Bulletin No. 1, 2009

12 R esearch funding has been rising rapidly on the mainland and the trend is expected to continue. The Shenzhen Municipal Government will set aside over $10 billion for research funding in 2010 — an enormous sum compared to Hong Kong. And the fact that the city only has one university, compared to eight in Hong Kong, will boost the chances of CUHK scientists of securing support. Besides, researchers like to see their findings turned into something useful. ‘Scientists need to know how their research can be applied. Getting support allows them to find out where Chinese University Bulletin No. 1, 2009 Increased Incentive the demand is. This helps them to finetune their focus,’ Prof. Xu observes. There is also a larger talent pool on the mainland. ‘There are only about 30,000 university candidates per year in Hong Kong, compared to 30 million on the mainland.’ The SIAIT received over $57 million in funding in its first two years (2007 and 2008) of operation. Most of this came from national and local research foundations. The Chinese University’s role is to provide leadership and scientific expertise. In May, the SIAIT moved from Shekou to a beautiful site in Xili measuring over 200,000 sq m. Simulation of the new Xili campus of SIAIT