Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1999

Investigator of the IPOC system, Prof. Wong Kam-fai said, 'This f o rm of technology transfer is more than a transfer of technology. It is also a t r an s f er of k n o w l e d g e a nd expertise. The original research team remains intact and goes on to develop and improve t h e t e c h n o l o g y. I t also t a k e s care of down s t r eam w o r k such as ma r k e t i n g and product development wh i c h cannot be we ll t a k e n care of i f i t stays a p a r t of the U n i v e r s i t y .' I s s u i n g licenses to s p i n - o ff companies are therefore ideal arrangements for both the University and the research team. There is a gap between research and application. T h e chances of a successful transfer are h i g h er if the t e c h n o l o gy is packaged as being reliable, marketable, and usable. Researchers need to have a feel for the m a r k e t , ' P r o f. W o n g c o n t i n u e d . Th e ma r k e t i ng strategy of Wisers I n f o r ma t i o n Ltd. was to present the i n f o rma t i on search engine as an electronic news stand an d an electronic newspaper c l i pp i ng service tha t provide tailored informatio n to clients. General manager of IXTech Ltd. , Mr. Wu C h a n g - m i n g agrees w i t h Prof. Wong. A graduate of the Depa r tmen t of Electronic Engineering of the University, Mr. Wu had intended to pursu e master's studies at the Un i v e r s i t y. He gave u p after b e c om i n g i n v o l v e d i n the CUB IX project. He said, Te c hno l og y on its o wn is lifeless. H u m a n beings are its source of life. By simply being transferred, a technology may not necessarily flourish. Spin-off companies have a greater chance f o r success i f t h e y r e t a i n the researchers w h o invented the system . For students and researchers, this is also a good chance for l ea r n i ng about ma r k e t i ng and sales a nd d e v e l o p i ng t he ir p o t e n t i a l as entrepreneurs.' Researcher of the Montage project, Prof. I r w i n K i ng of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, is also supportive of technology transfer via spin-off companies. 'It allows students to practise wha t they have learnt as we ll as to nurture an enterprising spirit and culture. It ma y also attract more graduate students to engage i n a p p l i e d research. For the teacher s i t is h i g h l y encouraging as it proves that they are not b u i l d i n g castles i n the air bu t can actually contribute to the well-being of society,' he remarked. Wisers Information Ltd. Year founded: 1998 Technology: Software tools based on IPOC as core for the integration of different desktop publishing systems for the local electronic news media and publishing industry. Services: Newsy.Net—performs round-the-clock searches in newspaper archive databases, indexes, auto- categorizes, tracks' and stores information in tailored databases for subscribers; WiseNews—a personal electronic newspaper clipping service including articles from most electronic newspapers and magazines for individual users. Awards: 1998 Hong Kong Information Technology Prize; 1998 Hong Kong Federation of Industries Consumer Product Design Certificate of Merit of the Hong Kong Industry Awards Inventors: Prof. Wong Kam-fai of the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, and Prof. Cheung Kwok-wai of the Department of Information Engineering 16 Spin-off Companies