Prof. CHEN Qifeng named one of “35 Innovators under 35” in China in 2018 by MIT Technology Review

Prof. CHEN Qifeng, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering as well as Electronic and Computer Engineering at the School of Engineering (SENG) of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, has been inducted into the annual list of “35 Innovators under 35” (China region) in 2018 by MIT Technology Review, a magazine owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Established in 1999, the original “35 Innovators under 35” list recognizes outstanding innovators younger than 35 from around the world every year, in fields such as biotechnology, energy, transportation, communications, and the Internet.

With a view to recognizing the rise of Chinese technology talents, the magazine launched the annual award with its Chinese partners specifically for the country in 2017, celebrating young Chinese people who could revolutionize our lifestyles and shape the future of technology and industry.

For the second edition of the award in 2018, 35 innovators are selected from five different categories: “entrepreneurs”, “humanitarians”, “pioneers”, “visionaries” and “inventors”, encompassing emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, topological quantum, aeronautics and astronautics.

At the age of 29, Prof. Chen is named one of the seven “visionaries” this time for achieving breakthroughs in aspects such as image decomposition and synthesis as well as optical flow algorithm, after his years of study in the realm of computer vision.

In recent years, Prof. Chen’s focus has been on the utilization of AI to synthesize images and videos. His groundbreaking use of Cascaded Refinement Network (CRN) based on multiple modules with escalating resolution is capable of creating images that can rival real photos.

He is also a co-founder of Lino, a Silicon Valley-based startup with a mission to create a “decentralized autonomous video content community” by cultivating an even more open and transparent setting for content creation.

Thanks to Prof. Chen’s research, the idea of making films solely using computer vision technology will soon become a reality.

The award ceremony was held on January 21, 2019 at the “Innovators Under 35 Summit China 2018” in Beijing.
The award ceremony was held on January 21, 2019 at the “Innovators Under 35 Summit China 2018” in Beijing.
Prof. Chen delivered a speech titled “New Technology meets Content Creation” during the ceremony.
Prof. Chen delivered a speech titled “New Technology meets Content Creation” during the ceremony.

About The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) (www.ust.hk) is a world-class research university that focuses on science, technology and business as well as humanities and social science.  HKUST offers an international campus, and a holistic and interdisciplinary pedagogy to nurture well-rounded graduates with global vision, a strong entrepreneurial spirit and innovative thinking.  HKUST attained the highest proportion of internationally excellent research work in the Research Assessment Exercise 2014 of Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee, and is ranked as the world’s best young university in Times Higher Education’s Young University Rankings 2019.  Its graduates were ranked 16th worldwide and top in Greater China in Global University Employability Survey 2018.

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