In September 2009, under the mentorship of Prof. LI Zexiang, Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering (ECE), an unmanned helicopter developed by Mr. WANG Tao, an ECE MPhil alumnus, made the world’s first autonomous flight at Mount Everest, setting a milestone in both the history of unmanned aviation and the surveying and protection of high-altitude environments.

Prior to this milestone, Mr. WANG had entered the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market, founding DJI (Da-Jiang Innovations) in Shenzhen in 2006. Mr. WANG went on to turn DJI into the world’s leading consumer and commercial drone manufacturer, and one of HKUST’s notable entrepreneurship success stories.