Suga International Holdings Limited (“SUGA” or the “Group”) established a joint laboratory with the Department of Electrical Engineering (“CityU EE”) of City University of Hong Kong (“CityU”) with the aim of facilitating the development of innovative technologies in Hong Kong by promoting research and development activities and transfer of knowledge.
CityU EE Joint Lab facilitates communication between SUGA and CityU, particularly relating to the internship programme. In the past two years, the Group actively participated in the internship programme of CityU EE and recruited a year three student intern from the department who joined the Group’s real-time pet face recognition development project. SUGA offers pet-related products and services with advanced technology, including an AI technology which can recognize specific pets via a mobile app and which offers accuracy of up to 99% and 84%, respectively, on different and the same breeds.
Dr. Alfred Ng, Executive Director and Chief Technology Officer of SUGA, said, “One of the most famous quotes attributed to Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford was ‘Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.’ SUGA has been very keen to collaborate closely with local research centres and universities to promote the academic development and innovative research in Hong Kong, as well as to nurture innovative technology talent so as to fulfill corporate social responsibility commitments. The Joint Lab programme is another venue for cooperation with a local university following the Group’s donation to The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2019 for the establishment of the Suga Research Laboratory for Sustainable Urban Green Agriculture. Through the programme, we look forward to working together with CityU to drive up advancement of innovative technology in Hong Kong.”
Dr Ng enjoys excellent relations with CityU that started when he served as a visiting professor and a member of the university’s Electronic Engineering Departmental Advisory Committee, and with his sponsorship offer to CityU for its “User-centric, Difficulty-sensitive Document Retrieval” project. In addition, Dr Ng has also endeavoured to promote academic development and the development of innovative technology in Hong Kong. He was thus appointed last October as Director of the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute. With his track record, he can facilitate and promote the development of technology-based industries through innovation and applied technology in order to enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness. Dr Ng was also appointed as a member of Vetting Committee of the Trade and Industrial Organisation Support Fund recently, so that he can provide professional advice and recommendations to the Support Fund relating to the matters on assessment and evaluation.
Established in 2019, CityU EE Joint Lab is a programme which promotes cooperation among CityU EE and government bodies, industrial associations, institutions, enterprises and research and development centres. By bringing together enterprises, research and development centres and CityU’s research team, a series of research initiatives and subjects will be jointly developed and pursued to resolve practical application issues, promote transfer of knowledge relating to research results, apply for funding or raise funds for science and research projects, organise seminars to facilitate exchanges and offers of internship opportunities to EE students. The programme also has an online platform that provides on a regular basis project information and progress and updates on research projects.
Dr Alfred Ng (in back row first from left), Executive Director and Chief Technology Officer of SUGA, Professor Way Kuo (middle in front row), President of CityU, and Professor Stella Pang (second from left in front row), Head of CityU’s Department of Electrical Engineering witnesses establishment of the Joint Lab.
Dr Alfred Ng (middle), Executive Director and Chief Technology Officer of SUGA, the year three intern at CityU EE (far left, standing), together with SUGA colleagues in a huddle about the development of a real-time pet face recognition model.
