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PolyU Industrial Centre pioneers innovative research to create significant social impacts

The Industrial Centre (IC) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has been transforming for nearly fifty years, serving as a hub for innovative research across all disciplines and offering comprehensive research and development (R&D) and production support. The IC has also evolved from a training workshop into a cutting-edge facility for innovation and technology education.  Its services have expanded beyond conventional industrial engineering to encompass diverse disciplines in aerospace engineering, biomedical engineering, artificial intelligence and data analysis, and more.  Dr WAI Hon-wah, Director of the IC said a highlight of the IC’s latest technology is the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Lab (AIR Lab), also described as a “Creativity Accelerator”.  The AIR Lab is not only equipped with advanced facilities but also provides an open scientific research environment to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration. Supported by a team of over 60 professional engineers, the AIR Lab is dedicated to cultivating future leaders in AI, collaborative robotics, and digital transformation, fostering innovation and collaboration across various fields.  PolyU places strong emphasis on translating scientific research into impactful social applications. In a collaborative effort with the IC, Dr Thomas Lee, Associate Professor of the Department of Biomedical Engineering of PolyU, developed a portable nucleic acid testing device. Following cooperation with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department in 2017, the third generation of the device underwent rapid advancement in response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. This progress led to a partnership with the Emergency Department of Queen Mary Hospital for real-time testing. In response to urgent pandemic needs, the IC assisted the team in optimising instruments and timely production of a large number of portable devices, significantly contributing to Hong Kong's epidemic prevention efforts. By utilising the Hybrid Immersive Virtual Environment (HiVE) at the IC, Dr Vincent Leung, Associate Professor of Practice from the Department of Health Technology and Informatics of PolyU, and his team introduced the "HEROCARE" project. This initiative provides a virtual environment for children with cancer before they undergo radiotherapy, effectively addressing their anxiety. This project successfully demonstrates the fusion of healthcare and engineering within the IC, using innovative technologies to improve medical services and promote holistic care in the digital technology era.  Guided by PolyU’s motto, “To learn and to apply, for the benefit of mankind,” the IC effectively transforms scientific research across diverse disciplines, delivering impactful solutions to society. The commitment lies in ensuring that our research serves the community and remains accessible to all.    Full Interview Coverage on HK01 Watch the Video  

PolyU collaborates with international experts to study urban air pollution, revealing disparities in pollution exposure and advocating for targeted mitigation measures

To foster a sustainable public health environment, a research team from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has collaborated with experts from international universities, utilising big mobility data and advanced sensor technology to study urban air pollution. Their study has highlighted the significance of daily travel patterns, and race and ethnicity in assessing differences in residents’ exposure to air pollution, offering new insights for authorities worldwide when developing air pollution mitigation measures. The findings have been published in the international journal Nature Cities. Dr An WANG, Assistant Professor of the PolyU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, collaborated with scientists from the Senseable City Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brown University in the USA, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and University College Cork in Ireland, to measure air pollution exposure across different areas and ethnic groups in the Bronx, New York City. The Bronx, known for its dense population and ethnic diversity, faces severe long-standing air pollution issues and has the worst air quality among the New York City boroughs with asthma cases 2.5 times higher than in other boroughs. The health effects of air pollution depend on the concentrations of air pollutants and the duration of exposure. The study tracked three months of daily mobility data from over 500,000 mobile device users, utilising 500 million anonymous location records from the Bronx. The team also installed solar-powered, Internet-of-Things-enabled environmental sensing platforms on government service vehicles, which travelled over one-third of major roads in the Bronx, measuring the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air and successfully collecting 600,000 valid data. Based on these mobility and air pollution data, the team trained an empirical model for air quality prediction to extrapolate the air quality levels across the region and differences in pollution exposure among Bronx residents. The study revealed that the southeast Bronx, where expressways and industries meet most intensively, has the highest levels of particulate matter, indicating the impact of land use and infrastructure planning on air pollution. Unlike previous studies, the team’s analysis considered both air pollutant concentrations and people’s mobility patterns in places like restaurants, schools, and malls to more comprehensively assess their exposure to air pollution. The results showed that citizens who work long hours or live on highly polluted streets have higher exposure to PM2.5. Among these, people from Hispanic-majority and low-income neighbourhoods were the most severely and disproportionately exposed to the pollution. The greatest differences in exposure by ethnic groups were found in Hispanic-majority communities. The results highlighted that race and ethnicity are much stronger indicators of air pollution exposure disparity than income. The team suggested developing more granular mitigation plans to target high-exposure individuals from socially disadvantaged groups, alongside general air quality improvement efforts. Dr An Wang said, “Our long-term goal is to utilise composite environmental sensing technologies to address urban environmental problems such as vehicle emissions, noise pollution, urban heat island effects and lack of greenery. The findings of this study can be applied to public health research in dense urban environments like Hong Kong. By quantifying air pollution exposure, we can develop cost-effective strategies for targeted emission control, health impact assessment, clean air action and urban design, helping Hong Kong and other cities worldwide to achieve the vision of ‘One Health’.” Looking ahead, Dr Wang will expand the research by developing new data sources and sensing technologies. This will broaden its scope to include a wider range of air pollutants, lay the groundwork for more precise toxicity analyses, advance future air quality research, and provide innovative solutions to urban environmental challenges.

PolyU research underscores the importance of interdisciplinary services in paediatric palliative care

Medical advancements have extended the lifespans of children and adolescents diagnosed with life-limiting conditions, resulting in a greater need for healthcare resources and expanded caregiver services. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) researchers have studied the physical and non-physical needs of patients, parents and healthcare providers to enhance the provision of holistic healthcare services. The Strategic Service Framework for Paediatric Palliative Care (PPC) developed by Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority (HA) aims to provide comprehensive treatment services from hospital to community care. Aligning with this framework, a research team led by Prof. Frances Wong Kam-yuet, Chair Professor of Advanced Nursing Practice of the School of Nursing and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Health and Social Science at PolyU and Ms Jacqueline Ho Mei-chi, Assistant Professor of Practice at the School of Nursing at PolyU, conducted a pioneering qualitative study to identify the perceived care needs of children with life-limiting conditions, their parents, and healthcare providers. Funded by the government under the Health and Medical Research Fund, the team conducted 65 individual interviews between 2019 and 2021 at the paediatric departments under the HA. Twenty-five sets of participants were interviewed, with each set comprising a child or adolescent aged 8-19 with a life-limiting condition, along with their parents and healthcare providers. The research uncovers the multifaceted needs from children with life-limiting conditions and their parents, which include medical care and daily life support. A holistic approach to coordination and service maintenance, supported by an interdisciplinary team of caregivers and healthcare professionals, is essential for assisting patients and their parents who face complex challenges. Prof. Wong, Principal Researcher of the study, said, “Paediatric palliative care should include support to those parents giving day-to-day care to their children with life-limiting disease. Parents, sick children, and healthcare professionals are all key members of paediatric palliative care.” The research titled “Importance of parental involvement in paediatric palliative care in Hong Kong: qualitative case study,” has been published in Archives of Disease in Childhood, which is an official journal of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Another study titled “Needs of paediatric patients with life-limiting disease,” was published in the Hong Kong Medical Journal. Three main themes for PPC are identified in the research as follows: The first theme, “Information and Understanding about the Disease,” highlights the need for cohesive disease information. Children and parents primarily rely on doctors for information, but they often receive fragmented details from various specialists, complicating their understanding of the disease and its treatment. The second theme, “Living with the Disease,” reveals the challenges faced by sick children and their parents, encompassing both physical and non-physical aspects of daily living. The different perspectives of children, parents, and healthcare providers also influence how they cope with the disease. The third theme, “Care Support and Palliative Care,” emphasises the need for better coordination and interpersonal collaboration, especially during the transition from paediatric to adult services. Nurses play a crucial role in coordinating palliative care and facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration. The research underscores the importance of early intervention in PPC and the increased involvement of parent caregivers. It also highlights the vital role of specialised paediatric nurses in improving the well-being of parents and families, reducing healthcare costs and alleviating social burdens.

PolyU research reconstructs ancient Chinese geographic and ecological environment using AI technologies, awarded Top 10 Innovative Exploratory Projects in Tencent’s Tanyuan Scheme 2024

Innovative digital technology is opening up new possibilities for the preservation and dissemination of traditional knowledge and cultural heritage. Promoting the synergy between technologies and the humanities, a research team at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to distil, represent and visualise geographic and ecological knowledge from ancient Chinese texts. Their approach has helped to overcome the limitations of traditional text studies, while fostering the digitisation of ancient texts to enable more innovative models of knowledge inheritance. The pioneering project - “Knowledge Integration of the Classic of Mountains and Seas: Reconstructing Ancient Ecological and Geographical Knowledge Heritage with Artificial Intelligence” - is led by Prof. HUANG Chu-ren, Chair Professor of Applied Chinese Language Studies of the PolyU Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies. The only winning endeavour from a tertiary institution based in Hong Kong and Macao this year, the project was recognised as one of the “Top 10 Innovative Exploratory Projects” in the Tanyuan Scheme 2024, among 79 submissions from 48 universities and research institutes. The Scheme was initiated by Tencent and various cultural units in the Mainland and guided by the Department of Science, Technology and Education of the National Cultural Heritage Administration. As the first part of the pre-Qin classic text Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhaijing), the Classic of Mountains (Shanjing) comprises approximately 20,000 characters of geographic information relating to mountains and rivers, as well as the natural resources therein. It is regarded as China’s earliest attested compendium of geo-ecological information. Existing studies of the text remain within the classical humanities paradigm. This research project has however proposed a knowledge integration approach to present an innovative solution for modernising and transmitting the knowledge content of the Classic of Mountains, with the aim of arousing greater research interest in the field. The research team uses various AI technologies including information extraction, knowledge graphs, graph retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and large language model (LLM), to analyse, organise, integrate, and present the geographical and ecological knowledge embedded in the text. Their goal is to establish a systematic knowledge platform that can serve as a blueprint for the development of diachronic geo-ecological knowledge systems of ancient China through future studies into other ancient texts and documentation from different dynasties. This will enable research into the geo-ecological changes and variations in China over the past two millennia and provide appropriate environmental information to better understand historical events. As a first step, the team is developing a Q&A platform that consolidates information about the landmarks in Classic of Mountains, together with a digital map that visually illustrates the geographical features described in the text. Prof. Huang said, “A deep and systematic understanding of ancient geography and ecology provide us with longitudinal information about how our environment has changed. This is also crucial for contemporary ecological governance. The project represents an interdisciplinary effort to integrate digital technology in humanities studies to address the challenges of the fragmentation of ancient literature and the usability of traditional knowledge in today’s evidence-based studies, which will ultimately enhance the transmission, integration and application of historical knowledge in contemporary contexts.” Prof. Huang is the first Chinese permanent member of the International Committee for Computational Linguistics. He has also been recognised as one of the World’s Top 2% Most-cited Scientists 2024 by Stanford University in the field of AI with his long-standing expertise in computational linguistics and digital humanities. His team members include PhD student Ms Ke LIANG and postdoctoral researcher Dr Xuemei TANG from the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies. Dr Qi SU, Associate Professor from the Research Center for Digital Humanities at Peking University, and Dr Jinghang GU, Research Assistant Professor of the PolyU Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies are co-principal investigators.

PolyU students team won Global First Prize at ISETS-ESCAP Youth Voice Competition

Three PhD students from the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), together with a student from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, formed a team called “Energy Victory” to pursue innovative research on digital twin technology for sustainable transportation, which has shined in international competitions. Following their remarkable success in the "2024 ISETS-ESCAP Youth Voice Competition" in the Northeast Asia division, the team has also stood out among seven outstanding teams and secured the Global First Prize in the global final held in Chengdu. The team, supervised by Prof. YAN Jinyue Jerry, Chair Professor of Energy and Buildings of the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering of PolyU, and Dr Ying DU, Postdoctoral Fellow of the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering of PolyU, presented a groundbreaking project titled "Drawing the Blueprint of Traffic Electrification with Digital Twin". The project utilised digital twin technology to promote transportation that was aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. The winning team comprised three PolyU PhD students: Junxiang ZHANG, Shibo ZHU, Dayin CHEN, and Haolan CHEN (from Shanghai Jiao Tong University). The “Energy Victory” team operates under the International Centre of Urban Energy Nexus (IUEX) of PolyU. The PolyU team was also honoured to attend the 13th International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development (IFESD) at the UN Conference Centre in Bangkok. This esteemed event served as a platform for leading experts to showcase their research results and discuss innovative strategies for sustainable energy transformation. It aims to engage youth with policymakers and international organisations to accelerate the global energy transition. The International Society for Energy Transition Studies (ISETS), in partnership with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), organised the annual Youth Voice on Energy Transition programme, bringing together young leaders from around the world to showcase youth-led innovations contributing to sustainable energy systems.

The Hong Kong Palace Museum and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Launch the Joint Chinese Textile Centre

The Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM or the Museum) and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) are pleased to announce the establishment of The Hong Kong Palace Museum – The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Joint Chinese Textile Centre (“the Centre”). Drawing on the unparalleled strength of the nearly 3,000 items from the Chris Hall Collection at the HKPM (“the Collection”), the promised gifts from the esteemed art collector Mr Chris HALL to the Museum, the Centre is committed to advancing global understanding and innovative application of Chinese historical textiles from different perspectives, ranging from art, history to science and technology, through research, teaching, training, public education, and publication projects. The Signing Ceremony of the collaborative agreement for The Hong Kong Palace Museum – The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Joint Chinese Textile Centre was held at the HKPM today. Witnessed by Mr Leo KUNG, Chairman of the HKPM Board; Dr LAM Tai-fai, PolyU Council Chairman; Prof. Jin-Guang TENG, PolyU President; and Mrs Betty FUNG, Chief Executive Officer of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, the Agreement was signed by Dr Louis NG, Museum Director of the HKPM and Prof. Ben YOUNG, PolyU Vice President (Student and Global Affairs). Combining the expertise and research capacity of HKPM in Chinese history, arts and culture, and that of PolyU in textiles, fashion and design, the Centre is well-positioned to lead and promote research, education, publication, and creative projects related to historical Chinese textiles. The Centre’s key focuses include the history of Chinese textiles, Chinese textile archaeology, and Chinese costume, as well as textile scientific research, textile technology, and the Silk Road. The Centre will provide PolyU with valuable resources for teaching, research, and outreach initiatives of its Faculty of Humanities, School of Fashion and Textiles, School of Design, and other faculties/departments as well as opportunities for PolyU faculty members and students to study the Collection. PolyU will also develop teaching materials and offer courses specialising in the history of Chinese textiles and silk by leveraging the Collection. Through the Centre, PolyU and HKPM will jointly organise academic activities focusing on historical Chinese textiles, including courses, seminars, workshops, and publications. Mr Leo Kung, Chairman of the HKPM Board, said, “The Hong Kong Palace Museum – The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Joint Chinese Textile Centre, established through the collaboration between two important institutions, provides an important platform to promote the study and appreciation of Chinese textiles culture globally. It also allows students and the public alike to explore the history and cultural heritage of Chinese textiles with the two institutions’ shared vision and mission of preserving and bringing forward Chinese culture. We extend our deepest gratitude to Mr Chris Hall for his generous promised gifts to the HKPM, which are one of the world’s most comprehensive and significant collections of historical Chinese textiles. With this collection, the HKPM is poised to play a leading role in the study and display of Chinese textiles and promote international exchange through exhibition, research, and education programmes.” Dr Lam Tai-fai, PolyU Council Chairman, said, “The establishment of the Joint Chinese Textile Centre marks a significant advancement for PolyU and the Hong Kong Palace Museum in promoting research, education, and the inheritance and innovation of Chinese textiles. As an innovative world-class university, PolyU has earned international acclaim for its academic and research achievements in textiles and design over the years. This collaboration will harness the strengths of both institutions to amplify the impact of this world-class Collection in research, teaching, contemporary fashion, and design. It aims to enhance global awareness and appreciation of Chinese textile art, while preserving the rich traditional Chinese culture and solidifying Hong Kong’s position as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.” A major exhibition featuring the Chris Hall Collection at the Hong Kong Palace Museum will be presented at the Museum next year The renowned Hong Kong-based Chinese textile collector, Mr Chris Hall, has offered the HKPM his promised gifts as “The Chris Hall Collection at the Hong Kong Palace Museum”. This collection includes nearly 3,000 works spanning from the Warring States period (475– 221 BCE) to the 21st century. It encompasses examples of all major categories in Chinese textiles with unique strength in areas, such as rank badges from the Ming and Qing dynasties and religious textiles. Accompanied by extensive research materials that include textile sample books, this collection will provide a key resource for the study of Chinese textiles. Mr Chris Hall will formally donate the Chris Hall Collection at the Hong Kong Palace Museum to HKPM in 2034. Starting from December 2024, part of the Collection will be transferred to the Museum’s premises as promised gifts, making HKPM the repository of one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of historical Chinese textiles. Featuring the Collection, the HKPM will present a large-scale survey exhibition in the second half of 2025 with the themes of the history of Chinese silk culture and the cross-cultural exchanges exemplified through textiles. The HKPM will lead the documentation and digitilisation projects for the Collection. Mr Chris Hall said, “My promised gifts to the Hong Kong Palace Museum are the fruition of my art collecting efforts over the past few decades. They testify to nearly three thousand years of history in China, its splendid culture, and the Chinese people’s pursuit of beauty. I am pleased to have the Hong Kong Palace Museum as the home of this Collection. I believe that the Centre will offer an interdisciplinary and international research and creative platform that brings together many exceptional experts in the fields of curation, research, education, and publication. The Centre will make the Collection more accessible and impactful, serving as a research resource for many students and scholars, and a source of inspiration for artists and designers. I hope that the Centre will help increase our historical and cultural knowledge and encourage the appreciation of the beauty of Chinese textiles by the general public.” Details of the Centre and the major exhibition featuring The Chris Hall Collection at the HKPM will be announced on the HKPM website in due course. Mr Chris Hall introduced the highlights from “The Chris Hall Collection at the Hong Kong Palace Museum”.  

PolyU neurolinguistic scholar empowers research through embracing motherhood

Research often draws inspiration from life itself. Individuals with diverse backgrounds enrich innovation. Dr Zhang Caicai, Associate Professor of the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, interwines her neurolinguistic expertise with her experiences as a mother, delving into the intricate world of child language development and disorders. Dr Zhang’s research focuses on the processing and representation of language in the human brain, exploring its interactions with other cognitive domains, such as music and memory. Recently, she is conducting research on identifying biomarkers for childhood language disorders and developing theory-driven intervention strategies. The motherhood role has inspired Dr Zhang’s research in child language development. She shared, “Over the past five years, my focus has shifted toward studying child language learning and developmental disorders. This shift was influenced by my experience as a mother of two, sparking a keen  interest in children’s language learning processes and the challenges some may face.” In a new longitudinal study, Dr Zhang’s research team is tracking brain, cognition, and language development of Chinese children aged four to six. The research aims to identify early biomarkers that could predict typical language development and explore potential indicators of language disorders. Additionally, they are examining the role of sleep in memory consolidation and its possible relationship with developmental disorders. To tackle significant societal problems, Dr Zhang has developed innovative approaches to investigate the efficacy of explicit versus implicit intervention strategies in Chinese children with developmental language disorder (DLD) through a randomized controlled trial. The team's interdisciplinary approach uses top-notch neuroscience facitlities offered by the Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience (UBSN) lab at PolyU to combine cognitive behaviour, neural imaging, and machine learning methods in investigating disorders related to language skill acquisition in children. The study focuses on a hypothesised procedural circuit deficit in children with developmental stuttering, developmental language disorder, and dyslexia. The research aims to improve early diagnosis for more effective interventions. Interdisciplinary research collaboration drives impactful outputs. Dr Zhang said, “I work closely with speech-language pathologists in the Speech Therapy Unit, as well as machine learning experts. Their expertise has inspired me to explore the neurocognitive foundations of childhood language disorders and develop effective intervention strategies.” In the university, Dr. Zhang emphasises that diversity in academia can unite individuals with different backgrounds, experiences, and ideas, encompassing differences in race, gender, culture, and discipline. She also highlights the vital role that women, particularly unique perspectives of mothers, play in enriching academic discourse.  

PolyU scholar elected IEEE Fellow 2025

Prof. Yang CHAI, Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Science and Professor of the Department of Applied Physics at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), has been bestowed the prestigious Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow Class of 2025 for his contributions to bioinspired in-sensor computing. Prof. CHAI’s research domain is mainly about microelectronic and nanoelectronics devices. His current research focuses on bioinspired vision sensors, which can not only capture images from the external environment but also execute computation functions to extract more abstract information. Inspired by natural bioinspired sensory systems, his research team is committed to exploring how to fuse sensing and processing function through new hardware design. By mimicking biological visual systems, the team has developed vision sensors that can improve image recognition accuracy, adapt to extremely dim/bright lighting and different wavelengths, and agilely perceive dynamic motion. For more: Advanced vision sensors that emulate human visual adaptability Optoelectronic graded neurons for perceiving dynamic motion Prof. CHAI is enthusiastic about advancing scientific knowledge and innovation. His work has been published in prestigious journals such as Nature, Nature Electronics, and Nature Nanotechnology. His research works were highlighted in Nature, IEEE Spectrum, etc. The research results are highly cited by research teams worldwide. He is in the list of “Highly Cited Researchers 2024” by Clarivate Analytics. The IEEE is the world's largest professional technical organisation, with 140 years of history. IEEE Fellow is a distinction reserved for select IEEE members whose extraordinary accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. The grade of Fellow recognises unusual distinction in the profession and who has contributed importantly to the advancement or application of engineering, science, and technology, bringing the realisation of significant value to society.

PolyU signs MoU with Southern Medical University to advance medical development and cultivate research talent

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and Southern Medical University (SMU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 10 December, joining forces on advancing medical development through innovative researchand nurturing medical talent, contributing to the global medical industry, human health and well-being. Witnessed by Prof. Christopher CHAO, Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU, and Mr ZHANG Yurun, Secretary of the Party Committee of SMU, the MoU was signed by Prof. DONG Cheng, Associate Vice President (Mainland Research Advancement) of PolyU, and Prof. LIU Shuwen, Vice President of SMU. PolyU and SMU will leverage their respective strengths to explore innovative research in cutting-edge medical technologies and enhance the quality of medical education. The collaboration aims to comprehensively improve healthcare service levels in both regions, and further promote the transformation and application of medical research and technological achievements. During their visit to PolyU, the delegation from SMU engaged in in-depth discussion on joint medical research, education and talent cultivation, exploring opportunities for deeper collaboration. Prof. Dongpresented the latest developments and plans of PolyU in innovative research and interdisciplinary education. Prof. Liuprovided a comprehensive overview ofSMU’s development history, outstanding achievements and future vision. PolyU has extensive experience and a solid foundation in health science education and research, and has established collaborative partnerships with several universities, including SMU. The SMU delegation visited the University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience and the University Research Facility in 3D Printing, to gain insights into PolyU’s leading research facilities and experimental technologies. These cutting-edge technologies and innovative outcomes demonstrate the University’s strong capabilities in medical research, laying a strong foundation for future collaborationbetween the two institutions.

PolyU multimodal robot for post-stroke ankle-foot rehabilitation wins CES 2025 Innovation Award

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is dedicated to pursuing pioneering research in frontier areas and to embracing a strong culture of knowledge transfer. By translating research excellence into impactful solutions, the University takes the lead in making a positive impact for societal benefits. The first-of-its-kind multimodal robot for ankle-foot rehabilitation, developed by PolyU, has been recognised as an Honouree in the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025 Innovation Awards, reaffirming the effective impact of the University’s PolyImpact philosophy. For the second consecutive year, PolyU has been honoured in the Accessibility & Aging Tech category — the only university in Hong Kong to receive the recognition of this consumer technology award. Following triumph in winning a Gold Medal at the 49th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva in April, the “Mobile Ankle-foot Exoneuromusculoskeleton”, developed by a research team led by Dr Xiaoling HU, Associate Professor of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been named as a CES Innovation Awards 2025 Honouree. The innovation has once again been recognised for its effectiveness in helping stroke patients with hemiplegia to improve the motor function of their lower limb and walking ability. Prof. Christopher CHAO, Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU, said, “Health technology is vital to the well-being of humanity. This award highlights PolyU's commitment to excellence in research, translating into innovative solutions that bring sustainable benefits to the community. We are thrilled by the achievements of PolyU's young researchers on the global research and consumer technology stage. The University will continue to support them in leveraging their strengths and expanding impactful research initiatives.” Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. Stroke patients need intensive and long-term rehabilitation training to improve their physical mobility and quality of life. Powered by Internet of Things (IoT) technology, the “Mobile Ankle-foot Exoneuromusculoskeleton” is an innovative multimodal device that integrates the advantages of exoskeleton, soft pneumatic muscle, neuromuscular electrical stimulation and tactile sensory feedback in one system. The lightweight wearable design and a 9V rechargeable battery that can be used continuously for four hours, enables patients to pursue rehabilitation training anytime and anywhere. It can effectively correct post-stroke footdrop and foot-inversion and improve the gait and balance of stroke patients in self-help tele-rehabilitation. The IoT technology aligned with artificial intelligence (AI) enables automatic onsite coaching feedback to a stroke patient on their training performance via a mobile app. This allows remote supervision by healthcare professionals and longitudinal management of rehabilitative progress for optimised services, providing a cost-effective and easy-to-access solution for stroke patients’ rehabilitation treatment. Dr Xiaoling Hu said, “This technology and product can seamlessly integrate into routine rehabilitation services, enabling professionals to effectively assist more stroke patients. Through this flexible training approach, we hope to help stroke patients achieve more efficient rehabilitation progress and enhance their ability to perform daily activities, ultimately supporting their path towards greater independence in the long term.” Dr Hualso co-founded the startup Thecon Technology (HK) Limited in 2021 and plans to commercialise the Mobile Ankle-foot Exoneuromusculoskeleton next year. The annual CES is organised by the Consumer Technology Association and, as one of its representative awards, the CES Innovation Awards programme recognises and honours outstanding design and engineering in 33 consumer technology product categories. An elite panel of industry expert judges, including media professionals, designers and engineers, reviews submissions based on innovation, engineering and functionality, aesthetics, and design. The upcoming CES 2025 will be held in Las Vegas, the United States, from 7 to 10 January 2025. At the event, PolyU will showcase a range of innovative research projects in healthcare, smart cities, optometry, radiotherapy, AI and IoT sensing.