Development), Deputy President and Provost designate, PolyU. Dr Vivien CHUANG, HA Chief Manager (Infection, Emergency and Contingency) said, PolyU has made every effort to develop a swift solution for rapidly producing face shields and to help us line up domestic production, thus we can fill up the stockpile of face shields to meet our need during the epidemic.  "I would like to express our deep gratitude to PolyU and all local manufacturers for their full support and active participation to make this meaningful collaboration a successful one." Dr Chuang added. From design, to mould-making, and finally to production took just a fortnight. This is very exceptional in terms of the short time taken in manufacturing a product, and thanks are due to the dedication and seamless support from the industry. "Since the face shield is a one-off disposable item, we chose a less expensive PLA filament material to develop the 3D printed frame and attached it with a plastic clear film. We also leveraged the studies of our School of Design in the comparison of head size between Asians and Westerners in order to design a face shield that better fits Chinese wearers. Designed by PolyU and made in Hong Kong, this is a testament to the competence and capability of the Hong Kong manufacturing industry. We can do it and we must do it. I am especially heartened by our friends in industry who have pledged their support without a second thought," said Professor HC MAN, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Director of University Research Facility in 3D Printing, PolyU. ***** END *****