With the generous support from The D. H. Chen Foundation, the Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles (FAST) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) invited Prof. Dan Shechtman, 2011 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, to speak at the PolyU 80th Anniversary. The D. H. Chen Foundation Nobel Laureate Lecture Series in Hong Kong today (20 April 2017). The title of his lecture is "Why Should We Teach Technological Entrepreneurship in Universities?".
Prof. Shechtman believes that the dropping birth rates in developed countries nowadays inevitably pose threats to the countries for maintaining stable and economically advanced societies. Apart from opening borders to waves of immigration or encouraging families to have more children, he believes skilled entrepreneurs can fill the gap by starting hi-tech businesses with high return on investment and human capital, and hence is the key to building up thriving economies. He believes motivating university students of engineering, medicine and science as a start would help set up a group of role models of successful entrepreneurs who will then kick start a process leading to a huge difference in the life of a country.
Prof. Shechtman's Nobel Prize-awarded discovery of the Icosahedral Phase by TEM (Transmission Electro Microscope) opened the new science of quasiperiodic crystals. He is now Philip Tobias Professor of Materials Science at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Iowa State University.
PolyU has invited renowned Nobel Laureates in various disciplines, including Physiology or Medicine, Chemistry, as well as Economic Sciences, to deliver insightful and informative lectures at TheNobel Laureate Lecture Series on a wide range of topics of interests to the local community. The Nobel Laureate Lecture Series is one of the celebratory events for PolyU's 80th anniversary.
For further information, please visit https://www.polyu.edu.hk/fast/80anniversary/nobel_apr/.
