Business/ Service/ Function
Business/ Service/ Function
Technology Transfer Office: Our Service Arm
The Technology Transfer Office (TTO) was established in 2006 to manage the University’s invention disclosures and intellectual property assets. It also promotes and facilitates the transfer of innovations and research discoveries made at HKU so as to benefit both the University community and the general public.
The TTO provides services and support to all University academic staff on matters relating to technology transfer, intellectual property protection, research-related collaborative or service contracts, applied research, and industrial and business relationships. When a project reaches the point where it is ready for a contract, it is passed to Versitech for contract negotiations and closure.
- Facilitate intellectual property protection and commercialisation of technologies developed at HKU by
- Evaluating applications to patent inventions, and the commercial viability of inventions
- Overseeing patent and trademark undertakings
- Drafting, scrutinizing and advising on research-related agreements
- Develop links between the University and parties in technology commercialisation
- Organize educational events to foster an innovative and entrepreneurial culture at HKU
Versitech Limited: Our Business Arm
Versitech Limited ("港大科橋有限公司") is the commercial arm of HKU. It was established in 1994 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the University and is incorporated as a non-profit company with prominent business people on its Board of Management. Versitech negotiates, executes and manages commercial business contracts and agreements on behalf of the University.
- Undertake the commercialisation of HKU innovations and technologies through licensing, the creation of start-ups or collaboration.
- Engage in contract research and consulting in conjunction with HKU researchers. This work is aimed at serving business and community needs.
Board of Management
Board members
- Mr. Jason CHIU (Chairman)
- Professor Richard Y C WONG (Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor)
- Professor Zuojun SHEN (Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research)
- Dr Shawn Zhao
- Ir Dr. Alfred Tan
- Professor Victor O K LI
- Professor H L Henry CHAN
- Mr. Tony Lo
- Mr. Peter K S YAN
- Dr. Joseph W O TAM
- Ms. Anna Sun
- Mr. Joseph Fung
Chairman
Jason Chiu is the founder and CEO of Cherrypicks, a leader in mobile innovation, specializing in making cities smarter and growing the eLearning community. Jason is an industry icon in Hong Kong well known for his successful entrepreneurial experience in mobile innovation. With disruptive Online-to-Offline (O2O) solutions as well as patent-pending products and technology inventions, Cherrypicks has represented Hong Kong and China in many world stages and won over 100 local and international awards. The early entrepreneurial journey of the company was also featured as a Harvard Business School case study (#N9-807-106).
Cherrypicks' solution business and Cherrypicks alpha, another startup spun off with the company’s product business, were strategically merged with NetDragon (HKSE:777) in 2014 and 2016 respectively. Apart from leading both entities, Jason is also a mentor and angel investor for a number of startups, incubators and co-working spaces to give back to startups in Hong Kong and Silicon Valley.
Jason is the Honorary President of Group 30 “Creative Industries” and Chairman of the Hong Kong Startup Council under Federation of Hong Kong Industries. He is the Director of the Hong Kong Crowdfunding Professional Association, the Advisor of Crowdfund Capital Advisors, the Vice Chairman of Innovation and Technology Fund – General Support Programme Vetting Committee of Innovation and Technology Commission, a Council member of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and the University of Hong Kong, a Board member of the Junior Achievement Hong Kong, as well as a Committee member of the HKTDC Belt and Road & Greater Bay Area Committee.
Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Professor Y.C. Richard Wong, SBS, JP, is Chair of Economics and Philip Wong Kennedy Wong Professor in Political Economy. He joined the University of Hong Kong in 1992, served as Director of the School of Business from 1997 to 2001, founding Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics from 2001 to 2004, and Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor during 2004-2010; he is appointed interim Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor from April 2019.
Professor Wong was educated at the University of Chicago. He taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1976 to 1992. His main research interest is in economic policy analysis and regional economic development. He is principal investigator of the University Grants Committee's Area of Excellence award for research in economic policy and business strategy.
He had served on numerous professional and public bodies and was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star in 1999 for his contributions in education, housing, industry and technology development and was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 2000 by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research)
Professor Shen obtained his PhD from Northwestern University, USA in 2000. He started his academic career as Assistant Professor at the University of Florida in the same year, and joined the University of California, Berkeley in 2004, where he rose through the academic ranks to become Chancellor’s Professor and Chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He was also a Centre Director at the Tsinghua-Berkeley Institute in Shenzhen and an Honorary Professor at Tsinghua University, China. Professor Shen joined HKU in 2021. Internationally recognized as a top scholar in his field, Professor Shen is a Fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), the President-Elect of the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS), and a past President of the Society of Locational Analysis of INFORMS.
Dr. Shawn Zhao was the program director of the Office of Corporate Relations (OCR) at MIT. He has many years of successful domestic and Asian business development, technology transfer, and product development experience in many industries including batteries/battery materials, separation/filtration, and composite materials. Before joining MIT OCR, he was V.P. of Commercial Development and Director of Product Development at Porous Power Technologies/Ahlstrom Group in Shanghai where he enjoyed success in sales, establishing collaborations with a US National Lab, and building Alstom’s Shanghai Technology Center. Prior to this, Dr. Zhao founded MatCo Company of Westborough, MA where he raised funds to establish a new lithium ion battery separator manufacturing company, developed solvent-free casting film micro-porous lithium ion battery separators, and consulted on batteries for heavy-duty applications. He has held many positions before that, including as General Manager and CTO at PolyOne Co. in China, as Project Leader at Hollingsworth and Vose Co. in Walpole, MA, as Material Research Manager at PGI in Charlotte, NC, and as a Research Scientist at International Paper Co. in Boston.
Zhao earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from MIT, completing his Thesis under Professor Mark S. Wrighton on “Electron Transfer and Energy Transfer in Photo-active and Electro-active Molecules in Solution and at Interfaces”. He has many affiliations including as Executive Director of the Board of 128 CUTE, as Adjunct Professor of Lanzhou Jiaotong University, as a member of the American Chemical Society, as a member of the Electrochemical Society, and as a member of the Material Research Society.
Deputy Director
Ir Dr. Alfred Tan is the Deputy Director of the Technology Transfer Office (HKU). He holds a PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, a Master's in IP Law, and is a registered Australian Trademarks Attorney. With extensive experience in knowledge management, technology transfer, and intellectual property law, he previously served as the Head of Knowledge Transfer Office in the Hong Kong Baptist University. Additionally, he has served as the Managing Director of Hong Kong Baptist University R&D Licensing Limited and has been a member of both the Council and Court of HKBU. Dr. Tan's expertise has led to successful technology commercialization and significant income generation for HKBU.
Professor Li was born in Hong Kong in 1954. He received his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Electrical Engineer, and Doctor of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1977, 1979, 1980, and 1981, respectively.
He joined the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, California, USA, in February 1981, and became Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of the USC Communication Sciences Institute. Since September 1997, he has been with the University of Hong Kong (HKU), where he is Chair Professor of Information Engineering at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He is also a director of Sunevision Holdings Ltd., iSSL Holdings Ltd., mCommerce Online Ltd., and IAR Ltd., and he serves on the advisory board of various technology companies. Professor Li was the Managing Director of Versitech Ltd from September 1997 to June 2004. His research interest is in information technologies, including high-speed communication networks, wireless networks, and distributed multimedia systems. Professor Li chairs various committees, workshops, and international conferences. He has given distinguished lectures and keynote addresses, and has consulted at various organizations around the world. He also serves on government panels, giving advice on the development of information technology and on technology transfer.
Professor Li has received numerous awards, including the PRC Ministry of Education Changjiang Chair Professorship at Tsinghua University, the UK Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Visiting Fellowship in Communications, the Outstanding Researcher Award of HKU, the Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award of HKU, the Croucher Foundation Senior Research Fellowship, and the Bronze Bauhinia Star, Government of HKSAR, China. He is a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, the IEEE, the HKIE and the IAE.
Tony is currently the Director of Finance of HKU. Before joining HKU, Tony spent 11 years with The Hong Kong Jockey Club (“HKJC”), his last job being Head of Corporate Accounting and Taxation, responsible for various finance functions including accounting, budgeting, statutory reporting, management reporting and controllership at different stages. He also gained extensive experience in general and financial management from his career with AIG Consumer Finance Group prior to joining HKJC. Tony obtained his Bachelor degree in Business Administration from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Master of Science in Financial Management from The University of London. He is an associate member of The Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Dr Henry Chan is a specialist in dermatology. He is also currently the Honorary Clinical Professor of the Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong and Honorary Consultant Dermatologist of Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong. He is Council and Court member of the University of Hong Kong, Board of Director of Versitech Limited, the University of Hong Kong, Member of Hospital Governing Committee of MacLehose Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Hospital Authority and Member of Board of Governors, Centennial College. He is a Steward of The Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Dr Chan obtained his Medical degree (MBBS) from The London Hospital Medical College, University of London, Master (M Sc Clinical dermatology) and his first Doctorate degree (MD), from King’s College, University of London. He then did his second Doctorate degree (PhD) from Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, part of his PhD was done at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. As a result, he has been a visiting faculty (research staff) at the Wellman Center, MGH since 2007 and was Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School from 2008 until 2010. Dr Chan’s work has led him to successfully obtained six patent families (five in Boston and one in Hong Kong). In 2011, he and 3 other colleagues (Dr Rox Anderson, Dr Dieter Manstein and Dr Irina Erenburg) at MGH, Harvard Medical School set up an incubator company known as Blossom Innovations and sub-licensed these technologies back from MGH for further development. Subsequently, these technologies have been transferred to R2 Dermatology in California and AVAVA LLC in Boston. He is a member of the Board of Director of Blossom Innovations, AVAVA and S3 Inject.
Dr Chan headed the academic division of both the University of Hong Kong (Associate Professor 2000 – 2004) and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Associate Professor 1998 – 2000). He was the President of the Hong Kong College of Dermatologists (2009 – 2013) and the Honorary Secretary of the Asian Dermatological Association (1999 – 2011). He was also the Chairman of the Hong Kong Society of Dermatology and Venereology (2003 – 2005 & 2007 – 2009). Dr Chan has published or accepted to be published over 350 articles including 1 book, 37 book chapters and 146 peer reviewed international indexed publications (mean impact factor 3.23, total citation 3,625 and H Index: 38 (researcher ID number: L-2267-2013)). He is the Associate Editor of Lasers in Surgery and Medicine and serves on the editorial board of other international journals including the Dermatologic Surgery, Lasers in Medical Science, Journal of Cosmetic and Laser Therapy and Archives of Dermatological Research.
Dr Chan is currently the President-Elect of the American Society for Laser Medicine & Surgery (ASLMS, found in 1980, is the world largest Professional organization dedicated to promoting research, education and clinical care in the field of medical laser and energy-based applications) and will be the first non-American President in 2021. Dr Chan was the Conference Program Co-Chair for 2019 ASLMS annual conference in Denver. Dr Chan became one of the few non-American to be elected as a member of the ASLMS Board of Directors (2012-2015) and re-elected again in 2018 (2018-2021). In 2010, Dr Chan became the first only non-American to be awarded the Ellet H Drake Memorial Award by ASLMS for his contribution to laser surgery. He was also the recipient of the ASLMS Presidential Citation in 2002, 2016 and 2018, ASLMS Best Session Award Clinical Applications – Cutaneous in 2018 and ASLMS Program Chair Recognition in 2019.
Dr Chan received the Presidential Award presented by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) in 2014. In 2020, Dr Chan was awarded by The Sturge-Weber Foundation as one of the honorees. In March 2016, Dr Chan was voted and elected by the membership of the American Dermatological Association as an International Honorary Member. He was also an elected board member of Dermatologic Aesthetic Surgery International League (DASIL) (2011-2014) and an Honorary President of its annual congress in 2017. His other professional associations include Fellowships of the following institutions: the Royal College of Physicians of London, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, Hong Kong College of Physicians and Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (Medicine).
Mr Peter Yan is the Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited. As the CEO of Cyberport, Mr Yan leads the digital technology flagship to focus on fostering industry development, enterprise transformation and talent cultivation to realise Cyberport’s vision to create new impetus for Hong Kong’s new economy through digital technology.
Mr Yan has 34 years of experience in the information technology industry and is a fellow of the Hong Kong Computer Society. Prior to joining Cyberport, Mr Yan was the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of SUNeVision Holdings Limited; and had held various senior management positions in large consulting and information technology services companies including Accenture, Tradelink Electronic Commerce Limited, and Computer and Technologies Holdings Limited. Mr Yan has been active in public services especially in the areas of talent development and digital technology industry development, serving as advisors to the Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong and University of Hong Kong, as well as the Board of Cyberport from 2011 to 2017.
Mr Yan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and received Executive Education from the Harvard Business School.
Dr. Joseph Wing-On Tam is the Founder and Chairman of the Board of the Pangenia Group. Prior to retiring from HKU, Dr. Tam was a Visiting Professor of UCSF, Baylor Medical College, 湖南湘雅, 重庆医科大学 etc. He was one of the Founders and Presidents of the Hong Kong Biochemistry Association and member of international professional societies.
Dr. Tam has started working in rDNA research field in Hong Kong since the late 1970s, cloned the very first human Thalassemia DNA phage library in NIH, and identified few mutations in Chinese patients in 1980s. In promoting DNA research in the region, he organized a rDNA training course with the support of UNESCO; brought in the pioneers to train young scientists in Hong Kong and Asia-Pacific Region in 1983. During his tenure at HKU, he travelled extensively in helping scientists to launch DNA research activities, especially in 2nd-ranked Universities; accepted and referred young scientists for overseas trainings to establish research activities and exchanges. The Fudan-HKU Sister University linkage and the Molecular Institute of Molecular Biology were byproducts of such activities.
In Hong Kong Biotechnology industry, Dr. Tam is the original inventor and uses his US patented “flow-through hybridization technology” as platform for low density DNA array product for SNP mutation detection as well as pathogens identification. This platform is now used by other international companies such as Pamgene and Master Diagnostics. He formed the first university-industry joint venture using such platform and later successfully established companies such as Hybribio. DiagCor Bioscience Incorporation Limited, the important foundation of the Pangenia Group was founded in 2006 in Hong Kong. The Group has become the most comprehensive Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory in Hong Kong, and at the same time a place to cultivate local biotechnology talents. Dr. Tam is now concentrating to help some of the startups to help creating the ecosystem for Biotechnology in Hong Kong.
Ms. Anna Sun is the Director to the Nan Fung Group CEO's Office and serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Nan Fung Life Sciences (China). She holds a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Finance from Tsinghua University. With prior experience as Vice President at Barclays Capital Asia Limited, she was responsible for structuring and offering interest rate exotic products in the Greater China region. Ms. Sun's expertise and diverse roles contribute to her integral position within the Nan Fung Group.
Joseph has worked at the crossroads of business execution and strategic development as an investor, entrepreneur and operator since 2002. Based in Hong Kong, Joseph manages and operates a venture capital fund house focusing on life sciences, material sciences, agricultural technology, clean technology and education. He actively spearheads public-private institutional support from Canada and Hong Kong to help startups successfully develop opportunities on a global scale.
A notable responsibility includes being appointed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in ABAC to represent Canada in APEC with the support of the Minister of Trade and Global Affairs Canada. Joseph is also the Hong Kong ABLAC representative for the Asia Pacific Foundation, the innovation and technology chair for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, the advisory board member of Creative Destruction Labs Global, and the management board director of Versitech under Hong Kong University.
Prior to leading Saltagen Ventures, Joseph served at Citigroup Alternative Investments and Morgan Stanley in the buy-side divisions. Thereafter, he drove the expansion of Hong Kong’s largest quad-play media company, PCCW Media, in developing their overseas content acquisition and broadcasting departments. Joseph is an alumnus of St. George’s School and Cornell University. Outside of work, Joseph enjoys spending time with his daughters, is a certified ski instructor and a rescue and technical scuba diver.
Last Update: 28 Feb 2024
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