Artificial Intelligence

A research project led by Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) entitled “Building Platform Technologies for Symbiotic Creativity in Hong Kong” has been awarded HK$52.8 million in research funding from the Theme-based Research Scheme (11th round) under the Research Grants Council (RGC) for a five-year project. This is the first time that major funding has been allocated by the RGC for an art-tech project.

A new non-invasive technique scans “chemical fingerprints” to see if ordinary cells’ reprogramming into stem cells is on track and verify transformation success by matching “print” patterns.

Paris, June 11 – Spending on science worldwide increased (+19%) between 2014 and 2018, as did the number of scientists (+13.7%). This trend has been further boosted by the COVID crisis, according to UNESCO’s new Science Report, The Race against Time for Smarter Development.

The Asia Research News magazine brings you fascinating research stories from diverse voices in environment, technology, materials, medicine, space and social sciences. The 2021 edition is out now.

Neurone-like junctions made of mixed oxide-based materials could reduce the massive energy consumption of artificial intelligence operations.

An artificial intelligence approach extracts how an aluminium alloy’s contents and manufacturing are related to specific mechanical properties.

Complex algorithms can be taught to predict steel corrosion rates in coastal regions, helping engineers choose the best materials for each location.

New algorithms are much better at estimating the security level of encrypted data.

The National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore has awarded the tender for the development of the next generation national supercomputer system plus upgrades to the national storage and research network infrastructure. The new system is expected to provide up to 10 Petaflops (10 PFLOPS) of computing capacity and is eight times more powerful than the current supercomputer. The new supercomputer is the first in a series of systems that will form the backbone of the nation’s future supercomputing resources which will support research in areas like climate change, biomedical science and smart nation activities.

In the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), a novel optical “micro-comb” chip developed by a physicist from the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has played a pivotal role in building the fastest optical neural network processor. An international research team has recently demonstrated the world’s fastest and most powerful optical neural network processor, which is capable of operating at faster than 10 trillion operations per second. When applied to handwritten digital recognition, a common benchmark in AI, it achieved an accuracy of nearly 90%. It represents an enormous leap forward for neural networks and neuromorphic processing.

With the aim of promoting knowledge transfer, The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) hosted the Award-Winning Innovations Salon (AWIS) to showcase its award-winning projects recognised in international invention and innovation competitions in 2020. During the past year, the University won 22 international awards.

Cleaning and disinfecting public spaces have become increasingly important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on Lingnan University (LU)’s development of a successful free sanitisation service for over 1,000 subdivided flats by a mobile UV-C germicidal system last year, LU has achieved another breakthrough by constructing a smart Autonomous UV-C Disinfection Robot to provide thorough and efficient UV disinfection for large indoor establishments. While the whole disinfection process is automatic, it is far more effective and five times faster than manual disinfection with 1:99 diluted bleach.

New approach to detect and recover from sophisticated cyberattacks in real time

The SupercomputingAsia 2021 (SCA21) conference reflects this spirit of collaboration with a number of initiatives. These include the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will create a new link between Singapore entities and Finland’s CSC-IT Centre for Science, the launch of the inaugural HPC Centre Leaders Forum, and the first EU-ASEAN-Japan Symposium.

A joint research team co-led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed a new soft tactile sensor with skin-comparable characteristics. A robotic gripper with the sensor mounted at the fingertip could accomplish challenging tasks such as stably grasping fragile objects and threading a needle. Their research provided new insight into tactile sensor design and could contribute to various applications in the robotics field, such as smart prosthetics and human-robot interaction.

Fujitsu, Tohoku University, and Tokyo University have unveiled a new AI model that can accurately predict tsunami flooding in coastal areas within seconds. The new technology, which harnessed the power of the world’s fastest supercomputer Fugaku, will bolster authorities ability to effectively direct evacuation orders.

A brain-inspired computing architecture speeds up complex data processing by running its algorithms inside its memory, significantly saving time and energy.

A joint research team co-led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed a novel computational tool that can reconstruct and visualise three-dimensional (3D) shapes and temporal changes of cells, speeding up the analysing process from hundreds of hours by hand to a few hours by computer. Revolutionising the way biologists analyse image data, this tool can advance further studies in developmental and cell biology, such as the growth of cancer cells.

An AI might soon help stroke survivors get the right treatment by detecting a patient’s post-stroke depression type, a frequently seen neuropsychiatric manifestation after a stroke that could impair functional recovery.

A joint research led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has built an ultralow-power consumption artificial visual system to mimic the human brain, which successfully performed data-intensive cognitive tasks. Their experiment results could provide a promising device system for the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

To better prepare prospective teachers with digital and technological skills, The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) and Microsoft Hong Kong have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which covers different areas of collaboration, including:

New collaboration between Japan’s RIKEN Center for Computational Science (R-CCS), Research Organization for Information Science and Technology (RIST) and National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore, will allow Singapore scientists to directly tap on Japan’s Fugaku supercomputer to do ground breaking research, enhance educational activities and develop talent in high performance computing (HPC).

The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) has received a donation of HK$5 million from the Li Ka Shing Foundation in support of the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Technology to cultivate artificial intelligence (AI) literacy and develop e-learning materials in Mathematics.

A research team, affiliated with South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) has been selected as the recipient of a large-scale Social Science Korea (SSK) project of the National Research Foundation of Korea.

A research team, affiliated with South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) has developed a deep learning-based AI system that can provide design recommendations regarding the best layouts through the assessment of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) of the mobile application.

Scientists devise a 2D-material–based stacked structure with applications in reducing computing power consumption

Thirty Teams Across the Asia Pacific Region Participated in the Six-Month Competition that Trains Student Teams to Practice and Produce Solutions using HPC and AI Platforms.

South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), in partnership with Class 101, expands quality online lectures.

A design team, affiliated with South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) honored with 2020 iF Design Awards in the communication design category.

A group of students, affiliated with South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) has created a map to help track the spread of the COVID-19 in Ulsan region.