The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has collaborated with Google, Inc. to establish a joint competition of “Solve For X” to be held at HKUST. To promote cutting-edge research and innovation, the School of Engineering (SENG) has been sparing no effort to make the competition a big success.

The Solve For X competition is designed and promoted by Google, Inc. to encourage researchers to transform research ideas into real products such as Google glass and Google driverless cars. The University has collaborated with Google, Inc. to bring Solve For X to campus, providing a platform to bring our own moonshots into this community.

Participants will enjoy the privilege to introduce and discuss their radical technology ideas through the competition. Integrating the expertise of HKUST faculty members and students, this joint competition will provide a competitive edge for HKUST to conduct research at the forefront, and achieve both organizations’ common goal towards the internationalization of research.

To provide more insight for potential participants, SENG invited two representatives from Google, Inc., namely Ms Puneet Ahira, Programme Director for Solve For X, and Ms Deborah Anyu Lai, Asia Partnerships Lead for Solve For X, to host an information session on 28 August 2014. The speakers introduced what “Solve For X’ was and how Google, Inc. hosted the competition in the past few years. This was followed by a Q&A Session, through which the audience, including over 200 HKUST members from all the schools, got a better insight into the Solve For X idea.

SENG has always been striving to provide students with diversified learning experiences through different channels. It endeavors to form alliances with top institutions and companies worldwide, including Google, Cathay Pacific, Tencent, MTR Corporation, to further expand our international network. Google, Inc. is globally renowned for its outstanding research achievements and innovative products and is one of the most reputable companies in the world. The collaboration between SENG and Google, Inc. marks the beginning of an even closer collaboration between the two leading organizations in pursuit of academic and research excellence in the field of engineering.

SENG will collaborate with the University’s Entrepreneurship Center, Interdisciplinary Programs Office (IPO), School of Science, and School of Business and Management (SBM) to coordinate the “Solve For X” competition, which will be held at the end of this year. More details will be announced in due course.

About the speakers

Puneet Ahira is the Programme Director for Solve For X - an open moonshot platform powered by Google [x]. She discovers and attracts individuals and organizations working on tech moonshots and uses the convening power of Google to accelerate their progress. Before joining Google she was an Analyst at Goldman Sachs, focusing on picking structurally-advantaged companies that have the potential to disrupt their industries over the coming decades. She served on the Board of Directors for Colin Powell’s non-profit America’s Promise, co-founded an NGO called Freedom’s Answer, and co-authored a book on civic activism under the same title. Puneet received her BSc and MA from Oxford University.

Deborah Anyu Lai is the Asia Partnerships Lead for Solve For X, an open moonshot platform powered by Google [x]. She develops partnerships in Asia to help inspire, discover, and accelerate breakthrough technologies. She also works as a Product Policy Strategist and formerly as an Emerging Markets Program Manager at Google. Prior to Google, she worked at Sony Pictures Entertainment in legal and business affairs, and in the legislative office of US Senator Barbara Boxer. She graduated from Brown University with dual degrees in Economics and East Asian Studies.