Town and Gown Meet at Global University Fintech Education Forum
Local and international financial technology leaders and academic experts exchanged views and insights into future trends in fintech and AI areas at the Global University Fintech Education Forum held at the HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study on November 24, 2017.
The event was co-organized by the Big Data Institute of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Financial Data Technologies Ltd (FDT), and Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA). It attracted over 150 guests, including local and overseas academics, leaders in the fintech-related industries, as well as students from various tertiary institutions.
The opening ceremony was officiated by Prof Tony F Chan, President of HKUST, Prof Tim Cheng, Dean of Engineering, HKUST, Dr Weihua Ma, Chairman and Chief Mentor of FDT, and Ms Cally Chan, General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong.
Dr Qifeng Liu, Co-founder, CEO and Chief Data Scientist at FDT-AI, talked about AI and big data in fintech. “FDT-AI is researching and implementing how to leverage AI and big data to describe inner/intra daily trader’s financial behavior and further optimize and personalize the long temporal series of finance trading and long-term investing,” Dr Liu said.
Mr Henry Ma, VP and CIO of Webank, said that Webank’s positioning in the fintech industry was an enabler of inclusive finance. By leveraging advances in technologies such as AI, blockchain, cloud computing and big data, users’ experiences can be improved while reducing cost, thus bringing various financial services to a wider audience.
Dr Ying Yan, Lead Researcher from MSRA, said, “Blockchain is an emerging technology with the potential to change the way businesses, industries and public organizations conduct and verify transactions, thereby streamlining business processes, saving costs and reducing the potential for fraud.”
Dr James Lei, Acting Director of the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), said, “Financial technologies are driving an unprecedented experience in many applications and the fundamental transformation in the industry.” He also discussed the major challenges and opportunities in this ever-changing world of fintech – the intersection of finance and technology.”
Prof Ihab Ilyas from the University of Waterloo, Canada, said, “Machine learning tools promise to help solve data curation problems. While the principles are well understood, the engineering details in configuring and deploying machine learning techniques are the biggest hurdle.”
Prof Lei Chen, Associate Director of the HKUST Big Data Institute, said, “Fintech has grown exponentially alongside the revolution of Internet and mobile/wireless installations that affect all walks of life in our metropolitan city. Growing application of AI in the evolving fintech areas is an inevitable trend, where its importance has been recognized by governments and corporates all over the world.”
In addition to keynote speeches, the forum also featured a panel discussion, research demonstrations, and the introduction of BeeVest Plan by FDT.
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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.
