President S. Joe Qin of Lingnan University welcomes the government's plan to develop AI as a core industry
Prof S. Joe Qin, President and Wai Kee Kau Chair Professor of Data Science at Lingnan University, welcomes Financial Secretary Paul Chan’s announcement of education-related policy measures in the 2025-26 Budget.
Government endeavours to develop AI as a core industry
President Qin welcomes the Budget's announcement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a core industry for Hong Kong. In recent years, Lingnan has actively promoted AI-related initiatives, playing a pioneering role in educational innovation in the digital era. The University has committed itself to encouraging research scholars, increasing the science and technology expertise in Hong Kong, and accelerating the development of new quality productive forces. To be specific:
1. Starting from 2023, all staff and students at Lingnan University have had free access to various versions of ChatGPT, with the recent addition of the DeepSeek option to further improve research and work efficiency. This initiative optimises university resources, alleviates the psychological pressure caused by repetitive tasks, and assists staff in building an "immune system" to adapt to the digital age.
2. Beginning this academic year, Lingnan University has made Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) a compulsory subject for all first-year students, systematically developing their ability to coexist and collaborate with AI. This includes mastering the logical reasoning capabilities of large language models, exploring AI’s application potential in different research fields, demonstrating correct values in using AI, and avoiding potential ethical risks. The aim is to add more critically minded graduates with strong analytical skills to Hong Kong’s science and technology sector.
3. The university opened the School of Data Science, one of Hong Kong's latest pioneering initiatives focused on AI and big data modelling technologies, in May 2024.
Government sets aside $1 billion to establish the Hong Kong AI Research and Development Institute
Lingnan hopes to lead several research projects for the Hong Kong AI Research and Development Institute, and to actively promote people-centred AI research to avoid the negative impacts of AI on society. The University intends to create an ethical and value-driven "immune system," in order to transform scientific and technological achievements into practical applications, thus aiding the government and research institutions worldwide in motivating AI-related talent and supporting research projects.
To achieve this goal, Lingnan has upgraded campus facilities comprehensively to align with Hong Kong's developments in science and technology. The first phase of the supercomputing centre Lingnan HPC NexT has been completed, and was officially launched this month. The centre is equipped with dozens of supercomputers with computational power comparable to the top 100 supercomputers worldwide, significantly advancing AI-related research projects. It is expected that the computation time of some projects can be reduced from several months to just a few hours, allowing researchers to accelerate their results. The second phase of the supercomputing centre will soon begin at the Lingnan Hub, where advanced cooling technology will lower electricity costs and carbon dioxide emissions. Lingnan University also welcomes the government's new $1.5 billion round of the Research Matching Grant Scheme, which will prompt more Lingnan scholars to engage in cutting-edge research in fields such as AI, new materials, and humanitarian technology.