PolyU and Huawei signed a strategic memorandum of understanding this month to pursue in-depth research collaboration to advance the technology development of photonics and its applications.

Photonics is the underpinning telecommunication technology for our broadband networks. It has also been widely used in sensing, energy, nanotech, imaging, advanced manufacturing and biomedical applications.

PolyU established the Photonics Research Institute (PRI) in May to foster interdisciplinary research in this area. The Institute also serves to facilitate exploration of the synergy between fundamental sciences and various engineering applications of light.

In their strategic collaboration, PolyU and Huawei will initiate joint research in areas like photonics communication and photonics sensors. Both sides will set up a joint laboratory and nurture research postgraduates together, as well as co-host academic events. They will also strengthen their collaboration in knowledge transfer and commercialization. Huawei has furthermore made a generous donation to the University in support of the PolyU-Huawei Joint Laboratory for Optical Interconnection Network and Advanced Computing System under PRI.

PolyU’s long partnership with Huawei started back in 2007 and has yielded rich scientific research results in various fields, including optical communications, Big Data, crowdsourcing platforms, mobile networks, portable devices, algorithms and new materials.