On the afternoon of 21 May 2026, the National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Centre (Hong Kong Branch) (CNERC-Rail) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University held an academic seminar at Z414, PolyU. Prof. Charalampos Baniotopoulos, Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham and Professor at Leibniz University Hannover, was invited to deliver a seminar entitled "New Concepts and Trends to Enhance Resilience in Urban Environments. Case Study: Wind Energy Systems".
In his seminar, Prof. Baniotopoulos introduced the latest concepts and trends in urban resilience and sustainable development. Against the background of global urbanisation, climate change, and resource constraints, he highlighted the importance of integrated and adaptive approaches to enhancing the resilience of urban systems. The seminar focused on innovative concepts such as modular construction and circular-economy-oriented construction models, explaining their potential to reduce resource waste, extend material life cycles, and improve urban adaptability. Prof. Baniotopoulos also discussed the application of BIM, SCADA, neural networks, and other data-driven methods in design optimisation, operational monitoring, maintenance management, and decision support. Using wind energy systems as a case study, he further illustrated how data-driven approaches can improve operation and maintenance strategies, particularly in predictive maintenance, fault detection, and performance optimisation, thereby enhancing system reliability and economic efficiency. The seminar also explored the application of circular economy principles in wind energy systems, including the reuse and upcycling of components such as wind turbine blades, offering insights into reducing environmental impacts and creating new value chains.
