From Discovery to Innovation:
Research Excellence with Purpose and Responsibility
A superhighway that enables the translation of research into tangible benefits and the delivery of innovation to the world
Research lies at the heart of the vision and mission of CUHK. A champion of research and innovation that create value and bring benefits to society, CUHK is recognized today as a leading research university in Asia and among the best in the world. In the coming five years, CUHK will focus on integrating research, innovation and enterprise into a dynamic and productive continuum, a superhighway that enables the translation of research into tangible benefits and the delivery of innovation to the world.
With a clear and pronounced emphasis on interdisciplinary research that crosses the boundaries of individual academic units, the University seeks to optimize opportunities to generate impactful outcomes. The CUHK Strategic Plan 2016–2020 identified four research foci, which are of critical importance to the flourishing of humanity in the 21st century. Considerable resources have been devoted to developing these areas, and they will continue to guide the University’s research under ‘CUHK 2025’.
Research, Innovation and Enterprise must be taken as a continuum to achieve the University’s strategic goal for the next five years, namely, to generate impact based on existing and strategically identified directions of research and innovation, and to capitalize on the opportunities available from both private sectors and the government via Public-Private-Partnership (PPP). ‘CUHK 2025’ sets its sight on establishing the University as a trusted go-to-partner for PPP. We aim to complete two to three partnerships in the coming years, to establish a strong track record.
CUHK has been a leader in China research, with over 200 faculty members working on and a good number of centres and institutes devoted to various aspects of China Studies. Research on China at CUHK is bilingual and multi-disciplinary. This is a distinguishing feature of the University’s China research, which few other universities can rival. ‘China: Tradition and Modernity’ eschews disciplinary divides and seeks to focus research on key issues from multi-disciplinary perspectives, to foster understanding and identify the challenges and opportunities in China’s development.
CUHK is a world leader in genetic, genomic and precision medicine. The HKSAR government has launched a series of initiatives related to translational biomedicine. There are also opportunities for the commercialization of biomedical inventions. CUHK will make use of these opportunities and resources to build on its successes and lay claim to being one of the most innovative universities in the world.
Applications of AI and machine learning are already creating a significant impact on multiple fields, in both STEM and non-STEM disciplines. CUHK is already a leading institution in Asia in machine learning and AI research. The potential of information and automation technology in contributing to healthy and smart living is immense. CUHK will capitalize on its strength and further raise its research capabilities in this area.
For good reasons, practically all the top universities in the world focus on research and innovation in the area of environment and sustainability. Environment and sustainability, as an integral research area, was identified as a key focus in the CUHK Strategic Plan 2016–2020. Good progress has been made and ‘CUHK 2025’ will continue to develop research and innovation in this area.
