PolyU Design collaborates with Guangxi Urban-Rural Planning Design Institute to foster innovation and cultural revitalisation

PolyU Design and the Guangxi Urban-Rural Planning Design Institute, a key player in urban planning, are pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on September 11, 2023. This strategic collaboration aims to leverage culturally-driven market content, incorporate metaverse concepts, and offer village-based educational programmes to enhance businesses and promote Chinese culture. By combining the elements of 'Culture, Science, and Technology,' PolyU Design and the Guangxi Urban-Rural Planning Design Institute are set to develop innovative metaverse applications, provide science courses catering to all age groups, propose research projects aligned with village objectives, and host international forums to foster cultural identity and support rural revitalization. With 70 years of experience in urban planning, the Guangxi Urban-Rural Planning Design Institute has made significant contributions to urban healthcare, cultural preservation, and technological advancements through the use of digital models and strategies. PolyU Design is thrilled to engage in this collaboration, which promises to bring forth substantial benefits to both organisations. This collaboration also signifies an important milestone for PolyU Design and the Guangxi Urban-Rural Planning Design Institute as they work together to create a solid foundation for meaningful discussions, promote Chinese culture on a global scale, and contribute to the sustainable development of rural areas.

Stephen Wang's novel emotion-aware navigation system won Smart Traffic Fund

We are pleased to announce that a Smart Traffic Fund of HK$2.74 million was recently granted by the government Transport Department to a project led by Prof. Stephen Jia WANG, Professor of School of Design and Founding Director of the Research Centre for Future Caring Mobility.   The awarded project ‘An Empathetic Navigation System Design Based on Drivers’ Emotion Inference from Traffic Contextual Data’ aims to develop a novel emotion-aware navigation system for drivers. It is also the first Design-led project winning the fund. It is no doubt a piece of exciting news to Prof. Wang and PolyU Design. ‘The grant represents a recognition of our vision on “Caring Mobility” - interdisciplinary, cutting-edge, STEAM (STEM plus Art and Design) and innovative design approach with an emphasis on living, caring and wellbeing under various scenarios of mobility,’ Prof. Wang said. Taking this opportunity, he would like to thank the continuous support from the industry partners XPeng AeroHT (匯天) and XPeng Auto Group.   Read more in "PolyU project designs novel emotion-aware navigation system supported by Smart Traffic Fund" by PolyU Research and Innovation Office

Call for PhD proposals 2024-2025

PolyU Design is seeking innovative PhD proposals for the 2024-2025 cycle of the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) and PolyU PhD funding programmes.  Both programmes seek individuals with remarkable ability who can demonstrate fundamental or practical research skills in a variety of design fields.   The School encourages multidisciplinary research in addition to theoretical studies. The School has specifically defined design and data, environmental, artificial intelligence, user experience design, co-design, healthcare design, entrepreneurship, and service design as supplementary areas of interest. These topics complement the school's existing research focus on social design, design making, and design economies. Click here to learn more.  More materials will be accessible during the 2023 PhD Info Week (October 17-20), a scholarly event organised by PolyU's Graduate School. Register now!  Come join the PhD cohort of 2024 at PolyU Design! 

Amazing educational toy design wins global glory at Red Dot

  Congratulations to Dr Yi-teng SHIH and his students Jacky Chan, Foster Choi, Samuel Liu, Alex Sze and TC Tsui on receiving a Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2023 for their educational toy design 'Hexppy'!  The toy set teaches children about exotic wildlife animals in an interactive and intuitive way. It focuses on endangered species found in habitats like the ocean, Antarctica, and rainforests. The goal is to raise awareness about the global extinction threat. Hexppy's animal designs, with their polygonal shapes, are appealing to young players and collectors.   The Red Dot Award is an international design competition for product design, communication design and design concepts. Hexppy is selected as Winner of Red Dot's Childhood category this year.  Learn more about Hexppy  

PolyU Design Hatch Awards Launch Event: A Great Starting Point

The PolyU Design Hatch Awards is a distinctive design incubation programme for secondary school students in Hong Kong — a first of its kind competition organised by the School of Design. The launch held on 15 September 2023 was a great success, gathering over 100 students, teachers and parents to kick start the Hatch Awards and thus serving as the perfect gateway to meet and engage potential participants. Highlight of the day was undoubtedly the sharing by our judging panel where Dr Yi-Teng SHIH, Dr Clifford CHOY, Dr Jeffery HO, Mr Kam Fai CHAN and Mr Manto YIU took turns to explain various excellent projects. Together with brief introduction on different design fields and sharing of their expectations on the entries, students’ understanding of each category, namely Communication Design, Community, Space and Service Design, Product Experience Design, Play Design as well as AI and Future Design could be enhanced. Followed by a Q&A session, the interactive exchange of ideas and knowledge further fuelling the students' curiosity and passion for design. Interested students are encouraged to seize this exceptional opportunity to showcase their talents, challenge themselves, and make a positive impact through design. Looking forward to seeing their creativity shine at the Hatch Awards!   MORE ABOUT POLYU DESIGN HATCH AWARDS Revolved around the theme ‘Designing for Happiness and Everyday Life: AI and Future Design’, the Awards aim to nurture future design talents from secondary school students locally with the objective to introduce them to the field of design through 4 days of engaging Hatch Programme and progressive stages of competitions. It is the perfect opportunity for young creative minds from diverse academic backgrounds - be it STEM enthusiasts, economists, artists, or designers - to come together, learn, and challenge their creative thinking. Application for entry will end on 16 October, 2023. The whole Hatch Awards will last till end of July, 2024, consisting 1st & 2nd rounds and 4 days Hatch Programme in between. Want to re-visit the important information for the launch event? Playback is available on request, please reach out to hatch@polyu.edu.hk. More info: www.polyudesignhatch.com

Cross-team collaborations on initiatives for Designpreneurs

Exciting news for Designpreneurs! Dean Prof. Kun-Pyo Lee and his team have had a meeting with colleagues from PolyU’s Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurship Office (KTEO) to discuss upcoming collaborations involving two PolyU Design’s units: SD+ and the Li Ka Shing Design & Innovation Lab. These units are actively working with KTEO in the development of Designpreneur and Design-Centred Entrepreneurship training programmes.  SD+ is a knowledge transfer unit offering professional design-related consultancy services and contract research to the industry. On the other hand, the Li Ka Shing Design & Innovation Lab is a newly established incubator centre for PolyU students, faculty members, and alumni. With KTEO’s extensive network and expertise in knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship, the collaborative teams are eager to launch new initiatives to benefit aspiring Designpreneurs.

Prof. Stephen Jia Wang joins Royal Society of Arts as Fellow

Prof. Stephen J. Wang has joined the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) as Fellow. The RSA, with an almost 270 years history, today, the RSA has fellows elected from 80 countries worldwide. It is a global network consisting of more than 30,000 entrepreneurs, educators, and innovators. Their collective goal is to work together for the advancement of society, the economy, and the environment. Notable past Fellows (before 1914, Members) include Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Hawking, Karl Marx, Adam Smith, Marie Curie, Nelson Mandela, David Attenborough, Judi Dench, William Hogarth, John Diefenbaker, and Tim Berners-Lee.  As a Fellow of the RSA, Prof. Wang will be committed to the 'Design for Life' mission, taking a leadership role in making the world a better place. Being part of the RSA Fellow Community will provide Prof. Wang with access to new ideas and innovative future-focused research, which will further inspire him in his endeavours.  Prof. Wang's profile at RSA: https://www.thersa.org/fellowship/find-a-fellow/profile/180310

Design students collaborate to give second life to retired bottle crates honoured ESG award

We are happy to know that our collaborator, Swire Coca-Cola HK has won a bronze award in the Best PR Campaign – ESG at the PR Awards 2023, presented by Marketing-Interactive. Congratulations! The honour was contributed by “Second Life of Crates”, a design collaboration with our PolyU Design undergraduate students who turned retired glass bottle crates into sustainable products like clothing tags for the visually impaired.  The project was part of the Sustainable Product Design subject taught by Mr Benny Ding Leong and Dr Brian Lee back in 2022. The creative products were exhibited a The Mills as a public education campaign.

【The Student Story】 PolyU Design is full of talented people: Valerie Wong reflects on PolyU Summer Institute 2023

The PolyU Summer Institute — Residential Camp went by quickly and one of our student ambassadors, Valerie Wong of Foundation Year spent some time to reflect on the cherished moments of the experience.The PolyU Summer Institute 2023 is a newly launched programme for Secondary 4-5 students to have an immersive university experience, consisting a 3-day, 2-night residential camp held on 24-26 July.   Highlight of the event was definitely the WHAT DESIGN? full day workshop organised by PolyU Design on day 2, welcoming 19 curious students. As an experienced senior who has been down this path of participating in various PolyU activities for secondary school students prior her admission to the School of Design, Valerie sees this 1-day experience as a true portrayal of a day of a design student.   "Tight deadline, high workload!” Valerie giggled. Despite the intensive session of producing both 2D and 3D outcomes, the students put effort in the group projects and contribute their ideas as one, learning the importance of visualizing the making process, planning and work division to bring their ideas from imagination to reality. Another memorable episode of the day was her idea for a 30-mins design interview brainstorming exercise on the spot, as the warm up activity that would be useful to help the aspiring designers plan ahead.     Bonding between the participants was closely-knitted thanks to a series of high energy, team-building activities infused with more intimate moments of chill chats and sharing (and a bit of gossips) at the student dormitory. "Not only enjoying the fun and excitement during game time, experiencing the real design student life," explained by the student ambassador, "we also took time to slow down and reflected on these few days and thought about their future direction while treasuring the little time left for us to be together."     "PolyU Design is full of talented people ;)" Valerie wrapped up her reflection with a smile, recalling her amazement when enjoying the Interest Club Showcase performance of singing and playing cajon by the participants, like a proud mother showing us the photos she has taken for her talented children. Aspiring young talents are always welcome to join the fun as the School organises year-round activities for secondary school students, get in touch with us at sdmktg@polyu.edu.hk!  

Ministerial visit of Mr Roderick Wols from Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Beijing

We were truly honored to host Mr Roderick Wols, Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Beijing, along with Mr Arjen van den Berg, Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Hong Kong and Ms Caitlin Lam, Senior Commercial Officer last week. It was an incredible meeting where Dean Kun-Pyo Lee introduced the latest development of the School and our Dutch professor Johan Hoorn showcased his groundbreaking robotic research. The guests were also given a guided tour of Design Show where they were able to witness the extraordinary creative designs crafted by our talented students. The visit culminated in a meeting with the senior management of PolyU, President Prof. Jin-Guang Teng and Vice President Prof. Ben Young.  We extend our deepest gratitude to Mr Wols and Mr van den Berg for their invaluable presence and engaging discussions, and look forward to our next meeting in the future.