CUHK students have won a total of 22 awards at the 11th Hong Kong University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, the highest number among local universities.

They took home the grand prize in both the innovation and entrepreneurship categories. In innovation, students also bagged three first prizes, five second prizes, five third prizes and one merit prize. In entrepreneurship, they also won one first prize, two second prizes, one third prize and one merit prize. Overall, CUHK won the Outstanding Organisation Award for its outstanding achievements.

The grand prize in innovation went to a team from the Department of Electronic Engineering with their project “Next Generation Data Centre Interconnects with Integrated Neuromorphic Photonic Processor”. Large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) training requires uniformly ultra-low latency and energy-efficient data interconnects to let massive graphics processing units function as a unified system.

Under the supervision of Professor Huang Chaoran, Wang Benshan, Xiao Qiarong, Xu Tengji, Fan Li and Liu Shaojie presented a new type of data connection that uses light instead of electricity to transmit information — the first system in the world to operate entirely with light — eliminating the need for traditional electronic parts that usually slow things down. Their invention is over 10,000 times faster and uses 1,000 times less energy than current methods. It can also send data over a distance of up to 80 km, compared to just 2 km with existing technology. The innovation would provide comprehensive and robust support for future AI development.