HKUST Received €500,000 from Deutsche Telekom to Set Up HKUST-DT System and Media Lab
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has signed a research cooperation agreement with a €500,000 grant (around HK$5 million) from global telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom (DT) to start the HKUST-DT System and Media Lab (SyMLab) for cutting-edge research in the areas of mobile systems and media. HKUST-DT SyMLab has the vision of bringing pioneering system and media research to Asia by providing an excellent academic research environment with strong ties to industries and to address real problems. The lab will act as a strategic partner and bridge for DT to access the research and innovation landscapes of Greater China, and the other way round for talented researchers in Greater China to face the world. HKUST is the first university in East Asia to receive a research grant from DT to start a joint lab.
DT is a major telecom operator in Europe and the US, including divisions of T-Mobile, T-Systems, and T-Home. Its venture capital arm, T-Venture, is one of the leading corporate venture capital companies worldwide and its research and innovation arm, T-Labs, are world-leading research labs in telecommunication and networking service. T-Labs are the major corresponding party for HKUST in DT. Previously T-Labs had very successful collaboration with top institutes such as Stanford, Cambridge, and Princeton. HKUST has the top-notch Engineering School in the world and T-Labs are world-class research and development labs. A joint force of both will create extraordinary innovation with true market impact.
The HKUST-DT SyMLab is directed by Prof Pan Hui from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Prof Hui received his PhD from University of Cambridge. He has rich industrial experiences and had worked for DT, Intel, and Thomson in his past. Before joining HKUST, he was a distinguished scientist in T-Labs. Currently, he is also an adjunct professor of social computing at Aalto University (former Helsinki University of Technology), Finland.