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Enabling scientific research with Microsoft AI and nurturing local AI and data science talent

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Microsoft Hong Kong in May 2018 to form an Artificial Intelligence (AI) research partnership to bring breakthroughs to various sectors by accelerating scientific progress and enabling data-driven research.

“We are glad to join hands with Microsoft in this AI partnership to enable our professionals and researchers to apply AI in research projects. Moreover, Healthcare and Fintech are the key industries in Hong Kong. Through the collaboration our students have the chance to equip with knowledge on Data Science and AI, which enables them to get prepared for career development.” said Professor Andy Hor, Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), University of Hong Kong.

“The mission of Microsoft AI is to empower our partners in different industries to take a significant leap forward in accelerating digital transformation and achieve more. Let’s take Healthcare as an example. Healthcare industry is a global priority for every region. With AI, we look forward to improving and saving people’s lives through technology. We are excited to partner with HKU, a world-renowned university, to combine AI, Big Data and Cloud to unlock insights in research and academic disciplines, and nurture AI talent in Hong Kong.” said Cally Chan, General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong.

The partnership aims to provide HKU students and world-class researchers with Microsoft AI technology for Research and Development projects around Healthcare, FinTech and Smart City areas. Key initiatives include:

Applying AI technologies in research projects
Through the collaboration, researchers and medical staff are able to leverage the comprehensive Microsoft Platform with AI infrastructure, tools and services to conduct research projects in a way that is not possible before. The research team of Dr. Cheung is working on a pilot cancer project with past 20 years’ data, and run real-time analysis to help doctors decide the best treatment option for Liver cancer patients using Microsoft Machine Learning model.

Nurturing talent through structured training
Researchers and students are given opportunities to learn Microsoft’s AI technology, including Data Science, Big Data, Machine Learning through the online platform – Microsoft Professional Program, and to obtain Microsoft Professional Certifications on these subjects.

A 6-week online course – Asia 1st Fintech MOOC - Introduction to FinTech created by HKU with the support of Microsoft and other industry leaders has been started in May, for students to understand the FinTech landscape and ecosystem.

Unleashing the power of Microsoft Academic Graph Services
Microsoft Academic Graph Services enable researchers to research more, search less to understand medical trends efficiently through quick access to scientific publication records, citation relationships between publications, as well as authors, institutions, journals, conferences, and fields of study.

About The University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is the first and oldest institution of higher learning in Hong Kong, and was founded in 1911, incorporating the Hong Kong College of Medicine (est. 1887). For over a century, the University has dedicated itself to creating knowledge, providing education, and serving society. It has grown with Hong Kong and generations of its graduates have helped shape the city from which the University takes its name. Today, HKU has an established worldwide reputation for being a research-led comprehensive University with ten Faculties and a strong commitment to intellectual freedom, liberty and diversity.

HKU strives to attract and nurture outstanding scholars through excellence and innovation in its teaching and learning, research and knowledge exchange activities. Regarded as Asia’s Global University, HKU is a diverse community of over 30,000 students, including about 9,000 students from more than 100 countries around the world, and half of its academic staff are international faculty. HKU’s research areas and themes reflect a broad range of issues and bring together experts from diverse disciplines. The University has academic partnerships with over 300 universities and research institutes around the world. The University has 111 professors ranking in the top 1% scientists globally and conducts cutting-edge work in many fields.

About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

For more information, please contact:
The University of Hong Kong
Melanie Wan
(852) 2859-2600
melwkwan@hku.hk

Microsoft Hong Kong
Rita Ngai
(852) 2804-4101
Rita.Ngai@microsoft.com