News & Stories

Landslides, flash floods, and fallen trees—these are just some of the alarming sights accompanying the summer typhoon seasons in Hong Kong. Over the past decade, the city has witnessed a distressing surge in extreme rainfall, characterized by intensity levels that surpass the Black Rainstorm Warning Signal. This trend serves as a stark reminder of the growing impact of global warming on our daily lives and safety. The question resonates: how can we better prepare for nature’s fury in the future?

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has predicted that by 2050, over 68% of the global population will reside in cities. This massive projected urban population (6.5+ billion) will no doubt put a great deal of strain on infrastructure, resources and the world’s ecosystems, but, from an engineering standpoint, such large-scale urbanization also presents tremendous opportunities for technological, human as well as other societal and economic development.

The “Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)-MTR Joint Research Laboratory” (“Joint Laboratory”) is dedicated to leveraging innovative technology for effective smart traffic management. In one of its research projects, the team utilized artificial intelligence and big data to simulate and predict changes in Hong Kong citizens’ travel patterns under various scenarios, thereby assisting the operations team in implementing appropriate operational plans. This project has won multiple awards at the “Hong Kong ICT Awards 2024”, including the “Smart Mobility (Smart Transport) Gold Award”, “Best Use of AI Award”, “Smart Mobility Grand Award”, and the highest honor, the “Award of the Year”.

Prof. CHEN Kai, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, is now the brain behind what will become Hong Kong’s ‘brain’ in future – the next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing hub for the entire city that encompasses smart bus schedules, taxi dispatch, typhoon warning, medical diagnosis, fintech and others. 

Researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed a novel Smart Fever Screening System (SFSS), which could help officials at the border points to easily identify and distinguish passengers with fever.  The system has been implemented at various control points, government facilities and the University in the fight against Covid-19. Since the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in 2003, thermal imaging detectors have been widely deployed at border points for screening of inbound travelers with fever – an important symptom for patients of SARS, Covid-19 and other infectious diseases.  However, officers would have to monitor two screens on both thermal and color (CCTV) images in order to track the unwell person within a matter of seconds.  

Air pollution is a major environmental and health concern in Hong Kong and the largest environmental health risk, according to the World Health Organization, tying it to seven million premature deaths globally in 2016. Yet many of us accept it as part of city living. In a bid to help city dwellers take their health into their own hands, HKUST's Institute for the Environment recently launched a game-changing mobile app that lets users monitor air quality to reduce their exposure to air pollution. Titled PRAISE-HK (Personalized Real-time Air-quality Informatics System for Exposure), the app provides real-time air quality and health risk information and forecasts, down to the street you are at, up to two days in advance, helping Hongkongers live a smarter and healthier life. One of the world-leading technologies behind the app is our dynamic transport modeling.

By Lo Hong-kam, Head and Chair Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, HKUST Hong Kong is no stranger to traffic congestion and the government has mulled over introducing electronic road pricing in Central since the 1980s and public engagement over ERP was completed in 2016, but some vocal stakeholders, mainly private vehicle owners, have stymied such plans for decades. I believe both policymakers and the media have failed the public by centering discussions on how a potential ERP system would impact on private car users when they are the minority in using the transportation system. Only 10 percent of trips in Hong Kong use private cars and the rest rely on public transportation. Let me explain why implementing ERP in Central would bring positive impact to the traveling public.