Congratulations to HKUST students on winning 1^st runner-up prize in ABU Robocon

I offer my sincere congratulations to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Robotics Team on winning the 1^st runner-up prize in the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Robot Contest (Robocon) in Indonesia, which comprises 19 teams from 18 countries and regions. The students' remarkable achievement once again bears testimony to our young people's talent in technology.

An HKUST alumnus of 2006, Mr Frank Wang, also represented the university in a local robot competition for students and won the top prize when he was studying there.  As the convenor of the Executive Council at that time, I presented the prize to Mr Wang's team. Later on, Mr Wang established DJI, which is now a global leader in drones, specialising in the development and production of light drones for commercial and leisure purposes.

I hope that members of the winning HKUST team will follow Mr Wang's example and build a successful career in technology.

According to media reports, the HKUST team was assisted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in improving its robots before it left for the ABU Robocon. This highlights the value of collaboration among universities. Two days ago, I attended an event in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the University Grants Committee (UGC). When speaking at the event that night, both the Chairman of the UGC, Mr Edward Cheng, and I stressed the need to enhance research collaboration among our universities. The success of the HKUST team in this international competition is a good example of such collaboration. I hope that this kind of collaboration among universities will take root and bear fruit on all fronts so that our young people can further unleash their potential in technology.

September 11, 2015