ASTRI is the Best Partner of PVHK’s Learning Enterprise Award

  • ASTRI was awarded the Best Partner of The Professional Validation Council of Hong Kong Industries’ Learning Enterprise Award on 14 December 2015. The Learning Enterprise Award aims at promoting the learning culture of enterprises and recognizing companies with outstanding achievements.

    ASTRI was established to enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness in technology-based industries through applied research. We are most delighted to assist various industries to increase their productivity through sharing our R&D results, technology transfer and training technology specialists and practitioners.

    ASTRI Receives Memento at the ‘The 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of Partner State Key Laboratories in Hong Kong cum Plaque Awarding Ceremony for Hong Kong Branches of the Chinese National Engineering Research Centres’

  • “The 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of Partner State Key Laboratories in Hong Kong cum Plaque Awarding Ceremony for Hong Kong Branches of the Chinese National Engineering Research Centres” was held on 6 December 2015 (Sunday) at Hong Kong Science Park. At the ceremony, the Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Minister of Science and Technology of the Central People’s Government, Professor Wan Gang, and the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr. Nicholas W Yang, JP, delivered speeches at the ceremony. They recognised the leading positions of Partner State Key Laboratories (PSKLs) and the Hong Kong branches of the Chinese National Engineering Research Centres (CNERCs) in science and technology research. Professor Wan presented mementos to the 16 PSKLs and the first Hong Kong branch of the CNERCs. Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer received the memento on behalf of ASTRI.

    Chief Executive Officer Dr. Frank Tong (right) receives the memento from Prof. Wang Gang

    Chairman of the Board of Directors of ASTRI Mr. Wong Ming-yam, BBS, JP (front row, 1st from left) and Dr. Frank Tong (back row, 5th from right) take a group photo with other guests.

    ASTRI signs Memorandums of Understanding with Beijing Institute of Collaborative Innovation (BICI)

  • The Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) has strengthened its collaboration with Beijing Institute of Collaborative Innovation (BICI) to jointly establish FinTech Collaborative Innovation Centre and develop research projects on  IoT for Smart City.  Dean of BICI together with Beijing Haidian district government officials also paid a visit to ASTRI to learn about its latest technologies development.

    On 28 November (Sat), Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI and Dr. Duoxiang Wang, Dean of BICI signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the establishment of FinTech Collaborative Innovation Centre (the Centre) at the section entitled “Collaboration Between Beijing and Hong Kong to Accelerate Establishment of National Wide Collaborative Innovation Centres in Beijing” organised by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, which was one of the programme of the 19th Beijing – Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposium held at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre . The Centre will facilitate the development of research projects in the areas of financial technology, big data and mobile software platform.  At the same Symposium, Dr. Tong also signed another MoU with BICI on the cooperation of IoT for Smart City during the “Outline of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Co-ordinated Development” section.

    On 29 November (Sun), Dr. Duoxiang Wang, Dean of BICI and a group of Beijing Haidian District Government officials including Ms. Aoshuang Yan, Director of Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission and Mr. Yu Jun, Acting District Chief of Beijing Haidian District paid a visit to ASTRI Security Lab.

    ASTRI and BICI sign two MoUs to further strengthen collaboration.

    Dr. Duoxiang Wang, Dean of BICI (4th from left), Ms. Aoshuang Yan, Director of Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission (6th from the right) and a group of Beijing Haidian District Government officials visit ASTRI.

    ASTRI’s Board Member is elected as one of the JCI Hong Kong Ten Outstanding Young Persons 2015

  • ASTRI’s Member of the Board of Directors, and co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sengital Ltd, Dr. Alan Lam was recently selected as one of the awardees of the “JCI Hong Kong Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) Selection for his significant accomplishments and contributions to the industry as an innovation and technology entrepreneur. Organized by the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Hong Kong, the award aims to recognize youths with outstanding achievement in their career and community services and to inspire other youths and public to excel .

    For more details, please refer to http://www.jcihk.org/toyp/chief/?&lang=en

    Photo source: JCI HK website

    ASTRI technology leader wins HKCS Outstanding ICT Achiever Awards 2015

  • Dr. Vincent Lau, R&D Director (Software and System) of ASTRI, was awarded the Hong Kong Computer Society (HKCS) Outstanding ICT Achiever Awards 2015: Consulting Category. An award presentation ceremony was held at the HKCS 45th Anniversary Gala Dinner on 25 November 2015.

    Dr. Vincent Lau has been working in the innovation technology industry for over 20 years, focusing on product creation and business development. He had worked in both local and multi-national companies on various project development. He has been offering consultancy service to a number of private companies, NGOs and government departments on technology application for value creation. His projects include government projects, ICT education projects, smart toys, location-based system for blind, and app-based training system for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) children, to name but a few. He continues developing various technology projects on smart living to improve people’s quality of life.

    Launched by HKCS, the awards aims to recognising and honour the significant contributions of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) professionals in the Hong Kong’s ICT industry. The assessment criteria include leadership, customer’s needs and concerns, means and approaches, key success factors and project benefits.

    Frank_Sunny_Vincent dinner_Frank_Vincent

    ASTRI Innovation Runway Fellows take the first step to startup business

  • On 10 Nov, ASTRI Innovation Runway Program Fellows attended the first training workshop about cloud-computing platform which they can use for starting up their business. Before the start of the training, Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI and the programme mentors extended a warm welcome to the fellows. Consultation sessions were arranged for the fellows to seek advice from the mentors through discussion and prototype demonstration. This training workshop was conducted by Microsoft Hong Kong.

    Dr. Frank Tong and mentors welcome the fellows

    Fellows attend the cloud-base computing platform workshop

    Team CheckWave meets with their mentor

    Team Virtual Reality demonstrates the prototype to their mentor

    Team Locavel exchanges ideas with mentor

    Team eScooter has discussion with mentor

    ASTRI representatives attend Mainland/Hong Kong Science and Technology Co-operation Committee meeting

  • Mr. Wong Ming-yam, BBS, JP, Chairman of ASTRI of Board of Directors of ASTRI and Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI, attended the 10th meeting of the Mainland/Hong Kong Science and Technology Co-operation Committee held in Hong Kong on 5 November. The meeting was co-chaired by the Mr. Gregory So, JP, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development and Dr. Cao Jianlin, Vice-Minister of Science and Technology of the Central People’s Government.

    At the meeting, the approach and schedule of the first round of reassessment of the Partner State Key Laboratories (PSKLs) to be conducted in 2016 were endorsed. The Committee also agreed to continue to explore the directions in deepening science and technology co-operation between the two places during the National 13th Five-Year Plan period, with the aim of supporting Hong Kong to become the leading base for international science and technology exchanges and co-operation, in concert with national needs and developments.

    In 2012, ASTRI received the approval from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) to establish the first Hong Kong Branch of National Engineering Research Centre for Application Specific Integrated Circuit System (ASIC System) in collaboration with the National Application-Specific Integrated Circuit System Engineering Research Centre of Southeast University in Nanjing. There are now six Hong Kong branches of the Chinese National Engineering Research Centres in Hong Kong.

    For more info about the meeting, please refer to http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201511/05/P201511040740.htm

    Mainland/Hong Kong Science and Technology Co-operation Committee meeting

    Photo source: news.gov.hk

    Mainland/Hong Kong Science and Technology Co-operation Committee meeting 2

    From right: Mr. Gregory So, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development; Dr. Cao Jianlin, Vice-Minister of Science and Technology of the Central People’s Government; Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI; and Prof. Prof. Philip Chan Ching-ho, Deputy President and Provost of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

    ASTRI explores collaboration opportunities with Beijing Institute of Collaborative Innovation (BICI)

  • Together with the Honourable Mrs. Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun, GBS, JP, Member of the Executive Council of the HKSAR Government and Chairman of Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI, met with Dr. Duoxiang Wang, Dean of Beijing Institute of Collaborative Innovation (BICI) on 2 September for an in-depth discussion on developing a joint institute of collaborative innovation on financial technology. For more details, please refer to http://www.bici.org/news/135 (in Chinese only)

    BICI 1 BICI 2

    Nansha government officials delegation visits ASTRI

  • Led by Mr. Wenhui Xiong, Chairman of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Nansha District, Guangzhou City, a delegation comprised of Nansha Government officials, industry and Institute of Industry Technology, Guangzhou & Chinese Academy of Sciences representatives, visited ASTRI on 4 November to gain a better understanding about ASTRI and its latest technologies development.  Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI extended a very warm welcome to the delegation and shared with them ASTRI’s development strategies.  ASTRI’s R&D colleagues gave a presentation on the National Engineering Research Centre for Application Specific Integrated Circuit System (Hong Kong Branch) (CNERC) and technology area of next generation network.

    Mr. Wenhui Xiong, Chairman of C.P.P.C.C. of Nansha District, Guangzhou City (6th from the right) presents souvenir to Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI (5th from the left).

    20 fellows selected to join AIR program to pursue entrepreneur dream

  • Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited (ASTRI) proudly announced that 20 candidates have been selected successfully to join the ASTRI Innovation Runway (AIR) Entrepreneurship Fellow Program as fellows on the final pitch day held on 19 October 2015 under the witness of Ms Gigi Chui, Manager of Innovation and Technology Commission, Dr. Frank Tong, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI and Dr. Jack Lau, Chief Marketing Officer of ASTRI.

    The judging panel, composed of Dr. Justin Chuang, Vice President and Group Director (VPGD) of Communications Technologies cum Acting Director of Software & Systems of ASTRI, Dr. Alan Lam, Group CEO of Sengital Limited, Ms Agnes Nardi, CEO of Business Environment Council Limited, Mr Jason Wong, Partner of Ernst & Young, and Ms Joelle Woo, Director of Microsoft Hong Kong Limited, found it hard to choose the top 20 fellows among the innovative proposals and inspiring presentations delivered.

    Total 47 teams with 130 applicants of different backgrounds applied the program since its launching in August. With the effort of 25 screening judges that comprised experts from industries and ASTRI, 38 candidates from 10 potential projects had been shortlisted to present their innovations to the judging panel on the final pitch day. After the keen competition, 20 fellows were selected to be the AIR Program fellows. These fellows will work on 6 outstanding projects:
    To embark the entrepreneurship journey, the 6 winning projects will be showcased in the ASTRI Industry and University Collaboration Forum (IUCF) on 18 November.

    Project Team Name Team Size Background Academic Major
    DecaSense (Formerly SportShow) 4 CUHK Computer Science and Engineering
    CheckWave 4 HKU International Business and Global Management
    Real-time Pose Estimation System 2 City University of Hong Kong Industrial Engineering
    Portable Folding Electric Kick Scooter 3 Tsinghua University Aerospace
    Venue.hk 2 Coventry University Business Information Technology
    Locavel 4 HKUST Information system
    The AIR program aims to assist young entrepreneurs with innovative ideas to start up their businesses. ASTRI will offer a monthly award, mentorship, networking activities, field trips, workshops, and trainings to the selected fellows to strengthen their capabilities in overcoming the obstacles at the initial stage of starting up, enabling them to purse their dream and develop their business successfully.


    Judging panels and officials are delighted to see the spirits and passions of the candidates.
    Judging panels and officials are delighted to see the spirits and passions of the candidates. (From left to right)
    1) Dr. Alan Lam, Group CEO of Sengital Limited
    2) Ms Gigi Chui, Manager of Innovation and Technology Commission
    3) Ms Agnes Nardi, CEO of Business Environment Council Limited
    4) Ms Joelle Woo, Director of Business Development & Developer Experience, Microsoft Hong Kong Limited
    5) Mr Jason Wong, Partner of Ernst & Young
    6) Dr. Jack Lau, Chief Marketing Officer of ASTRI
    7) Dr. Justin Chuang, VPGD of Communications Technologies cum Acting Director of Software and Systems, ASTRI



    AIR program candidates and judging panel on the final pitch day.
    AIR program candidates and judging panel on the final pitch day.