CITYU APPS LABappslab.hk/.../General/newsletters/newsletter_updated-issue10web.pdf · World Spine...
Transcript of CITYU APPS LABappslab.hk/.../General/newsletters/newsletter_updated-issue10web.pdf · World Spine...
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APPSLAB
CITYUAPPS LABCITYUAPPS LAB
CityU Apps Lab
http://appslab.hk
@cityuappslab
Issue 10/ Fall/ 2015
Fostering A New Way of LearningFostering A New Way of Learning
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Dr. Roy Cheung
In this 10th issue of CAL newsletter, we put together some exciting new development during the summer semester 2014/15. Since May we have been using a new co-working space in G1301, which consists of two floors. The ground floor is mainly used by the maker team, the ROV team and the design team, whereas the first floor is used by the CAL software team and the operation team. Thank you very much for the support from College of Science and Engineering (CSE).
For the coding initiative, we have successfully launched 10 consecutive monthly Hour of Code HK campaign. Starting in Oct 2015, we recently received the generous venue sponsorship by the HK Science & Technology Park for HOC-HK. This summer was a very busy season running multiple coding sessions, including exchange students from Mainland China, Chengdu, Taiwan, and we are pleased to have reached over 10,000 coding hours. For the Sino Go Code program, together with Sino Group and WebOrganic, the 300+ students feedback are mostly positive, and we have scheduled the graduation ceremony in Jan 2016.
How can we use the mobile phone to automatically generate a customized resume? CAL has worked closely with the University Student Development Service for the Career App. Let’s give a try! I am also very impressed by the summer project workshop led by Nelson. One of the teams has developed an Instagram App within 4-weeks time for both iOS and Android. These students are all very passionate and self-motivated. We are fortunate to recruit them to the CAL project team.
HKU has organized two Startup Weekend events, and incredibly the two champions both consist of CityU CAL members. We hope to bring Startup Weekend event to CityU with KTO, EDGE and Innovation Commons, and create inter-institutional collaborations amongst different local Universities. With the support from Ambassador School Program (ASP), we have recruited 20 IT-focused secondary and primary school generating huge synergy in this community. Nevertheless, the 3rd DBSxCAL Talk was another great success, and we may organize the 4th one at the Vault in DBS. We welcome you to join us!
Director of CAL
Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a leading cause of death in
Hong Kong, which claims about 3400 victims a year.
The key of survival is timely defibrillation and
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and thus defibrillators
and lay rescuers must be easily accessible within minutes.
In view of this, I am leading a technical team of CityU Apps
Lab in collaboration with the Hong Kong Sudden Cardiac
Death (SCD) Prevention Program, coordinated by Dr. Kit
Chan, Associate Consultant and Cardiology Specialist of
Ruttonjee and Tang Shiu Kin Hospitals.
CONTENT12 Apps World Spine Day Promotes Posture Check App
14 Across the Disciplines Apps for Crime Prevention
16 Innovation DBSxCAL Talk: Smart Living with Technology Saving Lives through Healthcare Innovation
18 Entrepreneurship CityU FinTech Teams Headed to Silicon Valley
6 Cover Story Fostering A New Way of Learning
8 Coding Workshops Go Code: The Coding Journey of the Creators Cultivating Coding Culture in Primary & Secondary Schools
Our aim is to design a real-time rescuing system using mobile phone technology and mobile positioning system to:
1. locate and display local automated external defibrillators (AEDs) locations;
2. disseminate group broadcast to nearby lay rescuers;
3. recruit nearest lay rescuers to provide bystander CPR;
4. recruit nearest lay rescuers to reach AEDs for defibrillation.
Mobile phones are the most ubiquitous modern technology
nowadays. With about 17 million mobile service subscribers as of
March 2015, Hong Kong has one of the highest penetration rates
in the world at about 233%. Owing to their wide availability and
advanced capabilities, mobile phones possess a strong potential
for lifesaving, emergency dispatch and rescue network. Our devoted
team has been working on this project for the last two months and
hopefully the system will soon be available for private testing. If
you find this project meaningful and want to be part of it, either
contributing your technical knowledge or joining as a volunteer
tester, please drop me an email and we are
always happy to hear from you.
Mr Van TingAssociate Director of CAL
(Technology Innovation)
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From the Directors
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Smarter Life aided by Robots
To introduce the importance of mobile technology, the first ever university-wide festival specifically focusing on mobile technology was presented by CityU Apps Lab in January 2015. Exhibition of students’ innovative products, IT career fair and sharing sessions by industry professionals were held throughout the festival.
‘Smarter Life Aided by Robots’ competition in March 2015, is a robotics competition organized by CityU Office of Provost and supported by Apps Lab aiming to encourage students’ innovation in robotic design and application.
Employers'’ Luncheon
CItyU Mobile Technology Festival
Apps Lab Housewarming Party
CityU Apps Lab joined the Hong Kong International ICT Expo 2015 hosted by Hong Kong Trade Development Culture (HKTDC) in April 2015 as an exhibitor in the App Zone Area.
CityU Apps Lab was highlighted in the Discovery & Innovation Gala of CityU’s College of Science and Engineering (CSE) in June 2015, to groom students’ discovery and innovative spirit and encouraging them to create new knowledge.
Finally we have moved in! A housewarming party was held in May 2015 in the new workspace. Support from different university departments as well as external parties like DBS Bank, Sino Group and Chiropractic Doctors Association of Hong Kong (CDAHK) are important in contributing to the success of CityU Apps Lab.
International ICT ExpoDiscovery & Innovation Gala
Pitch & Match Night
January MayMarch
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NEWS FEED
2015
NEWS FEED
20152015
With the aim to enhance new employment, CityU hosted its first Employers’ Luncheon in April, 2015 to strengthen its connections with global and local businesses. Apps Lab sent David Wong and Pluto Mok, to join the luncheon and showcase their achievements there.
A thousand citizens have visited ‘Go Code Exhibition’ 2015 at Olympian City in March 2015, showcasing apps developed by ‘Go Code’ 2014 kids and members of CityU Apps Lab.
NEWS FEED
Go Code Exhibition
CityU Apps Lab has been supportive in incubating innovation and promoting entrepreneurship spirit among youngsters. Aiming to provide a platform for potential entrepreneurs to share their innovative ideas and hunt for talented partners from various backgrounds, the ‘Pitch & Match Night’ was held in March 2015.
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Fostering A New Way of Learning
The graduation ceremony on 5th September 2015 marked the end
of CAL’s first-ever Summer Trainee Program. On the graduation day,
all the teams presented their completed prototype and shared the
barriers and obstacles that they experienced throughout the whole
program. "It’s really an accomplishment when I look back on what I’ve
done in just 5 weeks this summer. I’m amazed by the efficiency of my
group members as we’re able to complete a simple app within the
limited time," said Wai Kit, one of the students who joined the program.
"The traditional way of teaching is not efficient enough to
catch up the rapidly changing technology, lifelong learning
is the key to success in the programming field," said
Nelson, the program initiator, and also a senior developer
at CAL. The program was designed to push participants’
programming skills to a higher level as it requires each team
to develop an app in a short period of time. They have to
coordinate the overall project progress, distribute works
among themselves and be prepared for the presentation of
the completed prototype. "We aim to foster an interactive
learning environment in Apps Lab, where innovation
flourishes and self-excelling thrives. For example, we
encourage learning through team-oriented and project-
based tasks throughout the entire program."
"Being a biology student without strong programming
knowledge, it is very difficult to communicate with my
groupmates when it comes to the technical part, not to
mention involving in the coding process immediately," Maria
expressed her excitement after being able to contribute to
the app their group made, the CityU Run. "Before I can really
start, a lot of self-study is required to pick up the basics
of coding. I find this training program useful and I really
appreciate it as it really drove me to learn new things even
though it is out of my comfort zone."
“Not only did I improve my programming ability, I also
obtained some valuable project management skills. These
are the essential skills that were not taught in lectures, I
am grateful that I am able to acquire them by joining this
program," said Ping, a member from the team working on
“CitySnap”, which functions as the CityU edition Instagram
and won the 'Best Performance Award' among all the
teams. "This is really a good chance for us to have a taste
of an app developer’s life. With the experience accumulated
throughout this training program, we now have a clearer
image about the future workspace and had a deeper
understanding about our real interest.”
CAL Summer Trainee Program
Prototype of “CitySnap”
Cover Story
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To inculcate the concept of programming in youngsters, the Sino Group initiated
a series of coding workshops named “Go Code” since 2014, targeting primary
school students from underprivileged families. In 2015, Go Code expanded its
scale by inviting CityU Apps Lab (CAL) to be its partners.
“School curriculum let children get fundamental computing knowledge but it
is not enough for today’s need,” reflected Ms. Leung, parent of one of the Go
Code participants. “Creativity, which declines with age, is not awaiting and we
don’t want it to be wasted. From the perspective of parents, of course we want
to provide our kids with the best learning environment and let them explore
more in their interest fields. ” added Ms. Leung, who noticed her son’s thinking
pattern becoming more organized and structured in solving problems after
started learning coding.
Sharing the same goal, CAL is going to expand Go Code to a more easy-to-
reach level with Sino Group, so that more children from grassroot families
can get in touch with the latest technology. “We’re impressed by the passion
and leadership Dr. Ray has in promoting coding to different groups of people.
With CAL’s good reputation of its experience in teaching coding and design of
suitable course materials, we hope that children can continue to learn coding
and practise it as a skill in the advanced level,” said Mr Ivan Yau, Deputy General
Manager (Corporate Communications) of Sino Group.
The Coding Journey of the Creators
GO CODE!
Coding Workshops
Initiated by CityU Apps Lab (CAL), Ambassador School Program (ASP) aims to provide support to ambassador secondary schools and primary schools by forming an environment conducive for coding and IT education.
The program connects a partner secondary school with one primary school through the theme of future development, forming a cluster that helps effective knowledge transfer. University students under CAL will be assigned to facilitate coding workshop and coding groups in ambassador schools. Students will benefit from the workshop materials, meanwhile improving their problem solving skills and innovation awareness. The close relationship among CAL and ambassador schools enables effective teaching materials to be prepared according to different levels and aspects so as to improve the students’ learning experience. This eventually enhances the promotion of coding culture throughout all ages, typically in primary and secondary schools.
GAllery of workshopsExecutives Can Code
Android: We Can CodeWe Can Code in Tung Tau Correctional Institution
The Hour Of Code HK
With the great support from Mr. Eric Fok, a mobile app workshop was specially dedicated for a group of professionals from the “Young Executives Club” of Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in August 2015.
In order to train up a pool of competent project team members and workshop helpers, a 6-week Android workshop were offered to 80 CityU students, helping them to explore and master the essence of Android programming.
The ‘Hour of Code’ was first started by Code.org in US since 2013. Since 2014 December, CAL and Let’s Code started the ‘Hour of Code’ HK campaign, aiming to give everyone a first taste of programming.
CAL cooperated with Hong Kong Correctional Services to initiate an eight-week coding course in Tung Tau Correctional Institution, to provide extra learning opportunity in prison.
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Coding Workshops
Ambassador School Program Cultivates Coding Culture in Primary and Secondary Schools
A new cluster of network that develops synergy among university, secondary and primary schools
Students of Our Lady Of China Catholic Primary School enjoyed an elementary coding workshop in September 2015.
In August 2015, CAL organized a 4-session workshop focusing on Arduino application for the students from St. Joseph College.
The first cluster in ASP, “CAL x St. Joseph College x Heep Woh Primary School“, was officially launched during E-learning Carnival in April 2015.
好知勢
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APPS
‘A recent survey reflected that almost 20% of the
children population in Hong Kong suffers from various
body ache. In fact, a healthy kid should not experience
body ache, hence the public should pay close attention
to this evidently serious issue,’ said Dr. Eric Chu, the
Chairperson of Chiropractic Doctors’ Association of Hong
Kong (CDAHK). In conjunction with World Spine Day 2015,
CDAHK and Children Charity Foundation (CCF) have jointly
organized ‘Let Me Check’ at Central Park on 10th October
2015. It primarily aims to raise public awareness about the
importance of maintaining a healthy spinal as well as to
demonstrate the correct way to prevent spinal injuries. To
show support in preventing the worsening spinal health
phenomenon of our future pillars, Cityu Apps Lab (CAL)
also pledges to devote into this event.
The commencement of the event was honored and
attended by CDAHK Chairperson Dr. Eric Chu DC, CCF
Chairperson Mr. Yu, CAL Director Dr. Ray Cheung, and
famous celebrities as children ambassadors including
Rosanne Wong, Don Li and Eddie Pang. This event
successfully attracted more than 100 kids who were eager
to gain valuable advice on how to protect their backbones
as well as to ensure a right sitting or standing posture.
Many professionals, passionate and dedicated chiropractic
doctors turned up to support this event by providing free
spinal check service to the public. They also offered special
tips on how to avoid spinal injuries. On top of this, the
highlight of this event was the stretching exercise sessions
led by fellow doctors and children representatives.
Participants were impressed and inspired when they
came to realize that through simple exercises, they could
effectively improve their spinal health conditions.
Starting from 2014, CAL and CDAHK collaborated to
develop the Posture Check App, which is now available in
both IOS and Android version for free. ‘Through the app,
we collected and analyzed a total of 370 users’ results.
It shows that half of the children respondents suffer
from spinal health problem. 63% of them experienced
Thoracic Disc Herniation symptom, 60% and 50% of them
experienced leg and neck problems respectively,’ said Dr.
Rick Lau, one of the CDAHK committee members. ‘After
taking the side view and front view of one’s full-body shot,
the app renders an initial posture screen analysis and
evaluate findings for any postural faults. The users could
then share the result to the chiropractic doctors or friends
and families by just one click,’ said Mr. Van Ting, the CAL
Associate Director.
“As prevention is better than cure, we hope to fully utilize
this app to arouse public’s concern on spinal health issue
so that postural faults can be detected before they go
viral,” said Rayne, the developer of Posture Check App
from CAL. He also expressed his gratitude of having the
chance to work on this meaningful project.
World Spine Day Promotes Posture Check App
Financially funded by our University’s Office of EDGE
and technically assisted by CAL, the Crime Prevention
Campaign started well with active participation of over a
hundred of students. “I want our students to have both
inter-disciplinary collaboration within CityU and outside
CityU with the Crime Prevention Unit of the Hong Kong
Police Force. It is exciting to see how students explore
through this learning journey in the campaign, which
results in widened learning horizon,” added Dr. Li. Last
semester, students from Social Sciences formed teams
with Engineering and Creative Media students and
worked on designing mobile apps that help promote
crime prevention message under themes like anti-theft,
anti-stalking, and anti-telephone deception.
“When I knew that we were required to create an app, I was
surprised but at the same time worried about our project,”
said Cindy Hui, a Year 2 Criminology student who had no
related experience in designing and programming. “I have
never worked with Engineering students in my university
life, it seems that social sciences and engineering are two
parallel lines that would never intercept.” By the day her
group showcased their product, she kept expressing her
thankfulness to those engineering and design students,
who worked for CAL, for their generous help in UI design
jobs and programming work.
Dr. Li hoped to move forward from the stage of knowledge
discovery to knowledge transfer in the coming 6 months.
Students are encouraged to make concrete plan for their
ideas and release them to the public. “There are 2 teams
planning to apply for funding to launch their apps in the
market so that the society can benefit from their ideas
and products,” added Dr. Li. “Out of all the proposed apps,
I personally find the idea of identifying counterfeit money
with mobile phone quite ingenious but at the same time
retaining its feasibility. Nowadays, everyone brings along
a phone, so why don’t we make more out of the phones?”
As the 2nd runner up of the Crime Prevention Contest,
Charling Wong, another Year 2 Criminology student,
shared the idea of her group. “Our app is dedicated to
solve the luggage stealing issue at airport and our target
user groups are tourists, business travellers and Hong
Kong citizens. We wish to increase public awareness
about this problem by reminding them not to lose sight
of their luggage when using phone as this would provide
a chance for criminals to convict thefts. We hope that our
app can be available to the public with the support from
CAL,” said Wong. “CAL members are capable of realizing
our brilliant ideas.”
Channeling messages to the public via mobile apps has
become a trend along with the increasing accessibility
of mobile devices. Dr. Li pointed out that CityU might
keep on encouraging colleagues from different faculties
to adopt creative teaching methods collaboratively so
that students can be promised with more crossovers
to work inter-discipline in the future. She found CAL is
an excellent platform for faculties and students across
disciplines to work on their teaching or research projects
in an innovative way.
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Apps ForCrime Prevention
“CityU always supports students and teachers to try on new things,” said Dr. Jessica Li, the
Associate Director (Social Innovation) of CityU Apps Lab (CAL) and Assistant Professor in the
Department of Applied Social Sciences. In line with her research interests in situational crime
prevention, Dr. Li initiated an 18-month project ‘Crime Prevention Discovery Channel’ in 2015.
Across the Disciplines
The more discoveries in cross-discipline project, the more contribution to the community
DBSxCAL TALK
“DBSxCAL Talk” is a whole new platform opened for the young talents and the dynamic industry innovators to get connected. Through continuous sharing of project experiences and ideas, it is hoped to inspire and incubate innovation in our local community. The recent DBSxCAL Talk was held on September 11th, 2015, with the following speakers.
CityU FinTech Teams Headed to Silicon ValleyTwo teams of CityU students and graduates representing CityU Apps Lab were nominated to join Cyberport University Partnership Programme (CUPP) 2015. In collaboration with Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), this elite pilot programme aims to groom and develop promising young ICT and entrepreneurial talents in Hong Kong. Along with the representatives from other universities, these two teams were sent to Silicon Valley, U.S.A. for an entrepreneurship boot camp from late-September to early-October. They had broadened their horizons in the one-week entrepreneurship boot camp conducted by GSB. Furthermore, company visits to Google, Facebook Headquarters and other companies at Silicon Valley were also arranged.
Asif GhafoorFounder of Spacious
Eric Gnock FahCo-founder of Klook Travel
Gary Alexander McLarenChief Technology Officer of Hong Kong Broadband Network Ltd.
Lewis Cerne Co-founder and CEO of Spacebox
Finding A Great Place To Live Has Never Been This Easy
Smart Travel With Technology Thoughts on Technology and Innovation
On Demand Self Storage At Your Doorstep
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xDBS CAL TALKSmart living with technology
innovation
Saving Lives through Healthcare InnovationText: Dr. Philip Ma, Department of Medicine and Geriatrics, Tuen Mun Hospital * Philip spent one-month holiday working at CAL in the summer of 2015, and now continue to come back to the team from time to time to continue his innovation.
Doctors are often known as restless heroes, battling in hospitals for most of their lifetime, trying to save lives from the scythe of Grim Reaper. These brave fighters also, follow the MSF to deliver love and care to the underprivileged people in the third world countries as Doctors Without Borders. In the public's perception, great doctors must fully devote themselves into the job to save lives by sacrificing their time, and sometimes, their precious lives.
However, history told us that some great doctors succeeded by going through unusual paths: Dr. Eugene Lazowski, a Polish doctor who saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust in WWII by creating a fake epidemic which played on Nazi Germany fear on hygiene, Christopher Charles, who postponed his hormone
research project, created the “Lucky Iron Fish” to fight iron deficiency anemia in Cambodia, Dr. Philemon Choi Yuen-wan, a local medical doctor, founded the Breakthrough Organization to solve the adolescent problems in Hong Kong. These examples clearly illustrates that thousands of lives could be saved, not by pills, not by surgery, but by the doctor’s in-depth observation, keen insight to social needs and cutting-edge way of invention. These doctors save lives through healthcare innovation.
It is really a privilege for me to work together with talented engineers in CityU Apps Lab. I believe that medical innovation is an absolute priority throughout medical transformation, and more importantly, I am confident that engineering could help to bring and transform medicine sector to a whole new level.
Entrepreneurship
This programme will be continued with the presentation of
ideas and business models by the teams during the “Global
Entrepreneurship Week China – Hong Kong” event at Cyberport
in November 2015. Outstanding teams will each be awarded
with cash prize of HK$100,000 and shortlisted to join Cyberport
Incubation Programme interview.
Let's hear the insights obtained by the team.
Kenny MewCAL General ManagerCityU EE Graduate 2012
Henry ChanPrevious CAL Senior DeveloperCityU EE Graduate 2015
Nelson YauCAL Senior DeveloperCityU Year 4 EE student
Amanda MokPrevious CAL DesignerCityU CM Graduate 2015
Rayne KwokCurrent Intern at Deloitte CAL Senior Developer CityU Year 4 EE student
Raymond MaCAL DeveloperCityU Year 3 CS student
Prof. Baba Shiv (centre) from Stanford GSB gave a lot of inspirations to the teams
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Entrepreneurship
Fear Leads to SuccessThe most mind-provoking thought that I got throughout the whole trip is that successful entrepreneurs are afraid of losing opportunities, whereas ordinary entrepreneurs are afraid of failure.The reason why most successful entrepreneurs are the former ones is because they are willing to try. The courage to try on new things is very essential as we might be able get valuable experience and insights during the trying process. That is what differentiates the winner and the loser.
Embrace Failures Fear is the grave for new ideas. The fear that hid in our unconscious mind made us reluctant to try new things. Most of the time we would halt the creation of new ideas just because we’re afraid of being judged by others if we ever failed. We simply forgotten how it was like drawing on the wall when we were a child, the creativity, as well as the fearlessness of being scolded by mum. We have simply forgotten that failure is actually the most valuable gift in the learning process. It gives us knowledge, experience, confidence for next trial, and help to pave a path to success. One thing I noticed during the trip is the importance of failure and the way to turn failure into a funny experience through some mini exercises. Embrace the learning opportunity, embrace the failures!
The Right Decision It was really a amazing journey to visit Stanford University and experience its lessons. The lessons mainly covered entrepreneurship, ranging from business strategy to VC fundraising. In the past, I have always been told how to make the “right decision”. However, in the lesson about decision-making there, I realise that there is no such thing as right decision indeed. Right decision is an uncertain option that we choose and tune it to the right direction. So, we should rather be fear of losing opportunities, than failure. This trip only lasted two weeks but what I have learned would affect me lifelong.
The Start of Entrepreneurial JourneyIt’s a great pleasure to join the CUPP-Stanford trip to broaden my horizons. I have learnt a lot of business related theories, design thinking and entrepreneurial mindset. The most important point is about how to think out of the box and step out of my comfort zone. By being more open-minded, I believe that I will be able to spot my weaknesses and eliminate them. This would be the starting point of my entrepreneurial journey.
Extraordinary Exposure & RewardsThe Stanford trip is an unforgettable trip with tight schedules and loads of exposure. One of the key concepts I got is that “There is no right decision, but you make the decision right”. We may have had different experiences in life but all of us met challenges. Even though there are ups and downs, we have to be optimistic and confident of the decisions we have made. More importantly, CAL and Dr Ray arranged the visit Google and Facebook and we really had a great time chatting with Bert and Ben from Google, and Jacob Bower from Facebook.
Live without LimitsAs a creative media student, the exposure during these ten days helped me a lot in widening my global view and mastering my knowledge in all aspects. The programs arranged throughout the trip included marketing, business and technical knowledge, which are all totally new to me. The most important things is allowing me to step out of the comfort zone. I might have set a limit for myself in the past by only studying what I am interested in. However, from this moment onwards, I am ready to explore more interesting things in this world!
Thousand thanks to Cyberport, Stanford University, CityU Knowledge Transfer Office and Apps Lab for organizing and coordinating the program.
Before the departure of the journey, the teams were invited for a set-off party, getting inspired from Cyberport executives.
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Industry-university partnershipsClose collaboration and strong connections with industry partners enable CityU Apps Lab to provide students with valuable insights through industry exposure.
The Apps Lab of City University of Hong Kong