China's top science academy joins hands with HK PolyU for Greater Bay Area environment studies

HONG KONG -- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and two research institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have joined hands in studies on issues including environmental protection in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

PolyU and the two CAS institutes, namely Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science (AMSS) and Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry (GIG), announced Monday the inauguration of two joint laboratories on PolyU campus.

One of the new laboratories, CAS GIG-PolyU Joint Laboratory of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area for the Environment, will focus its research on the Greater Bay Area's air quality improvement, environment and health for city clusters, urban land integrated remediation measures for different types of pollution, municipal solid waste and sewage treatment in new rural areas, ecological management in estuary and coastal areas, etc., PolyU told Xinhua on Tuesday.

The other one, CAS AMSS-PolyU Joint Laboratory of Applied Mathematics, will focus on developing basic algorithms studies covering optimisation calculations, tensor calculations, multiphysics calculations, etc., as well as on research in applied statistics and financial mathematics, and further studies in the spectra of big data and artificial intelligence.

Complementing the strengths of PolyU and the CAS research institutes, the two joint laboratories will collaborate to extend research frontiers, advance knowledge transfer and applications, as well as cultivate talents in the fields of applied mathematics and environmental protection for contributing towards the development of the Greater Bay Area and the society.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, Interim President of PolyU Philip C. H. Chan said: "Over the years, PolyU and CAS have built solid foundation in research collaboration... We will leverage each other's expertise to beef up research studies that align with the nation's development."

CAS representative to the ceremony Cao Jinghua said the central government had made it definite to support Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for developing into an international innovation and technology hub.

"We hope that the newly established joint laboratories will showcase the synergies of CAS and PolyU... and bring the complementary strengths of the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong into full play and ultimately contribute to the economic development and betterment of people's livelihood," Cao said.