ECE Alumni and Current PG Student Sweep 4 Top Awards at Hong Kong ICT Awards 2018
Hong Kong ICT Awards 2018 Awards Presentation Ceremony was held on 4 April 2018. Mrs Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive was invited to be one of the honored guests at the ceremony. ECE alumni and current postgraduate student swept 4 Top Awards at the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2018.
Mr. LAI Chi Kin (MPhil of ECE) and his partner received the “Student Innovation Grand Award". ECE Alumni, Dr. Lydia LEUNG, and Tin Luk received three top awards including the “ICT Start-up Grand Award”, “Smart Living Grand Award” and the most prestigious one “Grand of the Year” which was selected from the 8 top award winners of the 8 categories.
The 8 categories are “Smart Business”, “Digital Entertainment”, “FinTech”, “ICT Startup”, “Smart Living”, “Smart People”, “Smart Mobility” and “Student Innovation.
More information about the awards:
Student Innovation Grand Award
UMix Music App
Description of Entry:
The modern music industry prefers digital music production, but it is not the most competent and dynamic practice. The process of playing instruments, transposing music notes to MIDI and editing via those perplexing professional music softwares consumes time and manpower, brought down the effectiveness and efficiency of music production immensely. Therefore, our team proposed the UMix Music App project, which mainly consists of music production tools, music sharing and collaboration community.
To get rid of the high barrier, high budget, steep learning curve and the sophisticated UI of professional music softwares, our team has been researching and developing the voice-to-MIDI conversion, key signature detection, chord detection and rhythm detection algorithms, using artificial intelligence and digital audio processing techniques. By humming the melody, users could produce a complete digital music work anytime and anywhere, that reduces the complexity of music composition and could master the skills effectively. Users can eventually export and share their completed music work to the community.
The ultimate goal is to transform the current digital music production industry such that everyone can learn and produce music more easily and smoothly, disregarding age, background and music preferences.
Comments from Judging Panel:
There is no similar apps in the market and it can connect to other software directly. Output can be converted directly into different format as well. Innovation element on voice is enough and the app with great market value. Judges suggested Android Version is needed in future.
Grand of the Year, ICT Startup Grand Award, Smart Living Grand Award:
Belun Technology Company Limited
Belun™ Ring
Description of Entry:
Incorporated in 2016, Belun Technology (Belun™) is headquartered in Hong Kong and is formed by a group of experts in compact sensing, biomedical signal processing and artificial intelligence (AI) based algorithm for pre-screening, management and risk analysis of chronic diseases including sleep health, respiratory, psychiatry and cardiovascular diseases. Belun™ also partners with medical professionals in sleep medicine, psychiatry and cardiology from several prestigious medical schools worldwide.
Belun™ offers FDA-compliant non-invasive wearable products that focus not only on design, comfort but also accuracy. Belun™ core competencies cover both medi-sense (bio-sensing) and medi-bot (AI). Its first product Belun™ Ring passes FDA accuracy requirements in the US in April 2017 and is expected to get FDA approval by Q1 2018. Belun™ secured her first seed funding (~USD3M) in Q1 2017 and Belun™ Ring has been launched in Hong Kong and Taiwan in Jun 2017. To certify Belun™ Ring in Europe and China, to ramp up the production, to scale up the cloud-based AI system for daily habits & environmental factors and to conduct clinical trial of its second product for cardiovascular health, Belun™ starts to raise her A-round which is expected to be closed by Q2 2018 and numerous due diligence is undergoing.
Comments from Judging Panel:
This is a very innovative device developed based on leading technologies. It provides a scalable medical-grade wearable platform for chronic disease pre-screening, risk analysis and post-treatment effectiveness evaluation. Belun™ Ring should be able to command good market potential in the conventional medical market, non-medical market and even individual use at consumer level to pre-screen obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and sleep health monitoring.
ECE alumni have already received the Grand Awards in different categories at the Hong Kong ICT Awards for three years in a row. The awards received previously were “Best Mobile Apps Grand Award in 2017” and “Best Smart Hong Kong Award in 2016.
About Hong Kong ICT Awards:
The Hong Kong ICT Awards aims at recognising and promoting outstanding information and communications technology (ICT) inventions and applications, thereby encouraging innovation and excellence among Hong Kong's ICT talents and enterprises in their constant pursuit of creative and better solutions to meet business and social needs.
The Hong Kong ICT Awards was established in 2006 with the collaborative efforts of the industry, academia and the Government. Steered by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, and organised by Hong Kong ICT industry associations and professional bodies, the Awards aims at building a locally espoused and internationally acclaimed brand of ICT awards.
There are eight categories under the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2018. There will be one Grand Award in each category, and an "Award of the Year" will be selected from the eight Grand Awards by the Grand Judging Panel.
Related Link:
- 頭條日報 – 發明指環診斷睡眠窒息症 本地科研公司勇奪3獎
- More coverage on UMix Music App: (Ming Pao) Hong Kong ICT Awards 2018 得獎專訪 (一)
- Featured Story of ECE alum Dr. Lydia Leung who is currently CEO of Belun Technology
