Interdisciplinary Research Institute Cluster — Emerging Markets, Smart Cities, Nano Science and Nano Fabrication

Within HKUST's matrix of research institutes, alongside the "star" establishments like the HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), the John von Neumann Institute (VNI), and the Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute (detailed in Key Laboratories and Research Institutes (Part 1)^※ and Robotics and Artificial Intelligence^※), there exists a cohort of interdisciplinary institutes and facilities dedicated to specific domains. This article juxtaposes four: the Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS), focused on economic policy; the GREAT Smart Cities Institute, focused on the city at a macro scale; the William Mong Institute of Nano Science and Technology, focused on matter at a micro scale; and the Nanosystem Fabrication Facility (NFF), which provides the physical fabrication capabilities for nano research — one macro, one micro, neatly delineating the scale-spanning breadth of HKUST's research landscape.

# 1. Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS): A Policy Think Tank Focused on Emerging Markets

The Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS) is an interdisciplinary, think-tank-style institute at HKUST centred on emerging market research. The issues it addresses — urbanisation, structural change, employment, labour markets, and the development of emerging economies — are precisely the most dynamic and challenging domains of the 21st-century global economy.

One form of IEMS's research output is its IEMS Working Paper Series, which is indexed in the widely used IDEAS/RePEc database^※ within the economics community. Beyond this, IEMS frequently organises conferences and public lectures centred on emerging market topics. This operating model of "working papers + conferences + public lectures" is the classic shape of a policy think tank — producing academic research while also speaking to the public and to policymakers. For a university situated in Hong Kong and looking outward to the Greater Bay Area and Asia, a dedicated emerging-market research institute has a clear internal logic: Hong Kong itself is a hub connecting mature and emerging markets, and mainland China alongside many Asian economies constitute the world's most significant emerging markets.

# Pissarides: HKUST's First Nobel Laureate Professor

The most illustrious figure associated with IEMS is Sir Christopher Pissarides. According to HKUST News^※ and his IAS profile^※, Pissarides is the recipient of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences^※. He was awarded the prize jointly with Peter Diamond of MIT and Dale Mortensen of Northwestern University for their "analysis of markets with search frictions"^※. His expertise lies in the economics of unemployment, labour market theory and policy, and, more recently, research on growth and structural change^※ — themes that align closely with IEMS's focus areas.

What is most noteworthy is his formal status at HKUST: according to his IAS profile^※, Pissarides is the first Nobel laureate professor recruited to HKUST^※. He holds multiple roles at the University: IAS Helmut & Anna Pao Sohmen Professor-at-Large, Regius Professor of Economics at HKUST^※, and a Faculty Associate at IEMS; concurrently, he continues to serve as a Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE). According to his IEMS page^※, he actively participates in the institute's activities, including chairing and contributing to conferences and public lectures on emerging-market research themes (such as a lecture on the Greek crisis and the future of the Eurozone^※).

Note: Sir Christopher Pissarides is a living scholar. The recording of his academic honours (Nobel Prize, chaired professorships) here constitutes neutral, positive factual documentation. This archive records them based on publicly available information, using his full name (distinct from the anonymisation applied to contested figures in the wild-history section).

Recruiting a Nobel laureate as a chaired professor carries multiple layers of significance for HKUST: Hard currency of reputation — a Nobel Prize is the gold standard of academic prestige. HKUST's success in recruiting its first Nobel laureate professor is a marker that its academic standing has gained top-tier international recognition, especially weighty in a field like economics where HKUST is not traditionally a powerhouse. Synergy between IAS and IEMS — Pissarides is concurrently affiliated with both the IAS (the HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study, detailed in Key Laboratories and Research Institutes (Part 1)^※) and IEMS, embodying HKUST's operational model of using leading scholars to thread together interdisciplinary platforms. International endorsement for economics — for a university renowned for science and engineering, Pissarides' affiliation provides international academic endorsement for its economics and business disciplines (see also Deep Dive: The Business School^※).

Note: The identities, awards, and titles described in this section are based on the information on the source pages as of the time of access and are time-sensitive; scholars' roles and affiliations are subject to change. Please refer to HKUST's latest official announcements when citing.

# 2. GREAT Smart Cities Institute: Studying the City at a Macro Scale

The name of the GREAT Smart Cities Institute (GSCI) is itself a manifesto. According to the institute's vision page^※, "GREAT" corresponds to five core attributes of a smart city: Green, Resilient, Empowering, Adaptable, and Transformative^※. The institute's aim is to become a global leader in smart city research and education and to help position Hong Kong as a "model city."

According to its official page^※, GSCI's research spans smart infrastructure and transport, smart buildings, smart energy storage systems, smart air quality control, autonomous driving, and Internet of Things technologies^※, while also advancing fundamental enabling technologies such as intelligent sensing, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and next-generation connectivity^※. This research portfolio integrates HKUST's technical capabilities in AI, IoT, and autonomous driving under the macro application umbrella of the "smart city." For high-density, rapidly developing urban clusters such as Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, smart city research carries immediate practical relevance — it echoes HKUST's strengths in SDG 11 "Sustainable Cities and Communities" (see Impact Rankings and the SDGs^※).

It is also worth noting that GSCI is deeply involved in HKUST's sustainable campus development. According to institute materials^※, the "Sustainable Smart Campus" initiative is co-led by the GREAT Smart Cities Institute and the Sustainability/Net-Zero Office^※. This means HKUST treats the entire Clear Water Bay campus as a "living lab" for smart city research — projects on campus involving smart energy, intelligent buildings, and people-flow monitoring (see The Green Campus^※) are both carbon-reduction practices and real-world testbeds for GSCI's smart city research. "The institute that studies cities first studies its own campus as a miniature city" — this closed loop vividly encapsulates HKUST's "campus as a living lab" philosophy.

# 3. William Mong Institute of Nano Science and Technology: Studying Matter at a Micro Scale

Standing in counterpoint to GSCI's "macro city" perspective, the William Mong Institute of Nano Science and Technology (WMINST) studies matter at a "micro scale."

According to the institute's introduction^※, its predecessor, the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), was established at HKUST in 2001, with Prof. Ping Sheng appointed as its founding director, to coordinate and promote nano science research^※. On 1 February 2008, the institute was renamed the "William Mong Institute of Nano Science and Technology" in recognition of a donation from Dr. William Mong^※. Its founding director, Prof. Ping Sheng, was one of the key scholars behind HKUST's landmark breakthrough: the world's smallest carbon nanotube in 2000, with a diameter of just 0.4 nanometres (see HKUST 'Firsts' and Major Achievements^※). Having a leading figure in nano science establish and helm the institute placed WMINST at the forefront of the field from its inception.

According to institute materials^※, WMINST supports and facilitates numerous nano science and technology-related research projects across HKUST, playing a significant role in fostering collaborative research initiatives both within and beyond the University and in securing external research funding^※. It works in tandem with HKUST's nano fabrication hardware facility — the Nanosystem Fabrication Facility (NFF, detailed in the next section): WMINST provides the academic coordination and collaboration platform, while NFF supplies the physical fabrication capabilities, together underpinning HKUST's research in nano science.

# 4. Nanosystem Fabrication Facility (NFF): Hong Kong Higher Education's First Nano Workshop

At a time when chips and semiconductors have become the focal point of global technological competition, whether a university possesses its own nano fabrication and microelectronics manufacturing capability is a critical metric for gauging its hard-tech strength. HKUST's Nanosystem Fabrication Facility (NFF) is precisely such a "hardcore" establishment.

# Status: The First Nano Fabrication Lab in Hong Kong Higher Education Since 1991

According to HKUST materials, the NFF is the first nano fabrication laboratory established within a tertiary institution in Hong Kong since 1991^※, with a mission to provide fabrication facilities for research and teaching in micro/nano devices and systems^※. The phrase "first since 1991" is telling — 1991 was the very year HKUST opened its doors. In other words, HKUST began constructing this hard-tech facility — then an uncharted territory among Hong Kong's higher education institutions — virtually from the moment of its founding, a move perfectly aligned with its identity as a science and technology university. The NFF's main facility in Clear Water Bay has been named the "Dr. Tai-chin Lo Nanosystem Fabrication Facility"^※, continuing HKUST's convention of naming major facilities after donors.

# Capabilities: A Class 100 Cleanroom and a 4-Inch Wafer Production Line

The core of the NFF is its cleanroom and wafer processing line. According to HKUST materials, the NFF possesses a Class 100 cleanroom, advanced electron-beam lithography systems, and a complete 4-inch silicon wafer processing line^※, offering services in photolithography, thermal diffusion and oxidation, thin-film deposition, dry/wet etching, metallisation, ion implantation, and mask-making. According to the NFF Cleanroom Environment page^※, the NFF (Clear Water Bay) cleanroom is divided into Class 10,000, Class 1,000, and Class 100 zones^※, with air change rates, temperature, humidity, and particle counts rigorously controlled and HEPA filters installed. A "Class 100 cleanroom" means that there are no more than 100 particles larger than 0.5 micrometres per cubic foot of air — the ultra-clean environment essential for semiconductor and precision device fabrication.

# Dual-Line Layout Under 'One Body, Two Wings': Clear Water Bay + Guangzhou

Beyond its main facility in Clear Water Bay, HKUST also operates an NFF facility on its Guangzhou campus. According to the Guangzhou campus Function Hub page^※, the Guangzhou NFF's fabrication process chain includes an 8-inch semiconductor research line, supported by approximately 2,000 square metres of cleanroom space, catering to diverse applications from MEMS and silicon photonics devices to third-generation semiconductors^※. This dual-line layout — a 4-inch line in Clear Water Bay and an 8-inch line in Guangzhou — has a clear strategic dimension: the Clear Water Bay facility serves fundamental research and teaching with its 4-inch line, while the Guangzhou campus, with its larger-wafer and larger-area semiconductor research line, engages with industry-grade process requirements, particularly in third-generation semiconductors (such as gallium nitride and silicon carbide), a national priority closely linked to the industrial chains of the Greater Bay Area (see The Guangzhou Campus^※).

# Industry Engagement: The NFF Enterprise Center

The NFF does not only serve internal university research; it is also open to industry. According to HKUST, the NFF houses an Enterprise Center (NFF Enterprise Center)^※ and participates in the Greater China Nano Fabrication Consortium (GCNFC, see the consortium page^※). Through this mechanism, startups and industrial players can use HKUST's nano fabrication facilities for device prototyping — a manifestation, at the level of physical infrastructure, of HKUST's "deep integration of industry, academia, and research" narrative: HKUST's labs are not merely paper-producing factories but also shared workshops for industrial innovation.

# 5. One Macro, One Micro; One Think Tank, One Workshop: The Scale-Spanning Breadth of Four Institutes

Juxtaposing the four institutes described in this article reveals the multiple spans of HKUST's research landscape:

• IEMS — studies emerging markets from a policy and economics perspective, with Nobel laureate Sir Christopher Pissarides as its standard-bearer;
• GREAT Smart Cities Institute — studies the city at a macro scale, focusing on urban systems such as infrastructure, transport, energy, and buildings;
• William Mong Institute of Nano Science and Technology — studies matter at a micro scale, examining atomic- and molecular-scale phenomena in nanomaterials and devices;
• NFF Nanosystem Fabrication Facility — the "hardcore" workshop providing the physical fabrication capabilities for micro-scale research, the unglamorous yet fundamental material base that underpins hard-tech strength.

From a one-nanometre carbon tube to an entire smart city, and on to the macro-policies of emerging markets — HKUST's matrix of research institutes spans the immense spectrum from micro-matter to macro-systems, from hard technology to soft policy. This research breadth — "from the heavens to the earth, from the micro to the macro" — is precisely what a comprehensive research university should embody, and a concrete unfolding of HKUST's founding mandate to build itself upon science and technology.

Note: The establishment years described in this article (IEMS: specific year not indicated; GSCI: established in recent years; WMINST: precursor established in 2001 / renamed in 2008; NFF: the first such facility in Hong Kong higher education), research directions, and facility specifications are all based on the information on the source pages as of the time of access and are time-sensitive; the directions and personnel of each institute will continue to evolve. Please refer to HKUST's latest official announcements when citing.