News

Best Paper Award at INFOCOM 2018

Congratulations! Dr Daniel Luo, Assistant Professor of COMP and his research team received a Best Paper Award at IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications (INFOCOM) 2018 for their paper titled “Understanding Ethereum via Graph Analysis”. Being the largest blockchain with the capability of executing smart contracts, Ethereum has attracted wide attention and its market capitalisation has reached USD56 billion. Moreover, around 600K smart contracts have been deployed to Ethereum. Unfortunately, little is known about the characteristics of its users, smart contracts, and the relationships among them. In this paper, Dr Luo and his research team conducted the first systematic study on Ethereum by leveraging graph analysis to characterise three major activities on Ethereum, namely money transfer, smart contract creation, and smart contract invocation. A new approach was designed to collect all transaction data and some new observations were discovered. New approaches were also proposed based on cross-graph analysis to address two security issues in Ethereum. IEEE INFOCOM is a top ranked conference on networking in the research community. It solicits research papers describing significant and innovative research contributions to the field of computer and data communications networks. Out of 1606 submissions this year, only three papers were selected as the best papers.

Hong Kong ICT Awards 2018

Steered by Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, theHong Kong ICT Awards (HKICTA) 2018 was organised by eight selected local industry associations and professional bodies. With the developed innovative information and communications technology (ICT) products, applications and business solutions, HKICTA participants competed for the top accolades in eight award categories: Smart Business Award, Digital Entertainment Award, FinTech Award, ICT Startup Award, Smart Living Award, Smart People Award, Smart Mobility Award and Student Innovation Award. Our student team which consists of two COMP students and one EIE student, proudly received the Student Innovation (Tertiary or Above) Silver Award with their project “Sense+” at the award presentation ceremony held at the Hong Kong Science Park on 26 March. “Sense+” stands for “See, Explore, Notice and Search with Ears”. It is a computer vision application with comprehensive online information designed for the visually impaired, enhancing their life quality. Equipped with machine-learning based computer vision technology, it could describe scenes, recognise faces, identify banknotes and read out text or books. HKICTA aims at recognising and promoting outstanding ICT inventions, thereby encouraging innovation and excellence among Hong Kong's ICT talents and enterprises in their constant pursuit of creative and better solutions to meet business and social needs.

Visit to Tencent Technology in Shenzhen

Tencent is a multinational technology corporation both in China and globally, and is well known for running one of the world’s largest messaging and social media apps, WeChat. Led by the Dean of Students Office and the Department of Computing, a group of PolyU students and staff visited Tencent in Shenzhen on 28 March. This one-day visit not only allowed our students to gain a deep understanding of Tencent’s culture and vision but also enabled them to find out how Tencent exploits the data collected from their apps and drones to improve the user experience and how literature, comic, game, film and drama are integrated to create synergy. A guided visit to Tencent's new headquarters - Tencent Seafront Tower was arranged. It is an intelligent building designed with a variety of green spaces. Different new technologies are applied in this twin-skyscrapers, such as rapid facial recognition is used for security and employee access control. Representatives from Tencent also hosted a customised workshop for our students at one of the Tencent WeStart offices where they learnt about product design as well as how startup enterprises could build and grow their businesses.

Joint Workshop on “How to HACK Ethereum”

Ethereum is an open-source, public, blockchain-based distributed computing platform and operating system featuring smart contract (scripting) functionality. The Ethereum network allows people to exchange tokens of value, called Ether, which is currently the second most popular cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin. On 23 March, COMP and the Hong Kong Blockchain Society jointly organised a workshop on “How to HACK Ethereum”. Mr Viktor Tabori, Representative of Hungary of the International Decentralized Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain and Co-founder & CTO of Etheal - a blockchain-based healthcare startup, was invited as the workshop tutor to share his knowledge and experience about Ethereum. He also introduced the basics of Solidity and the development of smart contract security. Students were given the hands-on training to reproduce seven previous hacks on Ether as well.

Smart Computing Competition 2018

With the aim of fostering students’ creativity and talent, the annual Smart Computing Competition was held on 20 March with the support from Microsoft. This year, seven teams joined the competition and we invited notable industry professionals including Mr Fred Sheu, National Technology Officer of Microsoft Hong Kong, Mr Terence Leung, Manager of Youth Team of Cyberport and Mr Monsess Leung, Assistant Manager, Incubatee Development of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks to be the judges. Each team was given 20 minutes to present their technology projects, from idea generation to prototypes introduction at the PolyU-Microsoft Smart Computing Lab. The projects were evaluated based on four main criteria: technology, innovation, concept and feasibility. The winning team will enter National Final of Microsoft Imagine Cup 2018, which is going to take place in Hong Kong on 20 April. Thanks to everyone who participated and helped making this contest a success. Team Name Members i3 Market (1stPrize) KONG Yin Lam AVENIR (2ndPrize) CHAN Sing Kam LEUNG Shak Hin LI Tsz Fung Mixed Reality Smart Contracts (3rdPrize) HO Yik Him LAM Ping Him YAU Yim Ching Atom Tennis (3rdPrize) CHEUNG Sin Hang I2 AU Young, Jason YEUNG Chon HO Henry Awaken Underground YEUNG Tsz Fung, Dixon Hero vs Devil FAN Yun Fung SHUEN Hing Wai CHEUNG Man Yung  

PolyU - Monash University - Collinstar Capital Joint Lab on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Technologies

In this rapidly changing society, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are an irreversible advancement that is disrupting established industries and the ways in which people interact financially. Under the signed Memorandum of Understanding in October 2017, PolyU, Monash University and Collinstar Capital joined effort to develop blockchain and cryptocurrency research and enhance both privacy and security in the post-quantum computing by establishing the first university-industry joint research laboratory on blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies in Hong Kong. On 26 March, an opening ceremony of the joint lab was organised at PolyU. Dr David Chung, JP, Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology and Mr Tim Dillon, Commissioner - Greater China, State Government of Victoria Australia officiated the ceremony as Guests of Honour. Dr Chung said, “The advancement of Hong Kong as a leading blockchain development centre requires concerted efforts from the industry, academia and the Government. Positioning itself as the leading research and technology advancement centre in Asia-Pacific in the focused areas of blockchain and cryptocurrency, I am confident that the joint laboratory will help foster the development of these technologies in Hong Kong.” Ir Prof. Alexi Wai, Vice President (Research Development) represented PolyU to speak at the opening. “By joining hands with Monash University and Collinstar Capital, we will continue to drive the advancement in blockchain ecosystem. We believe this collaboration will make influential change to the way of business and our living in the future.” Other distinguished guests included Prof. Mark Wallace, Deputy Dean (Research), Faculty of Information Technology of Monash University and Mr Jacob Cheng, Managing Director of Collinstar Capital. Dr Allen Au, Director of Blockchain Lab and Assistant Professor of COMP and Dr Joseph Liu, Director of Blockchain Lab at Monash University also shared the latest updates of Blockchain technology. The PolyU - Monash University - Collinstar Capital Joint Lab aims to improve security and privacy for blockchain and cryptocurrencies and ultimately make the cyberspace a safer, more convenient and effective for business and financial services in a decentralised and transparent manner.

Corda Training/Certification Programme and Microsoft Chatbot Workshop

Blockchain technology provides a secure mechanism for business transactions in terms of integrity, availability and accountability. The “distributed ledger” concept can be adopted in diverse industries, including trade finance, supply chain management, healthcare and government, where transparency and validity of information are crucial. There is a huge demand for professionals in the market for designing, developing and maintaining blockchain systems. In order to provide COMP students with more practical experience in blockchain application development, a Corda Training/Certification Programme has been launched recently in collaboration with the Hong Kong Blockchain Society. A series of workshops will be organised in March to April. At the end of the Programme, students who pass a test will be awarded a certificate issued by the Hong Kong Blockchain Society. To start with, we invited Dr Lawrence Ma, the President of the Hong Kong Blockchain Society, to give an introduction of the open distributed ledger platform, Corda, and its use cases in the industry on 17 March. In the coming workshops, core concepts of Corda, including state, contract, transaction, flow and node will be introduced. To apply the concepts practically, students will solve programming problems, design blockchain applications and develop CorDapps (applications on Corda) from scratch. On the same day, Ms Claudia Leung, Technical Account Manager, Enterprise Services Segment of Microsoft Hong Kong, who is also a COMP alumnus, delivered a training session on Microsoft Chatbot applications with laboratory exercises to help our students to learn about AI-related technology.

Career Fair 2018 - Innovation & Technology Day

Hosted by Office of Careers and Placement Services (CAPS) of PolyU, the Opening Ceremony of Career Fair 2018 cum Innovation & Technology Day was held today. Prof. Philip Chan, Deputy President and Provost of PolyU and Dr David Chung, JP, Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology delivered the welcome remarks as the Guests of Honour. The 3-day Career Fair covered 11 industries and Innovation & Information Technology was one of the main focuses of today’s Fair. Many IT-related vacancies and graduate trainee programmes were exhibited. During the ceremony, a panel discussion on “Smart City in Hong Kong” was arranged. Prof. Keith Chan, Professor of COMP, Mr Eric Yeung, President of Smart City Consortium, and Dr Tao Charm, Chief Public Mission Officer of Hong Kong Cyberport were invited to be the forum speakers, and Dr Henry Chan, Associate Professor and Associate Head of COMP was the moderator. Both advantages and challenges in transforming Hong Kong into a smart city were discussed. The annual Career Fair provides a good platform for students to gain useful information on job and internship opportunities from hundreds of employers through exhibition, alumni sharing and recruitment talks.

Faculty of Engineering Awards 2016/17

Congratulations to COMP staff members on receiving three Faculty of Engineering (FENG) Awards 2016/17, including Merit Award in Teaching (Individual), Merit Award in Research and Scholarly Activities (Individual) and Research Grant Achievement Award in recognition of their excellent performance and achievements. On 9 March, FENG organised the Engineering Spring Reception cum Faculty Awards Presentation Ceremony, inviting faculty members and industry guests to share the joy together. Prof. H.C. Man, Dean of FENG officiated the ceremony and Ir Prof. Alex Wai, Vice President (Research Development) of PolyU presented awards to the awardees. COMP has won the Faculty Awards for eleven consecutive years since 2006/07. It reflects the great effort and contributions made by our staff members. We look forward to more great accomplishments in the future.   Awardees Awards Dr Yixin CAO, Assistant Professor Research Grant Achievement Award Dr Ajay KUMAR, Associate Professor Faculty Merit Award in Research and Scholarly Activities (Individual) Dr Peter NG, Teaching Fellow Faculty Merit Award in Teaching (Individual)

Hong Kong Techathon 2018

Co-organised by Institute for Entrepreneurship of PolyU, City University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP), Hong Kong Techathon 2018 was held at InnoCentre on 5 – 7 January. PolyU student team consisted of 2 COMP students and 1 EIE student won the Hong Kong Techathon with their project, Sense+. Being one of the 13 winning teams, they were awarded with a direct entry to PolyU Micro Fund Scheme 2018 Final Assessment for a Seed Fund up to HK$120,000 and a conditional offer to HKSTP Incubation Programme. Two pre-Techathon workshops were held on 25 November and 2 December last year, enabling participants to meet entrepreneurs, team up with like-minded people and understand the latest technologies. During the 2-day competition, each team built prototypes and demonstrated their projects on one of the four themes including Education/ Social Technology, Fintech, Healthcare Technology and Internet of Things. “Sense+” stands for “See, Explore, Notice and Search with Ears”. It is a Computer Vision application with comprehensive online information for the visually impaired. Equipped with machine-learning based computer vision technology, it could describe scenes, recognise faces, identify banknotes and read out text or books. Hong Kong Techathon provides a great platform for programmers, engineers, designers, marketers and entrepreneurs to work collaboratively over a weekend and come up with ideas, prototypes.