Research

HKUST was able to make additional contributions to the sum of human knowledge this year and add to the wider community's resources through innovative applications and collaborative projects with other universities and industry.

Funding for academic research in Hong Kong comes largely from the Research Grants Council (RGC)'s Competitive Earmarked Research Grants, and HKUST researchers have consistently achieved the highest success rate (percentage of proposals funded) and per faculty funding among eligible institutions. In 2003-04, this was 62.4%, compared with an average for all institutions of 42.5%.

During a visit by the RGC in June, we were able to show how HKUST has matured as a research university in the intervening years and the solid impact we are making across our chosen fields of research and scholarship.

HKUST is active at all levels of research — basic, applied, research and development. Along with our success in the RGC's Competitive Earmarked Research Grants, HKUST successfully competes for funding from the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) and in securing the required matching funds from industry.

The University's Technology Transfer Center (TTC) and the HKUST RandD Corporation Ltd (RDC) work to establish university-industry collaborations, R&D partnerships and the protection and licensing of intellectual property. In 2003-04, the TTC evaluated 15 invention disclosures from HKUST research, and arranged for the filing of 17 patent applications, mostly with the US Patent Office. The University was granted 12 patents.

RDC signed 98 research and development contracts with industrial clients worth more than HK$19 million. It also made 15 license agreements for the transfer of intellectual property to regional companies. In 2003-04, RDC incubated 18 hi-tech start-ups in the Entrepreneurship Center at HKUST.