Guest speakers
Main Forum
Prof. Alexander Ping-kong Wai (Panel Chair)
Prof. Alexander Ping-kong Wai (Panel Chair)
President and Vice-Chancellor, Hong Kong Baptist University
Fellow of IEEE and Optical Society of America
Speaker Insight
An expert in optical fiber communications with impactful patented research. He is committed to pioneering innovation and making contributions to the development of Hong Kong and the world.
Prof. Chak Sing Lau (Panelist)
Prof. Chak Sing Lau (Panelist)
Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Health), HKU
Dean of Medicine, HKU
Speaker Insight
An international expert in rheumatology and an advisor to the HKSAR Government on health policies. He is listed among the world’s top 2% most cited scientists by Stanford University.
Prof. Christopher Chao (Panelist)
Prof. Christopher Chao (Panelist)
Vice President (Research and Innovation), PolyU
Director of PolyU Policy Research Centre for Innovation and Technology
Speaker Insight
An accomplished scholar in thermal and environmental engineering. He manages research, knowledge transfer, and entrepreneurship activities at PolyU and serves on multiple government advisory boards.
Prof. George F. Smoot
Nobel Laureate in Physics (2006)
Professor Emeritus in Physics, HKUST
Speaker Insight
Awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering the black body form and anisotropy of cosmic microwave background radiation, helping further the Big Bang theory. He is an author of over 500 science papers and a keen advocate of popular science.
Prof. Jian Lu (Panelist)
Prof. Jian Lu (Panelist)
Dean of College of Engineering, CityUHK
Academician of the National Academy of Technologies of France
Speaker Insight
Primary research interests include advanced nanomaterials for energy and biomedical systems. He has published over 500 SCI journal papers and received the French Knight of the National Order of Légion d’Honneur.
Prof. Nick Rawlins (Panelist)
Prof. Nick Rawlins (Panelist)
Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Student Experience), CUHK
Master of Morningside College
Speaker Insight
Research lies at the intersection of behaviour and brain function, studying learning and memory bases. He has held senior roles at Oxford University and the Toulouse School of Economics.
Prof. Peng Gong (Panelist)
Prof. Peng Gong (Panelist)
Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic Development), HKU
Chair Professor of Global Sustainability
Speaker Insight
Research focuses on mapping and monitoring global environmental change and modelling infectious diseases. He is an author of over 600 articles and has chaired numerous reports on climate change and health.
Prof. Pierre-Louis Lions
Fields Medalist (1994)
Professor at Collège de France
Speaker Insight
A prominent expert in nonlinear partial differential equations. He has made profound contributions to the Boltzman equation, image processing, and mean field games. He is a member of numerous global academies including the French Academy of Sciences.
Prof. Yike Guo (Panelist)
Provost, HKUST
Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Speaker Insight
A world-renowned computer scientist leading large-scale AI and data science projects. He won the 2022 Wu Wenjun Artificial Intelligence Award for Outstanding Contribution, the highest honor in the field in China.
Professor Nancy Y. Ip
Professor Nancy Y. Ip
President, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)
Morningside Professor of Life Science
Speaker Insight
Biography: Professor Nancy Ip is the President of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the Morningside Professor of Life Science.
As a world-renowned neuroscientist, Professor Ip has made groundbreaking contributions to understanding brain development and neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. Her scientific achievements have earned her prestigious international honors, including the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award.
She is an elected member of several national and international academies, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the US National Academy of Sciences. Under her leadership, HKUST continues to drive global innovation and research excellence.
AI for Health
Dr. Lili Qiu
Assistant Managing Director, Microsoft Research Asia
IEEE and ACM Fellow
Speaker Insight
Expert in wireless communication, sensing, and machine learning. She oversees research and industrial collaboration at Microsoft Research Asia and previously served as a tenured professor at UT Austin.
Prof. Alison Noble
Prof. Alison Noble
Technikos Professor of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oxford
Vice President of the Royal Society
Speaker Insight
Internationally recognized for work on ultrasound AI. She leads programs on human-AI collaboration in healthcare imaging and has commercialized research through a successful spinout.
Prof. Christopher Longhurs
Prof. Christopher Longhurs
Chief Clinical and Innovation Officer, UC San Diego Health
Executive Director, Jacobs Center for Health Innovation
Speaker Insight
Responsible for the AI portfolio across the health system at UC San Diego. He pursues scholarship in care quality, patient safety, and healthcare AI while maintaining a clinical practice.
Prof. Nicholas Ayache
Research Director, INRIA (France)
Member of the French Academy of Sciences
Speaker Insight
Leads research on the “digital patient” and AI algorithms for medical diagnosis. He has published over 400 articles, co-founded seven high-tech companies, and received the Royal Society Microsoft Grand Prize.
Prof. Peter Hegyi
Prof. Peter Hegyi
Director of Centre for Translational Medicine, University of Pécs
Member of Academia Europaea
Speaker Insight
A leader in translational medicine and gastroenterology. He leads a network spanning 24 countries and focuses on bridging the gap between scientific discovery and real-world clinical application.
Prof. Russell Gruen (Chair)
Prof. Russell Gruen (Chair)
Associate Provost of Health and Medical Sciences, HKUST
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences
Speaker Insight
An influential clinician-scientist in trauma care. He co-invented Covidence software used by 400,000 academics and has led significant medical technology partnerships globally.
Prof. Simon Warfield
Prof. Simon Warfield
Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School
Director of the Computational Radiology Laboratory, Boston Children’s Hospital
Speaker Insight
Develops innovative algorithms for quantitative brain assessment and disease detection. He is a leader in advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques and their translation to clinical care.
Prof. Tien Yin Wong
Prof. Tien Yin Wong
Founding Head and Chair Professor, Tsinghua Medicine
Vice Provost, Tsinghua University
Speaker Insight
A physician-scientist with over 1,500 peer-reviewed papers. His research covers retinal diseases, ocular imaging, and AI. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine.
Prof. Wendy Chapman
Prof. Wendy Chapman
Associate Dean of Digital Health and Informatics, University of Melbourne
Director of the Centre for Digital Transformation of Health
Speaker Insight
An elected fellow of the US National Academy of Medicine. Her work focuses on leveraging data and AI/natural language processing to transform healthcare delivery and design virtual care.
Future City
Prof. Gerard Lachapelle
Prof. Gerard Lachapelle
Professor Emeritus of Engineering, University of Calgary
Fellow of IEEE and Royal Society of Canada
Speaker Insight
A pioneer in GNSS technology development since 1980. His research group developed numerous algorithms and patents licensed worldwide, and he has received the Institute of Navigation Johannes Kepler Award.
Prof. Hui Lin (Chair)
Prof. Ioannis Brilakis
Prof. Ioannis Brilakis
Laing O’Rourke Professor of Civil and Information Engineering, University of Cambridge
Director of the Construction IT Laboratory, Cambridge
Speaker Insight
Expert in digital twins and construction automation. He is the President of the International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction and has received the ASCE J. James R. Croes Medal.
Prof. Jian-Guo Dai (Co-Chair)
Prof. Jian-Guo Dai (Co-Chair)
Chair Professor & Head, Dept. of Architecture and Civil Engineering, CityUHK
Fellow of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers
Speaker Insight
Focuses on emerging materials for sustainable concrete infrastructure. He is a top 2% most cited scientist and a startup co-founder who won a Gold Medal at the Geneva Inventions Expo.
Prof. Jonathan Corcoran
Prof. Jonathan Corcoran
Professor of School of the Environment, University of Queensland
Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, Australia
Speaker Insight
Human geographer studying how human mobility shapes urban systems and social sustainability. He uses big data and spatial analytics to inform smarter policy and understand human capital migration.
Prof. Mei-Po Kwan (Panelist)
Prof. Mei-Po Kwan (Panelist)
Choh-Ming Li Professor of Geography and Resource Management, CUHK
Fellow of the U.K. Academy of Social Sciences
Speaker Insight
Ranked No. 5 globally in geography (Stanford 2024 list). She has made ground-breaking contributions to environmental health, human mobility, and GIScience using real-time GPS tracking.
Prof. Renzhong Guo
Prof. Renzhong Guo
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
Dean of the Institute of Smart City, Shenzhen University
Speaker Insight
Expert in spatial analysis, 3D cadastre, and smart cities. He serves as vice chairman of the China Land Society and has led significant research in cartography and geography.
Prof. Wenzhong Shi (Panelist)
Prof. Wenzhong Shi (Panelist)
Director of Smart Cities Research Institute, PolyU
Academician of International Eurasian Academy of Sciences
Speaker Insight
Research covers AI-based object recognition from satellite imagery and intelligent analytics for spatial big data. He won China’s State Natural Science Award and holds over 50 patents.
Prof. Yoshitsugu Hayashi
Prof. Yoshitsugu Hayashi
Executive Committee Member of The Club of Rome
Distinguished Professor, Chubu University
Speaker Insight
Focuses on urbanization and infrastructure impact on Quality of Life. He has been a game-changer for transport sustainability, influencing major projects like the Bangkok urban railway and Indian high-speed rail.