MUST LIU’s Innovation and Technology Centre, a facility for industry-academia-research collaboration jointly run by the private Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) and the local Liu’s Commerce and Industry Limited, has presented three medical engineering projects that have transformed scientific achievements into practical applications, which the university says have injected new impetus into Macau’s industrial diversification drive.
The industry-academia-research facility was established in October 2023, located in the premises of Liu’s Commerce and Industry Limited situated in Coloane’s Concórdia Industrial Park. The MUST campus is located in Taipa.
Liu’s Commerce and Industry Limited (康澤工商有限公司) is owned by prominent local businessman Liu Chak Wan, who is also a co-founder and the chancellor of the university.
The facility is a cooperation project jointly launched by the university and the company, aiming to promote the transformation from the university’s research achievements to the production of newly developed hi-tech products, thereby driving the development of the big health and high-tech industries under the local government’s 1+4 appropriate economic diversification campaign.
The government’s 1+4 model aims to consolidate and diversify the development of the city’s tourism and leisure industry, i.e., the “1” element, while putting special emphasis on promoting the development of four new key industries, i.e., the “4” element, namely 1) big health mainly driven by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), 2) modern finance, 3) high-tech, and 4) MICE and commerce as well as culture and sport.
MUST LIU’s Innovation and Technology Centre held a session on Thursday on its premises to present the three medical engineering projects.
Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) President Joseph Lee Hun-wei (from left to right), Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Science and Technology Development Fund (FDCT) President Che Weng Keong address Thursday’s presentation session at MUST LIU’s Innovation and Technology Centre in Coloane. – Photo combo: Tony Wong
Guests try out the robotic TCM clinic after the session on Thursday. – Photo: Tony Wong
Interdisciplinary approach
Delivering a speech during Thursday’s session, Chair Prof. Joseph Lee Hun-wei, the university’s president and vice-chancellor, said that the centre is a base of the university for fostering innovation and promoting interdisciplinary research.
Prof. Lee underlined that the centre, which has been developing industry-academia-research collaboration based on an interdisciplinary approach, has made breakthrough achievements in cutting-edge fields such as medical engineering and artificial intelligence (AI).
Prof. Lee said he expects the centre’s research achievements in medical engineering to be able to inject strong impetus into Macau’s appropriate economic diversification drive, adding that the university will heed President Xi Jinping’s various important instructions with the aim of supporting the local government in appropriately diversifying the city’s economy.
Zhong Nanshan stresses technological transformation
Also delivering a speech, Zhong Nanshan, the nation’s renowned medical expert, acknowledged the centre’s research achievements in medical engineering.
Zhong said that nowadays the development of science and technology must comply with the greater integration between education, technological applications, and the training of highly qualified professionals.
Zhong, also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, underlined that the concept of scientific research has evolved where nowadays universities should place stronger emphasis on their ability to transform scientific research achievements into the successful development of new hi-tech products, a change from previously when universities put more effort in publishing scientific research papers in top academic journals.
Zhong also said that the integration between AI and medical engineering is expected to become a promising field in scientific and technological research.
Scientific innovation promoting economic diversification
Also delivering a speech, Che Weng Keong, president of the local government-run Science and Technology Development Fund (FDCT), underlined the importance of scientific innovation in promoting Macau’s appropriate economic diversification.
Che said that his fund is committed to providing subsidies targeting projects that are expected to be able to transform scientific research achievements into applications, with the aim of enabling scientific innovation to make greater contributions to the city’s socioeconomic development.
Che praised the centre for overcoming the difficulties that hinder the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
3 projects
The first project presented during the session was a robotic clinic for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that integrates intelligent robotic technology with different AI models including DeepSeek.
According to the presentation session, the one-stop machine is able to complete AI-based TCM diagnosis and brewing of respective health herbal tea in three to eight minutes.
The second project presented was a virus rapid testing kit with exception stability of its ceramic-encapsulated test reagents against light, water, oxygen, acids and alkalis so that they can be stored for several years.
The product’s test strips can simultaneously test influenza A, B and COVID-19 with results generated in 5 to 10 minutes while providing accuracy similar to that of traditional testing methods.
The third project presented during the session was a newly developed teaching system that aims to inspire young people to develop their interest in both AI and life sciences. The science popularisation education system uses AI programming as a tool to integrate interdisciplinary knowledge of life sciences.
