September 2026 – Innovation Wing

HKAE TechTalk – Fast-Tracking the Northern Metropolis: Leveraging Advanced Materials and Novel Construction Technologies

Innovation Wing Two, TechTalk / Zhu Wanyi

October 20, 2026 (Tuesday) 4:00-5:00pm
The Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) has been spearheading infrastructure construction and land supply initiatives to support Hong Kong’s sustainable growth. One of the pivotal projects led by CEDD is the Northern Metropolis Development (NMD), a strategic vehicle for advancing high-quality education, integrating I&T and industry, serving as a key growth engine to develop new quality productive forces for the city and deeper integration with the Greater Bay Area.

To transform Hong Kong into a world-class sustainable and resilient city, CEDD takes forward various inspiring ideas in practice through collaboration and partnership with academics and industrial practitioners. With the concerted efforts of all, such University-Government-Industry (UGI) collaborations have successfully harnessed emerging technologies and novel materials to produce new engineering solutions for application in the construction industry.

In order to fast-track NMD, CEDD is intensifying efforts through UGI collaborations in driving technological developments and strengthening its infrastructure delivery capabilities. While accelerating the delivery of NMD, CEDD remains committed to promoting urban-rural integration. The overarching goal is to create an environment ideal for living, working and travelling, marking a breakthrough in Hong Kong’s development.

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TechTalk – Flames That Create, Flames That Destroy

October 15, 2026 (Thursday) 4pm-5pm
Traditionally central to energy conversion, combustion is now being reimagined as a powerful tool for manufacturing and recycling materials critical to energy storage and sustainability. Flame-based spray methods, for example, offer a continuous, rapid, and scalable route to synthesizing and rejuvenating lithium-ion battery (LIB) cathode materials. These processes can reduce production costs, enable efficient material recycling, and improve performance. I will highlight flame-assisted spray pyrolysis as a technique for controlling particle morphology and tailoring electrochemical properties, all within synthesis times orders of magnitude shorter than conventional routes. Yet, alongside these manufacturing advances come critical safety challenges, most notably thermal runaway, a failure mode that can trigger hazardous battery fires. To address these concerns, I will introduce our newly developed Chemical Reaction Neural Network, a data-driven framework that uncovers reaction pathways and infers kinetic parameters directly from data, without requiring prior mechanistic knowledge. This approach offers a new window into the chemistry behind thermal runaway and other reactive phenomena, helping us better understand both the flames that create and the flames that destroy.