Issue 2

A new solution powered by Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence technologies to provide the early screening and prognosis for knee osteoarthritis (KOA)

Mr. Lok Chun Justin CHAN, an M.Phil student under the supervision of Dr. Chunyi WEN of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been working with another M.Phil candidate Mr. Ho Hin Toby LI to develop a new solution powered by Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence technologies to provide the early screening and prognosis for knee osteoarthritis (KOA), a highly prevalent musculoskeletal disease in Hong Kong. Last year, using this innovative idea, they have won the Innovation Award out of over 300 teams in the 2020 Techconnect World Congress held in the U.S.. Later, the work by Justin and Toby has also received recognition in a number of innovation competitions, including the championship of Innovate for Future (IFF) by the Hong Kong Electronics and Technologies Association, awardee of MIT HealthHACK 2021 – Future of Aging by MIT Node. Very recently, they have also become the winner of the BUPA HealthHACK competition held by BUPA Hong Kong.

Envisioning the great potential impact of innovation on the aging society, Justin has co-founded a startup company with Toby in the summer of 2020 in pursuit of translating the research project into real-life application. Throughout the journey, they are grateful to receive various seed funding supports, such as the Microfund and Lean LaunchPad programs by the PolyU Institute for Entrepreneurship, Goodseed Fund, as well as the Science and Technology Entrepreneur Programme (STEP) by the Hong Kong Science Park (HKSTP). On top of that, the startup has also been one of the winners of the highly competitive Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) Startup Express competition.

The Knee Osteoarthritis screening system is developed by Mr Toby Li (left) and Mr Justin Chan (right), MPhil students under the supervision of Dr Chunyi Wen (middle) of the Department of Biomedical Engineering.