Microsoft and HKUST Establish Joint Lab

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Microsoft Research, China (MSR) have joined forces to establish a virtual research laboratory on information technology.

Prof Otto Lin (right) welcomes Dr Ya-Qin Zhang
to HKUST.

Prof Otto Lin, HKUST's Vice-President for Research and Development, and Dr Ya-Qin Zhang, Managing Director of MSR, signed an agreement on the establishment of the MSR⌒HKUST Joint Research Laboratory at HKUST campus today (28 September).

The joint laboratory will focus on collaborative research and development in multimedia and information technology as well as exchanges of students, academics and researchers.

"There is no boundary to IT research. Well before the formal inauguration of the MSR⌒HKUST Joint Research Laboratory, we have been collaborating extensively with Microsoft Research, China on research, academic exchanges and faculty appointments," said Prof Roland Chin, Head of HKUST's Computer Science Department and Co-Director of the Laboratory.

"Our faculty members have been conducting research on multimedia applications, computer vision and graphics with Microsoft researchers in Beijing," he said.

"This is our first joint laboratory in Hong Kong, and the fourth one in China. Through joint research projects, seminars, scholarships and other activities, we hope to advance research and development, teaching and learning, as well as the training of IT professionals," said Dr Ya-Qin Zhang, Co-Director of the Laboratory. Since January 2000, Microsoft Research, China has established joint laboratories in the Chinese Mainland with Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and Harbin University of Industry, respectively.

The MSR⌒HKUST Joint Research Laboratory marks an important development in the strategic partnership between Microsoft Research, China and HKUST. Dr Harry Shum, Assistant Managing Director of MSR, was appointed as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Computer Science at HKUST in 1999. Liu Jiangchuan, a PhD student in computer science, was one of the ten recipients of a Microsoft Fellowship this year. HKUST is currently the only university in Hong Kong invited to present nominees to compete with those from other top universities and research institutes in China for the Microsoft Fellowship.