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MoU Signing Ceremony of PolyU -
Alibaba Cloud on Artificial Intelligence Collaboration

Date
13 Nov 2018

Abstract

PolyU and Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, signed a Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their cooperation in Artificial Intelligence (AI) research,
particularly focusing on the areas of smart cities and smart healthcare. The two parties hope to
translate research findings into real applications which can be initially adopted in Hong Kong as
a pilot and then rolled out to the rest of the Greater Bay Area and other overseas cities.
ITDO arranged a signing ceremony on the campus of PolyU, with Professor Alex WAI, PolyU’s
Vice President (Research Development), and Mr Simon HU, Senior Vice President of Alibaba
Group and President of Alibaba Cloud, as signatories. Dr HAO Yin-xing, Director of Liaison Office
of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong SAR, and Professor Timothy W. TONG,
PolyU President, alongside a number of industry leaders also attended and witnessed this event.
The two parties will further explore the opportunity for setting up a joint research center to
advance AI research, including fundamental research, applied research and commercialization
of research findings that will ultimately support the development of the ecosystem and benefit
the wider community.
In the area of smart cities, the two parties will strive to apply big data technologies and the Deep
Neural Network to areas such as public transportation management and urban planning.
As for smart healthcare, PolyU and Alibaba Cloud hope to develop a series of advanced and
impactful AI-application technologies. Initiatives that have already been identified include
helping to lower medical expenses, reducing the chance of medical malpractice, assisting in the
automation of diagnostic procedures and providing more personalized medication services for
patients.

12 High-impact Collaborative Research Platform