The President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) at his recent visit to the Technion: “We have a lot to learn from Israel and the Technion in particular”

22Professor Tony Chan, the President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, headed a senior delegation from Hong Kong that met with Technion President Professor Peretz Lavie and other board members, at a recent visit to the Technion. During his visit, Professor Chan delivered a lecture on the topic of “Building a World-Class University in 21 years” to Technion students and faculty.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology was established 21 years ago and is considered one of the newest leading universities in the world. Recently, the university was ranked in first place for being the top university in Asia, and third among younger universities.

“I see many similarities between our university and Technion,” remarked Professor Chan in his lecture, “I view our university as “the Technion” of China. We have a lot to learn from Israel and from Technion in particular. The university was established a little over two decades ago to promote the development of the high-tech industry in Hong Kong, and with the acknowledgement by our government for the need to invest in science and technology. My dream is that 40 years from now, I will be able to brag about the fact that our graduates are at the forefront of the international high-tech industry and in all of the world’s leading high-tech companies, as can the Technion President.”

The establishment of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology opened up possibilities for high school graduates in Hong Kong and other parts of China to purse higher education closer to home, without the need to travel to universities overseas. “In my time, I had to emigrate to the United States in pursuit of higher education,” said Professor Chan, “Today, we can provide our students with advanced higher education matching international standards in English, in Hong Kong. The vision of building an advanced research university, capable of promoting the high-tech industry in Hong Kong and China, has already started to take shape.”

Following the lecture by Professor Chan, a special discussion on the topic of “Technology Transfer – from Concept to Implementation” ensued, with Technion alumni holding key positions in the high-tech industry and Technion professors actively involved in the founding of the start-ups in attendance.  Mr. Guido Pardo-Roques, General Manager at Phillips Medical Systems Technologies, Professor Eyal Zussman and Mr. Ohad Ben Dror, founders of Nanospun Technologies, and Professor Yoram Reiter from the Faculty of Biology at Technion, participated in the joint panel, hosted by Professor Boaz Golani, Technion’s Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development.

The delegation from Hong Kong wanted to know in what ways Technion contributed to the development of Israel into a “start-up” superpower, and how it encourages the development of entrepreneurship and innovation among students. In addition, the visitors were interested in the connections between Technion and industry and how to cultivate this relationship. Other topics raised by the panel included strategies for returning Israeli academics from the U.S. and Europe to Israel, as well as the absorption of waves of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who arrived to Israel in the 1990s, and their great contribution to the scientific-technological development of the State of Israel.

Mr. Guido Pardo-Roques, General Manager at Phillips Medical Systems Technologies in Haifa, told the panel that “Philips” plans to expand the company’s research and development activities in China.