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Centre for Eye and Vision Research (CEVR) officially launched to showcase leading role for Hong Kong in Eye Health Research

Tackling worldwide problems of vision loss to improve quality of life for billions of people around the world HONG KONG, June 9, 2022 – At the forefront of the population’s health and aging imperative and with its mission of generating innovative technologies and unique solutions designed to prevent vision loss and preserve healthy vision, the Centre for Eye and Vision Research (CEVR) announced its official launch today. It is the first global hub to conduct ground-breaking research in five key areas – myopia and eye growth, ocular drug discovery and delivery, vision enhancement, tear film and ocular surface, and advanced optometric technology. Supported by InnoHK, the flagship innovation and technology initiative of the HKSAR Government, CEVR is committed to becoming a global leader in eye and vision research as well as a magnet for attracting and training elite researchers, harnessing Hong Kong’s research expertise and entrepreneurial ecosystem. With the collaboration between The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and the University of Waterloo (UW) in Canada, CEVR represents a significant step in enhancing the research capacities and innovation applications aimed at addressing eye and vision health challenges, by bringing together multiple scientific disciplines based on the excellent credentials of two leading academic institutions in vision science and eye health research. Deputy President and Provost of PolyU, Professor Wing-tak Wong, is pleased with the establishment of CEVR, stating, “At PolyU, we understand how research in advanced optometric technology is crucial for preventing vision loss and preserving healthy vision. We are grateful to be able to work with a team of experts in optometry, vision science, biotechnological science, rehabilitation science, and neuroscience, joining forces with them to set up CEVR with the support of InnoHK. We look forward to seeing more technological breakthroughs in eye and vision health in the near future.” Professor Ben Thompson, CEO and Scientific Director, CEVR, said, “Globally, more than two billion people have vision impairment. In at least one billion – or almost half – of these cases, vision impairment could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed. With its mission to generate technologies to prevent vision loss in the aging global population and preserve healthy vision, CEVR is dedicated to creating synergies between world-leading researchers from PolyU and UW to facilitate related research and development, with early successes anticipated in innovative vision health solutions. With the support of the Hong Kong government’s initiative, we are confident of further driving global research collaborations, bringing great opportunities to the local I&T sector and nurturing next generation talent, while also helping develop Hong Kong into an international innovation powerhouse.” Professor Chi-ho To, COO and Deputy Scientific Director, CEVR, said, “At CEVR, we are committed to nurturing multi-disciplinary research collaborations in order to generate unique technologies and comprehensive solutions with practical applications. We see limitless potential for how and where our eye-health research and technologies can be deployed so as to better address the needs and challenges of people with vision problems, while enhancing overall vision health. Looking forward, we will continue to leverage the synergies of this international collaboration between PolyU and UW to drive more innovative and advanced research programmes and projects to tackle vision problems in the community, ultimately improving quality of life for billions of people around the world.” Within the five key research areas, CEVR is currently conducting 25 high-potential research projects to address urgent needs and challenges in eye and vision health. Myopia and Eye Growth This research primarily focuses on an increasingly global issue, which is particularly noticeable in Asian populations. The greater the prevalence and the magnitude of myopia, the higher the risk of vision loss. Despite recent progress, prevention levels are still not acceptable and the cause of myopia is as yet unknown. The research aims at finding effective methods to slow, prevent or reverse myopia progression and preserve eye health while reducing myopia-induced pathologies. As such, these studies require a multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted approach and involve refraction, ocular biometry, ocular imaging, aberrometry, molecular biology, histology and pharmacology as well as electroretinography. Ocular Drug Discovery and Delivery Research in this area is responsive to a key unmet need in eye health, which requires omitting the ocular barriers of drug delivery to the vitreous humor or retina at the back of the eye. Delivery of drugs to the eye remains a significant challenge for drug formulation scientists. Although topical eye drops are the most convenient type of formulation for delivery to the eye, they are generally restricted to use for the front of the eye and are poorly suited for delivery to the back of the eye. Therefore, the programme aims to design, formulate and characterise novel drug delivery formulations that are capable of targeting not only the anterior segment of the eye and diseases such as glaucoma, but also the posterior segment of the eye, for the treatment of diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. Vision Enhancement Research into vision enhancement gives particular attention to the preservation and enhancement of vision, which is crucial in addressing the increased risk for a wide range of vision problems among elderly people. These include presbyopia, which affects most people over the age of 55 in focusing on near objects and is the most common visual disorder treated by optometrists. The aim of this research is to develop new technologies that will preserve and enhance vision for elderly people as well as for individuals with amblyopia, occuring when the vision develops abnormally. Tear Film & Ocular Surface This research is committed to tackling dry eye disease (DED), which is increasing in prevalence worldwide, especially in Asian patients who have a 2-3x higher incidence. As one of the most frequent causes of patient visits to eye care practitioners and one that often requires long-term management, DED causes pain that limits day-to-day activities, leading to poor general health, reduced quality of life and often depression. It is still unknown why the incidence of DED is higher in Asians. This research aims to characterise the biochemistry of ocular surface samples in Asians, in order to identify novel markers that can be used to diagnose, and potentially to predict and treat DED. Advanced Optometric Technology This research and associated technology aims to develop a dedicated process in order to gain a deeper understanding of optometry and vision science, a field of professional practice and cutting-edge research that encompasses the health of the whole visual system. Research in advanced optometric technology is crucial for the maintenance of healthy vision in an aging population. The research programme aims to develop, validate and commercialise novel techniques for assessing eye and vision health in older adults. About the Centre for Eye and Vision Research (CEVR) The Centre for Eye and Vision Research (CEVR) is a research collaboration between PolyU and the UW in Canada under the InnoHK initiative of the HKSAR Government. Located in the Hong Kong Science Park, Shatin, Hong Kong, it is the first global hub to conduct ground-breaking research in five key areas – myopia and eye growth, ocular drug discovery and delivery, vision enhancement, tear film and ocular surface, and advanced optometric technology. CEVR’s mission is to generate technologies to treat and prevent vision loss in the aging population and preserve healthy vision. About University of Waterloo University of Waterloo is a leading global innovation hub that drives economic and social prosperity for Canada and the world. With more than 41,000 students, we are home to the world's largest co-op education talent pipeline, to game-changing research and technology, and to an unmatched entrepreneurial culture. Together, these create partnerships and solutions to tackle today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Find out more at uwaterloo.ca

Seven young researchers supported by RGC Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme to further research excellence at PolyU

Seven young research talents from PolyU’s nominations are awarded in the RGC Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme (PDFS) 2022/23 funding exercise. The PDFS fosters doctoral graduates in pursuing career in research with the support from the University and its researchers riding on their domain expertise. Professor Christopher CHAO, Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU congratulated all awardees and said, “We are pleased with this encouraging results and welcome these young researchers to further their interdisciplinary research, as well as build up research and development (R&D) careers in Hong Kong. PolyU’s research seeks to expand human knowledge, address various societal challenges and we are committed to cultivating I&T talents.” List of RGC Awardees: Dr GUO Yanpeng, Institute of Textiles and Clothing Project title: In-situ fundamental studies of Zn plating/stripping behavior towards high-capacity Zn batteries with high cycling stability Dr CHEN Gao, Department of Applied Physics Project title: Exsolving nanoalloys from perovskite matrix for plasmon-mediated electrochemical conversion of small molecules Dr ZHANG Qi, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Project title: On the constitutive modeling of natural gas hydrate bearing sediment and multi-physics coupling in gas production Dr VUPPALADADIYAM Arun Krishna, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Project title: Construction of a Metabolite Driven Deep Solvent-Catalytic Biorefinery System for Lignin Valorization from Refuse-Derived Biomass Dr TARIQ Salman, Department of Building and Real Estate Project title: Artificial Intelligence-based Modelling of Water Pipe Failure Risk Dr SHI Jingyu, Department of Biomedical Engineering Project title: A hybrid nanoplatform for imaging-guided combinatorial phototherapy and immunotherapy for cancer treatment Dr HEUNG Ho Lam, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences Project title: Optimizing motor recovery of paretic upper limb with the innovative Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES)-triggered wearable robotic glove during the golden period for stroke recovery PDFS as a yearly exercise will provide support to 50 awardees for 36 months of full-time appointment as postdoctoral fellows at the University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities, and cover all academic disciplines and is divided into two broad academic streams: (i) Humanities, Social Sciences and Business Studies; and (ii) Science, Medicine, Engineering and Technology.

PolyU develops advanced vision sensors that emulate human visual adaptability

Future autonomous vehicles and industrial cameras might have human-like vision, thanks to a recent advance by scientists from Hong Kong and South Korea. Researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and Yonsei University in Seoul have developed vision sensors that emulate and even surpass the human retina’s ability to adapt to various lighting levels. “The new sensors will greatly improve machine vision systems used for visual analysis and identification tasks,” says Dr CHAI Yang, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Physics, and Assistant Dean (Research), Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles, PolyU, who led the research. Machine vision systems are cameras and computers that capture and process images for tasks such as facial recognition. They need to be able to “see” objects in a wide range of lighting conditions, which demands intricate circuitry and complex algorithms. Such systems are rarely efficient enough to process a large volume of visual information in real time—unlike the human brain. The new bioinspired sensors developed by Dr Chai’s team may offer a solution through directly adapting different light intensities by the sensors, instead of relying on backend computation. The human eye adapts to different levels of illumination, from very dark to very bright and vice versa, which allows us to identify objects accurately under a range of lighting conditions. The new sensors aim to mimic this adaptability. “The human pupil may help adjust the amount of light entering the eye,” explains Dr Chai, “but the main adaptation to brightness is performed by retina cells.” Natural light intensity spans a large range, 280 dB. Impressively, the new sensors developed by Dr Chai’s team have an effective range of up to 199 dB, compared with only 70 dB for conventional silicon-based sensors. The human retina can adapt to environments under sunlight to starlight, with a range of about 160 dB. To achieve this, the research team developed light detectors, called phototransistors, using a dual layer of atomic-level ultrathin molybdenum disulphide, a semiconductor with unique electrical and optical properties. The researchers then introduced “charge trap states”—impurities or imperfections in a solid’s crystalline structure that restrict the movement of charge—to the dual layer. “These trap states enable the storage of light information,” report the researchers, “and dynamically modulate the optoelectronic properties of the device at the pixel level.” By controlling the movement of electrons, the trap states enabled the researchers to precisely adjust the amount of electricity conducted by the phototransistors. This in turn allowed them to control the device’s photosensitivity, or its ability to detect light. Each of the new vision sensors is made up of arrays of such phototransistors. They mimic the rod and cone cells of the human eye, which are respectively responsible for detecting dim and bright light. As a result, the sensors can detect objects in differently lit environments as well as switch between, and adapt to, varying levels of brightness—with an even greater range than the human eye. “The sensors reduce hardware complexity and greatly increase the image contrast under different lighting conditions,” says Dr Chai, “thus delivering high image recognition efficiency.” These novel bioinspired sensors could usher in the next generation of artificial-vision systems used in autonomous vehicles and manufacturing, as well as finding exciting new applications in edge computing and the Internet of Things. The research was published in Nature Electronics.

PolyU Two Scholars Selected as the Global Top 50 Chinese Young Scholars (AI+X) by Baidu

Two PolyU scholars have been selected as the Global Top 50 Chinese Young Scholars (in the field of AI+X) by Baidu, China's leading Internet search engine company, for their outstanding contributions in terms of academic performance, impact, and potential in the areas of AI research, such as in smart manufacturing, autonomous driving, information engineering. They stood out from scholars worldwide and were selected along with outstanding young scholars from world-renowned universities and institutions. Dr. ZHENG Pai, Assistant Professor of Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Dr. Zheng is currently an Assistant Professor, Wong Tit Shing Endowed Young Scholar in Smart Robotics and Lab-in-Charge of Digitalized Service Laboratory (DSL). His research interests mainly include Smart Manufacturing Systems, Human-Robot Collaboration, and Engineering Informatics. He is the leader of the RAIDS research group consisting of 3 Postdoctoral Fellows, 6 PhD students, and 4 research assistants, with the mission to boost the futuristic industrial networking, digitalization, servitization, and intelligentization in a human-cyber-physical system (HCPS) manner. He also serves as the Associate Editor/Editorial Board Member of the top-tier industrial and manufacturing engineering journals, including Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Journal of Cleaner Production, Advanced Engineering Informatics, and Journal of Manufacturing Systems.  Dr. SUN Yuxiang, Research Assistant Professor of Department of Mechanical Engineering Dr. Sun joined PolyU in 2020. His research interests include Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Driving, Mobile Robots, Deep Learning, Autonomous Systems, etc. He directs the PolyU Autonomous Systems Lab which has 1 Postdoctoral research fellow, 7 PhD students, and 2 Master students, with the mission to create state-of-the-art robotic perception, planning and control systems to promote the advancement of autonomous driving and mobile robotics. Also, he currently serves as an associate editor of the top-tier robotics journal and conferences: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), and IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). The list of the AI Chinese Young Scholars is jointly released by Baidu Academic(百度學術), Baidu Talent Intelligence Center (TIC), Complex Management System Laboratory of Tianjin University (天津大學複雜管理系統實驗室), and the Business Intelligence Center of the International Institute of Finance in the University of Science and Technology of China (中國科大國金院商業智能中心). The selection aims to encourage young scholars in the fields of artificial intelligence to make more influential achievements, and to identify high-potential and highly influential Chinese young leaders in technology. According to Baidu, the selection is based on 186,963 papers and 89,324 scholars from all over the world. By using big data mining technology, 150 high-potential young scholars have been selected through three metrics (academic performance, academic impact, and academic potential index), of which 50 belong to the interdisciplinary field of AI (AI-X) and 100 belong to the classical field of AI. The AI-X list targets a number of AI-driven frontier cross-disciplinary areas, including autonomous driving, quantum computing, dialogue systems, urban computing, and biological computing, etc. The scholars on the list are from top universities or institutions, such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, MIT, Google, and Facebook.

PolyHack 2022

Over 100 participants around the world attended the opening ceremony of the PolyHack 2022 organized by a group of ambitious PolyU students held on 21st May 2022 (Sat). The theme of this global hackathon is Life in 4.0 featuring 3 major domains namely Blockchain, FinTech and Smart City. In the 2-week event, participants will solve 11 problems and shape innovative solutions and strategies that elevates human’s experience. Prof. Christopher Chao, Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU was delighted and impressed by this student-led I&T activity which provides young talents a platform to implement their creative ideas and also encourages the participants to equip themselves for the challenges in new era. The University is committed to nurturing tomorrow’s leaders through a holistic education by providing a wide range of opportunities and supports to them. PolyHack is a global virtual hackathon organised by the Google Developer Student Club of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. It brings young talents' imaginations into reality and help they grow.  For more about PolyHack 2022, please visit polyhack.net

PolyU and Huawei to strengthen collaboration on artificial intelligence research and cultivate innovation and technology talents

  PolyU and Huawei to strengthen collaboration on artificial intelligence research and cultivate innovation and technology talents Given the global trend of innovation and technology research, cooperation between industry and academic institutions has become an essential component in the development of industry. Today,  The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and Huawei Hong Kong signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Huawei APAC Digital Innovation Congress 2022. The partnership aims to foster innovation and technology development in Hong Kong by strengthening industry-academic exchange and talent cultivation in artificial intelligence.   Mr Jason He, Vice President of Huawei Asia Pacific Enterprise Business Group and Professor Christopher Chao, Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU, signed the MoU during the Congress. Leveraging PolyU’s academic strengths and Huawei’s expertise in information and technology, both sides will create an AI research platform to translate research outputs into real-world applications, contributing to the development of an AI ecosystem. Under the common goal of nurturing young scientific research talents, the Huawei ICT Academy will be established at PolyU to meet the surging demand for innovation and technology talents in Hong Kong. Huawei and PolyU will jointly develop educational programmes and provide courses in AI, cloud computing, big data, and the Internet of Things (IoT).   Mr Jason He, Vice President of Huawei Asia Pacific Enterprise Business Group noted, “Huawei and PolyU have been working closely in academic research. For example, Huawei's high performance computing (HPC) solutions have been applied to energy materials research by the Department of Applied Physics. The HUAWEI Ascend AI computing platform is used by the Department of Health Technology and Informatics to assist in the AI-based computer-aided diagnosis. Our effort has brought remarkable results in multiple research fields. We are delighted and look forward to deepen the collaboration with the academia through our strong partnership with PolyU. Through the establishment of Huawei ICT Academy at PolyU, students can have a deeper understanding of innovation and technology with the opportunities to apply through competitions and various activities. We hope to contribute to the growth of ICT talents, and foster the sustainable development of the industry.”   Professor Christopher Chao, Vice President (Research and Innovation) remarked, “We are pleased to witness the joint efforts of PolyU and Huawei to strengthen our AI education, taking our collaboration to a new level. Both sides will jointly set up a Huawei ICT Academy at PolyU to provide education, certification and career support. Furthermore, PolyU’s Department of Applied Physics and Huawei will establish a joint AI laboratory to empower students with the most advanced AI technology in their pursuit of scientific research and industrial innovation. The MoU also represents a partnership of PolyU’s strength in innovative applied research and Huawei’s leadership in the industry, which will help advance impactful scientific research, foster industrial applications and technology breakthroughs, and bring societal benefits.”   Huawei Hong Kong and PolyU will continue to join hands to boost innovation and technology research and talent cultivation in Hong Kong, as well as to accelerate the development of the local technology ecosystem.

PolyU’s Pioneering Technologies in AI, Materials Science and Biotechnology Awarded at TechConnect 2022 Innovation Awards

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has won three prestigious global Innovation Awards in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), materials science and biotechnology at the TechConnect World Innovation Conference and Expo 2022 (TechConnect) – the world's largest multi-sector event for fostering the development and commercialisation of innovations. This is the sixth consecutive year that PolyU research teams have snatched the esteemed awards among top-ranked innovators, and PolyU is the only higher education institution in Hong Kong to be honoured with the awards this year. The award-winning PolyU innovations include an AI-empowered chest X-ray imaging technique for clinical applications and an automatic temperature-controllable mask. They are dedicated to improving medical diagnosis or bringing greater comfort to people’s daily protection during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The other prized PolyU innovation is a new type of more environment-friendly moisture-absorbing and sweat-releasing fabric. All three inventions are among the 70 awarded technologies from leading institutions around the world like the US National Laboratories and other top universities. Professor Christopher Chao, Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU, said, “The University is delighted that our research teams continue to bring superior award-winning technologies to the world and have been recognised at this global event for the sixth consecutive year. PolyU has been undertaking various strategic initiatives to build a strong I&T ecosystem, cultivating solid fundamental knowledge and fostering innovative mindsets to stimulate and lead novel research.”  At the TechConnect World Innovation Conference & Expo to be held in Washington, D.C. from 13 to 15 June, a PolyU delegation will showcase a number of innovative projects. Professor Larry Chow, Director of Research and Innovation of PolyU, said, “TechConnect has connected the world's top applied research and early-stage innovations from academia to industry for over 20 years. It has become a forward-looking technology platform which supports global science and technology initiatives as well as opens up numerous partnership opportunities. The PolyU delegation will meet with technology companies for potential collaborations.” Detail of the three PolyU winning innovations are as follows: AI-Empowered Chest X-Ray and CT Quantitative Analysis for COVID-19 Patient Management (Prof. Jing CAI, Department of Health Technology and Informatics) The AI-enhanced techniques for COVID-19 clinical applications provide accurate and low-cost imaging solutions for the diagnosis, severity stratification and prognosis of COVID-19. These applications include AI-empowered chest X-ray imaging, AI-assisted COVID-19 disease segmentation, and multi-view analysis. Their high accessibility will benefit developing countries that do not have the needed resources to accurately diagnose and monitor COVID-19.  Moisture-Absorbing and Sweat-Releasing Multilayer Polylactic Acid Fabric and Manufacturing Technology (Prof. Hong HU, Institute of Textiles and Clothing) The new fabric stands out from existing moisture-absorbing fabric technology in that its fabrication technique is simpler, cheaper, and more environment-friendly. By employing double weft knitting technology, it only takes one single manufacturing process to produce the new fabric structure with improved moisture-absorbing and sweat-releasing properties. It is also has inherent biological resistance and is ideal for use in school uniforms and sportswear.  Omni-Cool-Breath: A Smart Air-Conditioned Mask (Dr Dahua SHOU, Professor FAN Jintu and Dr HUANG Guanghan, Institute of Textiles and Clothing)   Omni-Cool-Breath is the first automatic temperature-controllable mask that brings revolutionary access to all-day cool breath and thermal comfort under various activities and thermal conditions. It reduces temperature by 12°C and humidity by 65% under low voltage via an innovative miniature thermoelectric cooling system. The ergonomically designed lightweight mask uses skin-friendly and biodegradable 3D printing materials that enable the user to enjoy nine hours of clean air.    For details of the TechConnect 2022 Innovation Awardees, please visit the official website: https://www.techconnectworld.com/World2022/participate/innovation/awards.html

PolyU's research on developing large-area solid-state lighting technologies is supported by National Key R&D Program

The development of the low-carbon, environment-friendly, and energy-saving lighting technology is essential to address the current energy and environmental crisis. A PolyU’s research titled “Development of new stable, highly-efficient blue emissive materials that can be processed by the wet methods, and the associated large-area solid-state lighting technologies” led by Professor Raymond Wong, Dean of Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles, Clarea Au Professor in Energy, Chair Professor of Chemical Technology, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, is supported by the “National Key R&D Program – International Science and Technology Cooperation Project”, in which PolyU is the only one granted among  the Hong Kong institutions in this round of the exercise.

PolyU’s Innovation In Magnetic Field-Assisted Batch Superfinishing Awarded in 2021-22 HKAI- Equipment And Machinery Design

A novel magnetic field-assisted batch superfinishing (MABS) equipment developed by PolyU’s State Key Laboratory of Ultra-precision Machining Technology wins Certificate of Merit in “2021-22 Hong Kong Awards for Industries: Equipment and Machinery Design”. Freeform surfaces have been widely used in various high-value-added applications such as the superfinishing of surgical tools, optical molds, optical lenses, structured and freeform components, etc. However, current mass finishing technology is inadequate to achieve nanometric surface roughness of freeform surfaces to a sufficiently high level so as to satisfy the requirements of their functional applications. This invention describes a novel magnetic field-assisted batch polishing (MABP) technology which has been purposely developed to provide a novel solution for achieving nanometric fast finishing of a number of freeform components simultaneously. Magnetic field-assisted mass polishing (MAMP) method makes use of a rotational magnetic field applied outside an annular chamber which drives the magnetic abrasives to impinge on and remove material from the workpiece mounted inside the chamber.  MAMP has been proven to have high accuracy, high efficiency, and cost-effectiveness with successful applications in mass superfinishing of freeform components for surgical tools, glass optical lenses, optical molds, dental crown, etc. Table 1 shows the competitive advantages of MABP in the market. (Table 1. Competitive advantages in the market) Supported by the Government, the Hong Kong Award for Industries (HKAI) was launched in 2005, aiming to recognise the outstanding performance and achievements of local enterprises in enhancing their competitiveness in various aspects. The 2021-22 HKAI comprises six categories and Equipment and Machinery Design category is one of them. The award is assessed by the following criteria: innovation, functionality, ergonomics, cost-performance, application of technology, safety, environmental impact and marketability.

Funding Opportunity: New Cornerstone Investigator Program

The “New Cornerstone Investigator Program” was launched on 30th April 2022 with the goal of invigorating research into basic sciences. The non-profit program aims to provide long-term support to a group of outstanding scientists who focus on fundamental research projects that are of profound importance to humankind. The "New Cornerstone Investigator Program" is an independent program, led by scientists with funding from Tencent. The Shenzhen-based company has pledged to provide RMB 10 billion to the program over 10 years while explore the feasibility of a long-term sustainable fund. The Program focuses on two fields: Mathematics and Physical Sciences, and Biological and Biomedical Sciences, and encourages interdisciplinary research. With substantial financial support, this Program hopes to facilitate scientists to discover new phenomena, achieve scientific breakthroughs, and create new fields via dedicated efforts in doing fundamental and interdisciplinary research. Further details on application requirements and procedures will be available in due course.