Robotics and Artificial Intelligence — The Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute, the Von Neumann Institute, and HKUST’s Intelligence Landscape

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) sits among Asia’s leaders in robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and data science research. In 2025, the Research Grants Council (RGC) awarded more than HK$212.5 million to three HKUST projects integrating AI, robotics and data science — the highest sum received by any local university^※. That strength rests not on scattered individual achievements but on several institutionalised flagship bodies: the Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute (CKSRI) for robotics; the Von Neumann Institute (VNI), a new AI flagship established in 2025; and the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAiRE), the Big Data Institute (BDI), plus multiple centres under the InnoHK framework. This article maps those bodies side by side to present HKUST’s full “robotics + AI + data science” landscape.

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# 1. The Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute (CKSRI): a robotics flagship

# Origins: from “Robotics Institute” to “Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute”

If DJI is the most dazzling “fruit” of HKUST’s robotics entrepreneurial gene, the Robotics Institute is one of the seedbeds that cultivated it. According to the Vice-President for Research and Development (VPRD) website, HKUST established the Robotics Institute in 2015 as a major new interdisciplinary research initiative^※. The timing is suggestive: around 2015, HKUST-spawned robotics firms such as DJI were gaining global renown and the worldwide robotics industry was entering a phase of explosive growth. Creating a dedicated robotics institute can be read as the University’s institutional response to that trend — drawing together robotics research strengths scattered across multiple departments beneath one interdisciplinary umbrella.

According to the same page, the Institute was renamed the Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute (CKSRI) in June 2021 after receiving a HK$100 million donation from the Chow Tai Fook Charity Foundation^※, in honour of the Foundation’s Honorary Chairman Dr. Cheng Kar-shun. The naming ceremony was officiated by Dr. Adrian Cheng, Dr. Cheng’s eldest son and Chief Executive Officer of Chow Tai Fook Enterprises. The name follows HKUST’s established practice of naming major academic entities after donors (for the wider naming landscape see Donations and Naming^※).

# Positioning: an interdisciplinary robotics platform

According to the Institute’s page^※, CKSRI is a multidisciplinary platform that supports and promotes robotics-related research, development and education^※, dedicated to building machines that can learn, act, and perceive emotions^※, with application scenarios spanning home and service robots. It integrates innovation from sensors, devices and systems, networks, neuroscience, data analytics and machine learning^※ to advance research aimed at broad applications and societal impact.

The “interdisciplinary platform” positioning is critical. Modern robotics is no single discipline — it straddles mechanical engineering, electronics, computing, control, materials and even neuroscience. CKSRI’s value lies precisely in dissolving the boundaries between schools and departments, gathering those distributed strengths under one research framework — a continuation of HKUST’s overarching interdisciplinary ethos (see the section on the Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study in Key Laboratories and Research Institutes (Part 1)^※). The Institute is known for translating research into market-ready products and has developed a mature network of industry partners and entrepreneurship incubation programmes.

# Research landscape: over a dozen robotics streams

CKSRI’s research coverage is exceptionally broad. According to the Institute and School of Engineering pages^※, its research areas include:

The list covers almost every major frontier of contemporary robotics research. Autonomous driving and humanoid robots attract particular attention because they overlap heavily with global capital and industry hotspots, while streams such as marine robotics and miniature robots reflect distinctive strengths rooted in HKUST’s Clear Water Bay coastal location and its micro-/nano-fabrication expertise.

# Li Zexiang and the robotics education system

Prof. Li Zexiang (now Colin Lam Ko Yin Professor of Engineering) of the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering is a central figure at CKSRI and the principal driving force behind HKUST’s robotics entrepreneurial ecosystem. According to an HKUST School of Engineering feature^※, Prof. Li champions a “New Engineering Education” philosophy, urging students to “use technology to create new things rather than heading to Silicon Valley or Wall Street.” Companies he has co-founded or co-established with students include Googol Technology, DJI, QKM Technology, CiDi (smart-driving technology) and ePropulsion Technology (for the detailed entrepreneurial history of these firms see HKUST Entrepreneurship and Unicorn Ecosystem (Part 2)^※).

# Coupling with HKUST’s entrepreneurship genealogy

CKSRI’s significance cannot be understood in isolation from HKUST’s robotics entrepreneurial lineage. HKUST-spawned companies — from DJI (consumer drones), Googol (motion control) and OceanAlpha (unmanned vessels) to the cluster of hard-tech firms incubated by the “Li Zexiang network” (see Notable Alumni^※ and HKUST Entrepreneurship and Unicorn Ecosystem (Part 2)^※) — form an industrial cluster centred on robotics and autonomous systems. As the on-campus robotics flagship, CKSRI and this cluster enjoy a two-way “academia–industry” coupling: on one side, the Institute’s fundamental research supplies technology headwaters and talent for industry; on the other, a vibrant industrial ecosystem feeds back application scenarios and real-world demands. This coupling is the most concrete expression of HKUST’s “deep integration of industry, academia and research” narrative in the robotics sphere.

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# 2. The Von Neumann Institute (VNI): a new AI flagship launched in 2025

As artificial intelligence becomes the main arena of global technological competition, research universities everywhere are forming flagship AI bodies. HKUST’s answer is the Von Neumann Institute (VNI), established in 2025.

# Founding: responding to Hong Kong’s core-industry AI strategy

According to a University announcement, HKUST established the Von Neumann Institute (VNI) in 2025 in response to the Hong Kong SAR Government’s strategy of developing AI as a core industry^※ (also recorded in the 2025 entry of the Historical Timeline^※). Around 2025, global AI — especially generative AI and large models — entered a breakout phase, and Hong Kong designated AI as a core industry for priority development. By founding VNI, HKUST is consolidating its accumulated strengths in computer science (see Deep-Dive: School of Engineering — Department of Computer Science and Engineering^※), robotics (see CKSRI above) and related fields into a single AI-focused flagship, responding to the twin imperatives of the era and of policy.

# Naming: homage to the “father of the modern computer”

The Institute’s name carries a deliberate resonance. According to the HKUST announcement, VNI is named after the Hungarian-American mathematician John von Neumann, celebrated as the “father of the modern computer”^※. Von Neumann was one of the greatest mathematicians and computing pioneers of the 20th century; the “von Neumann architecture” he proposed laid the foundation for modern computers, and he spent much of his career at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. By naming its AI institute after him, HKUST pays homage to the origins of computing science and simultaneously creates a spiritual echo of the partnership between the HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) and the Princeton IAS (detailed in Key Laboratories and Research Institutes (Part 1)^※) — von Neumann was, of course, one of the legendary figures of the Princeton IAS. The name tethers HKUST’s AI ambitions to the great tradition of modern computing.

# Leadership: computer vision and AI scholar Jia Jiaya

VNI is headed by HKUST Chair Professor Jia Jiaya (賈佳亞) . According to the HKUST Research Portal^※ and public sources, Prof. Jia is a world-class expert in computer vision, artificial intelligence and computational imaging, and is a Fellow of both the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)^※. Prof. Jia himself belongs to HKUST’s entrepreneurial genealogy — he is a founder of the computer-vision company SmartMore (see HKUST Entrepreneurship and Unicorn Ecosystem (Part 2)^※ and Notable Professors^※). Placing a scholar who combines top-tier academic credentials with entrepreneurial experience at the helm of VNI aligns neatly with HKUST’s enduring ethos of deep industry–academia integration: VNI is expected to pursue both cutting-edge academic research and the industrial translation of AI, alongside talent cultivation.

Note: Prof. Jia Jiaya is a living scholar; the academic honours noted here (ACM/IEEE Fellow, institute directorship) are neutral, positive, factual records. This archive records his full name based on public sources.

# Research directions: multimodal AI, robotics and healthcare

Under Prof. Jia’s leadership, VNI will, according to the University announcement, drive transformative research in multimodal AI, robotics and healthcare, while nurturing future talent through educational initiatives^※. It is reported that VNI focuses on five key AI areas, including developing next-generation multimodal AI systems capable of processing images, audio, text and other data types, and enhancing AI’s logical reasoning ability to create trustworthy and reliable solutions^※. These strands outline VNI’s ambition:

• Multimodal AI — unified intelligence spanning image, audio and text, at the frontier of current large-model research;
• Trustworthy reasoning — strengthening AI’s logical reasoning and reliability, addressing industry pain-points such as “AI hallucination” and untrustworthiness;
• Robotics and healthcare — combining AI with HKUST’s robotics strengths and the newly approved medical school (see Establishing a Medical School^※), opening up “AI + industry” application scenarios. The “AI + healthcare” direction in particular forms a strategic synergy with HKUST’s 2025 approval to establish a medical school^※, one of whose distinctive features is embedding AI, data science and robotics in clinical training — VNI’s AI capacity could well become the technological backbone of the medical school’s “technology-driven medical education.”

Placing VNI in the HKUST narrative: its founding responds to Hong Kong’s strategy of developing AI as a core industry and serves as the flagship of HKUST’s AI agenda; named after the “father of the modern computer,” it ties HKUST’s AI ambitions to the great tradition of modern computing; led by a scholar with both academic and entrepreneurial credentials, it embodies the University’s deep-integration orientation; and its “AI + robotics + healthcare” direction creates strategic synergy with CKSRI and the new medical school. Alongside the Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (fundamental research and interdisciplinarity), CKSRI (robotics), and the various State Key Laboratories (neuroscience, optoelectronics, climate), VNI forms part of HKUST’s “matrix of research institutes” — and is the pole within that matrix dedicated to AI.

Seen from a wider angle, VNI’s establishment marks the “institutionalisation” phase of HKUST’s AI strategy. Before this, the University’s strengths in AI, computer vision and machine learning were distributed across the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, various laboratories and the entrepreneurial genealogy; VNI pulls those diffuse forces together into a single flagship platform with a unified banner, clear leadership, and five defined research thrusts. Amid the global wave of universities setting up AI institutes, HKUST enters the arena under the name “von Neumann” — at once a confident expression of its own computing-science heritage and an active response to Hong Kong’s “AI as a core industry” policy.

Note: The establishment year of CKSRI (2015), its naming date (June 2021), the founding year of VNI (2025), the list of its director and research directions are all as stated on official HKUST pages and are time-sensitive; institute directions and projects are continuously updated, and readers should consult the latest official announcements before citing.

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# 3. Center for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAiRE) and Big Data Institute (BDI)

CAiRE is the first dedicated AI research centre established among local Hong Kong tertiary institutions^※, announced in September 2018. It integrates interdisciplinary resources from the Schools of Engineering, Science, and Business and Management, as well as multiple research centres, including the Big Data Institute (BDI), the Robotics Institute, the Human Language Technology Centre and the HKUST Shenzhen Research Institute. Its research directions span the scientific, technological, societal, business and educational dimensions of AI.

The Big Data Institute (BDI) was formally established on 1 February 2016^※. Oriented towards industry needs and societal applications, it operates a multi-centre model, with each centre possessing its own strategic domain and external industry support. Core research areas include smart cities, business intelligence, healthcare and genomics, e-commerce, privacy policy and robotic design.

CAiRE and BDI — one focused on the interdisciplinary integration of AI itself, the other on industry-oriented big-data research — together with CKSRI and VNI, form HKUST’s institutional matrix of “AI + robotics + data.”

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# 4. AI and robotics centres under the InnoHK framework

Under the Hong Kong SAR Government’s AIR@InnoHK research cluster, HKUST leads four research centres^※:

HKGAI draws together the strengths of five leading Hong Kong universities and showcased cutting-edge AI projects to the public for the first time at the InnoEx 2024 expo^※.

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# 5. Autonomous driving and industry joint laboratories

# Hong Kong’s first autonomous vehicle

In 2017, Prof. Liu Ming invented Hong Kong’s first autonomous vehicle at HKUST^※; subsequently, during the COVID‑19 pandemic in 2020, his autonomous systems were deployed for disinfection and delivery in mainland Chinese communities. He serves as Acting Director of the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Thrust at HKUST(GZ), concurrently holds a post in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at the Clear Water Bay campus, and leads the Intelligent Autonomous Driving Centre.

# Joint laboratory with the Hong Kong Productivity Council

HKUST and the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) have established a joint laboratory^※ — the University’s first joint research laboratory established with a statutory body in Hong Kong — combining HKPC’s expertise in smart manufacturing with HKUST’s research capabilities in AI and robotics to tackle real-world industrial problems.

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# 6. Data science research direction

According to the HKUST VPRD office^※, the University lists “Autonomous Systems and Robotics” as one of its eight core research areas and separately designates “Data Science” as a key focus, with specific application scenarios including:

• Smart-city infrastructure and traffic management
• Medical data analytics and genomics
• Financial data and risk modelling
• Environmental monitoring and climate data

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# 7. Summary: three pillars uphold the “robotics and AI powerhouse” image

Viewed side by side, the bodies surveyed in this article show that HKUST’s strength in robotics and AI is upheld by three institutional pillars:

1. CKSRI (robotics) — integrating dispersed robotics research strengths, serving as the academic wellspring of HKUST’s remarkable robotics entrepreneurial lineage;
2. VNI (AI flagship) — newly founded in 2025, named after the father of the modern computer, concentrating on multimodal AI, trustworthy reasoning and “AI + healthcare”;
3. CAiRE / BDI / InnoHK cluster — filling out the interdisciplinary integration of AI, big-data commercialisation and dedicated government-funding channels.

Together with star spin-off enterprises such as DJI, they jointly sustain HKUST’s external image as a “robotics powerhouse”; and as the synergies between VNI, the new medical school and CKSRI deepen, “AI + industry” is emerging as one of the main threads of the University’s next-phase research narrative.

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