Annual Report 2004–05

protection, mobile communications and digital entertainment, industrial ecology, health food, and Chinese medicine. In summer 2005, the HKSAR Government, through the Innovation and Technology Commission, allocated HK$54 m i l l i on to the University for setting up a project to develop technologies and facilities necessary for the design and manufacture of high quality three-hand mechanical watch movements. The project is strongly backed by the local industry. HK$6 m i l l i on i ndu s t r i al sponsorship has been received. To consolidate Ho ng Kong's role as a major logistics hub and supply chain management base i n Asia, the Innovation and Technology Commission has committed HK$52.2 million to establish a R&D Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management Enabling Technologies. The centre w i l l be jointly hosted by CUHK and t wo other universities. The initial focus of research w i l l be Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies. The technologies are particularly useful for cargo and container logistics, as we ll as electronic border-crossing applications. Besides industrial sponsorship, the I n n o v a t i on and Technology Comm i s s i on has p r o v i d ed f u n d i ng s u p p o rt amounting to HK$5 million. The Department of Electronic Engineering, i n collaboration w i t h the Faculty of Medicine and companies i n Gu a n g d o n g / Ho ng Kong, launched a project to develop wearable medical devices for e-healthcare. It has received f und i ng to the tune of HK$5.5 m i l l i on f r om the Innovation and Technology Commission. The Department of Automation and Computer-Aided Engineering, together w i th the Department of Chemistry, launched a collaborative project to help a metal product manufacturer diversify into a new business. Their role is to enable the company to develop a health-conscious and environment-friendly washing machine. The project involves the application of nano-coating technologies to a miniature washer i n order to maximize cleaning performance, k i ll h a rm f ul micro-organisms, and save water and electricity. The Department of Automation and Computer-Aided Engineering also received government and industrial f u n d i ng of more than HK$4 m i l l i on to design and b u i ld a new type of controllable mechnical press. The new design of the metal f o rm i ng press combines the advantages of both the conventional mechanical press and the hydraulic press. Major mobile network operation and application developers have also been keen to partner w i t h the University's research centres to explore new technologies and new applications for the fast g r ow i ng mobile communications market. For example, Mobile Technologies Centre (MobiTeC) i n the Faculty of Engineering developed a 3G-network simulator that helps mobile operators to analyse their network planning to meet the growing needs for 3G mobile network. MobiTeC also developed a universal transcoder that enables mobile handset users to access multimedia content on the Internet. Prof. Peter Cheung f r om the Department of Biology conducted an innovative research project on the de v e l opment of edible f u n g a l / mu s h r o om polysaccharides as novel dietary fibre and functional food ingredients for the rapidly g r ow i ng health food and nutraceuticals industry. In collaboration w i th the Sanming Mycological Institute i n Fujian and Wu h an University i n China, Prof. Cheung w o r k ed on the n u t r i t i o n al values and the various health benefits of certain new ly cultivated edible mushrooms w i t h promising potential to be developed into functional foods. 服務社會 放眼世界 Service to H o ng K o ng a nd the Wo r ld 6 5