CityU Study and Scholarship Forum on “Interdisciplinary and Innovative Exploration” 「求學與治學」講壇之第二講：「漫談學科交叉與創新探索」

I attended the online forum named “Interdisciplinary and Innovative Exploration” arranged by Office of the Provost, City University of Hong Kong on 29^th April 2020.  Prof. Jian Lu (呂堅) is the keynote and he introduced his study and research life as well as how to explore innovatively through interaction among interdisciplinary fields.  

Prof. Lu used 360 degree monitor to perform this forum. (There are 359 online participants I checked before the end of forum!)

In the beginning, he quoted leader of China and USA that both have already focused on Innovation.

Then he mentioned Mr. Qian Xuesen(錢學森) view on natural science come from foundation science, technology science and engineering.  He used Mr. Qian’s question to start the forum that is “Why our universities haven’t cultivated outstanding talent?” 

After then Prof. Lu introduced his view on “Original Innovation”. There are three level below:

Level 1: New idea and realization; (0 to 1)

Level 2: New method and enhancement based on level 1; (1 to 10)

Level 3: Found the technology realization solution based on level 1 & 2. (10 to 100)

We do better on Level 2 but not in Level 1 and 3.

Prof. Lu replied to Mr. Qian Xuesen’s question that the key elements of self-innovation are Uniqueness (唯一性), Destructive (顛覆性) and Optimization (最佳性).

And then Prof. Lu stated USA manufacturing plan on 5 key elements and they were Design, Material, Mass 3D Printing, Craftsmanship and Value Chain.

Finally, Prof. Lu introduced his research team’s different recent research topics.

He proposed that Theorist / Modeling Expert and Experimentalist should be cooperated and communicated.   

At the end, he quoted Ferry Porsche statement “In the beginning, I looked around and could not quite find the car I dreamed of.  So I decided to build it myself.” to explain the revolution innovation needs insight, curiosity, confidence and consistence, opportunity and luck.   He said basic knowledge could be come from university but you also need lifelong study from different sources.  

During Q&A, Prof. Lu mentioned the future development of CityU would include Matter (Hard Matter and Soft Matter) and Brain research.  Some post-doc students asked how to select the research topics.  He replied that he would ask his student “What do you want to do after graduate?”  If student would like to do research, he would select some fundamental research.  If student would like to go into industry or startup, he would select some researches topic related to industry.

Reference:

吕坚教授漫谈学科交叉与创新探索 - https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/egmT0s0RwIVYGm_aTPpBQw

Prof. Jian Lu (呂堅) - https://www.ias.cityu.edu.hk/zh-hk/profile/jian-lu