THE Innovation & Impact Summit - PolyU Showcase Features Examples of Impactful Research and Innovations

HONG KONG, May 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

World-renowned innovators from higher education, government and business sectors will gather in an international summit in Hong Kong this summer to explore how to enhance universities' impacts through innovative research and teaching for the benefit of the society and mankind.

The inaugural Times Higher Education (THE) Innovation & Impact Summit, co-hosted by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and THE, will run from 31 May to 2 June 2017 at Hotel ICON in Hong Kong. A key celebratory event of PolyU's 80th anniversary, the Summit will feature keynote speeches and a series of thought-provoking panel discussions under the theme of "Powering Universities' Economic and Social Impact through Innovative Research and Teaching".

PolyU Showcase 

The Summit will commence with a PolyU Showcase on 31 May, highlighting the four areas that PolyU innovations have been creating impacts to the economy and society, while uplifting university-industry partnership. The feature contents in the four sessions are:

1. Space, aviation and railway 

There will be presentations of how PolyU ventured into space, and how we developed optical fibre sensing system for railway monitoring and technologies in enhancing aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul.

Visits: Aviation Services Research Centre and University Research Facility in 3D printing

2. Sustainable urban development
PolyU will share how we develop and implement new technologies and solutions for sustainable urban development and smart cities, and will open up discussions of the role of higher education institutions in changing and sustaining the landscapes of urban development.

Visits: Underground Utility Survey Laboratory, Construction Virtual Prototyping Laboratory and Fire Engineering Laboratory.

3. Human-centered innovation 

The Showcase will feature the application of human-centered innovation in genetics research in healthcare, advanced solutions to the development of the garment industry, and how research on Asian head and face shapes changes the world's perception of sizing, benefiting a host of industries that create products such as sunglasses, helmets and more.

Tour: SizeChina, radiation-free scoliosis scan system, Public Design Lab.

4. Hospitality 

Pioneering teaching innovations in global hotel and tourism management will be highlighted and there will be Chinese wine appreciation at Vinoteca Lab.

Visits: state-of-the-art facilities in School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Designer Suite by Vivienne Tam and other facilities in Hotel ICON.

Thought-provoking Summit contents 

In the two-day Summit (1-2 June), a series of keynote addresses and panel discussions will cover a wide spectrum of topics, including:

•    Universities innovate to address the grand challenges

•    Translating research into business: turning ideas into impact

•    Creating and empowering entrepreneurs and future leaders

•    Calculating the economic and social impact of higher education

These discussions will serve to inspire participating universities and organisations on how to address the global shifts in the economic, social and environmental landscape through creating and enhancing impact with higher education, research and innovations.

World-class speakers include high-profile innovators, entrepreneurs and policy-makers will join, including Charles Chen Yidan, founder of Yidan Prize and core founder of Tencent Holdings Limited; Hermann Hauser, co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners; Candace Johnson, Founder/Co-Founder SES, Loral-Teleport Europe, Europe Online, VATM, GTWN, OWNSAT, Success Europe; Greg Simon, Former executive director, White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force and Nicholas Yang, Secretary for Innovation and Technology, HKSAR government.

Other influential higher education figures to address the Summit include leaders of renowned institutions from, to name just a few, Australia, England, Finland, France, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Singapore, Spain, the United States. It will be an incredible fusion of East and West.

For registration, details of the PolyU Showcase and the Summit, as well as the full list of speakers, please visit the official website: https://goo.gl/kedVru

Press Contact
Ms Denise Wong
Senior Manager, Communications and Public Affairs Office, PolyU
Telephone :  +852-3400-2131/ 9842-6002
E-mail    :  denise.wf.wong@polyu.edu.hk