Donor Roll and Named Buildings

Since its founding in 1991, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has built up a comprehensive campus naming system supported by the government's matching grant schemes and private philanthropic donations. This article brings together the major donations made public to date, the named buildings and professorships they produced, and the basic framework of the naming policy.

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# 1. The Naming Policy Framework

Under the University's official Donation Guidelines, the grant and exercise of naming rights works as follows:

• Threshold for major gifts: donations of HK$1 million or above require a signed Donation Agreement^※; donations above HK$10 million must be approved by the University Council^※. For gifts of HK$10 million or below, the Council has delegated approval authority to the President, Vice-Presidents and Deans.
• Discretion over naming: the University may, at its own discretion, express gratitude to donors in whatever manner, for whatever term and on whatever conditions the Council deems appropriate^※. Naming is not an automatic entitlement that comes with a gift.
• Naming a college or department: naming a school or academic department after a donor is a more complex matter, requiring a proposal developed through discussion led by the senior management^※. To date, no faculty at HKUST has been named after an individual; naming has been confined to buildings, professorships and research institutes.

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# 2. Major Donors and Named Facilities

# Lee Shau Kee and the Lee Shau Kee Foundation

• Amount: HK$400 million^※ (donated by Lee Shau Kee Foundation Limited)
• Announced: 20 March 2007^※
• Purpose: to support HKUST's transition to the four-year undergraduate curriculum, the establishment of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), and the University's overall advancement.
• Named facilities:
  • Lee Shau Kee Campus: opened on 10 September 2013^※, situated above the main campus on a site of about ten hectares.
  • Lee Shau Kee Business Building: a seven-storey building housing the School of Business and Management and related academic units^※.
  • Founding Patron of the IAS: Dr Lee Shau Kee was appointed Founding Patron of the Institute for Advanced Study^※.
• Background: Lee Shau Kee was chairman of Henderson Land Development and, by public account, one of the wealthiest individuals in Hong Kong. The then Vice-Chancellor and President, Shih Choon-fong, said of the gift: "Dr. Lee's donation will make this Hong Kong dream come true."

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# The Li Ka Shing Foundation

# Gift 1: HK$500 million for an institute of synthetic biology

• Amount: HK$500 million^※
• Announced: 15 August 2019^※
• Purpose: to establish Hong Kong's first institute of synthetic biology, with state-of-the-art research facilities intended to attract leading international scholars.
• Named facility: Li Ka Shing Institute of Synthetic Biology
• The donor's words: "Just as synthetic chemistry and petrochemicals were at the core of the 20th century, synthetic biology and DNA will be the technical engines of this century, upending conventional manufacturing."^※ — Li Ka-shing

# Gift 2: HK$20 million for talent development

• Amount: HK$20 million^※
• Purpose: to broaden students' global horizons and nurture a new generation of leaders with innovative mindsets, covering international research opportunities, entrepreneurship and community engagement projects.
• No dedicated naming resulting from this gift.

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# Shaw Foundation Hong Kong

• Amount: HK$150 million^※
• Announced: 17 April 2019^※
• Purpose: to build a multi-purpose performance venue.
• Named facilities:
  • Shaw Auditorium: opened on 17 November 2021^※, designed by the architectural practice Henning Larsen; a three-storey, multi-purpose venue seating 1,300 in flat-floor mode or 850 in concert-hall mode^※, whose opening performance was given by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.
  • Mona Shaw Plaza: named after the late wife of Sir Run Run Shaw, Mrs Mona Fong^※.
• Background: Shaw Foundation Hong Kong was founded by the late Sir Run Run Shaw and has supported more than 6,000 projects at local and mainland-China institutions^※.

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# The Cheng Yu Tung Funds

Two separate naming gifts connect HKUST to the Cheng Yu Tung family and its associated funds:

# 1. Chow Tai Fook Cheng Yu Tung Fund — the Cheng Yu Tung Building

• Amount: HK$90 million^※
• Announced: 6 July 2010^※
• Purpose: to build a new research and academic building.
• Named facility: Cheng Yu Tung Building: opened on 23 February 2016, the same day as HKUST's 25th anniversary celebrations^※; an eight-storey building housing the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies, the Robotics Institute, the WHAT LAB (an artificial-intelligence laboratory set up jointly with WeChat) and a multi-purpose 400-seat lecture hall.
• The donor's background: The Chow Tai Fook Cheng Yu Tung Fund was established by the late Cheng Yu Tung, founder of the New World Group; the family's charities have given more than HK$2.2 billion in Hong Kong and mainland China across education, healthcare and culture^※.

# 2. Chow Tai Fook Charity Foundation — the Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute

• Amount: HK$100 million^※
• Announced: 17 June 2021^※
• Purpose: to strengthen research capacity in robotics and autonomous systems; to support students' development in innovation and design thinking; and to promote knowledge transfer.
• Named facility: Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute, whose naming ceremony was officiated by Dr Adrian Cheng, eldest son of Cheng Kar-Shun^※.

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# Martin Ka Shing Lee / Henderson Land

• Amount: HK$150 million^※
• Announced: 17 June 2016^※ (the groundbreaking ceremony followed on 10 November 2022^※)
• Purpose: to build a new innovation building supporting the University's work in innovation and entrepreneurship.
• Named facility: Martin Ka Shing Lee Innovation Building: located near the southern entrance of the Clear Water Bay campus, about 5,100 square metres of operational floor space, with laboratories spanning robotics, artificial intelligence, data science, sustainability and health sciences^※; expected completion in the fourth quarter of 2025^※.
• The donor's background: Martin Ka Shing Lee is vice-chairman of Henderson Land Development and the son of Lee Shau Kee^※.

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# The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust

The Jockey Club is one of the most significant institutional donors to HKUST, having funded several facilities through successive gifts:

# 1. Jockey Club Enterprise Center

• Total construction cost: about HK$160 million, of which the Jockey Club Charities Trust funded roughly HK$80 million and the government the remainder^※
• Opened: 17 April 2007^※
• Facilities: two five-storey buildings with a total floor area of 10,000 square metres, supporting applied research and development, technology transfer, and executive and professional development programmes.

# 2. HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)

• Amount: more than HK$71 million^※
• Naming ceremony: 27 November 2013^※
• Named IAS professorships: the first endowed chairs were inaugurated at the same ceremony, including the Jockey Club IAS Bank of East Asia Professorship, the Jockey Club IAS Helmut and Anna Sohmen Visiting Professorship, the Jockey Club IAS S.Y. Foundation Professorship and the TT & WF Chao Foundation Professorship^※.
• Mission of the IAS: to bring the world's leading scholars together to advance frontier discoveries and scholarship in Asia and globally^※.

# 3. Jockey Club Global Graduate Tower

• Amount: HK$176.05 million^※
• Opened: 25 October 2021^※
• Facilities: provides 504 postgraduate residences^※; awarded BEAM Plus Platinum (the highest rating)^※ green-building certification, saving about 45% of water and using 26% less energy than comparable buildings.

# 4. Jockey Club i-Village

• Amount: over HK$203 million^※
• Opened: 11 June 2026^※
• Facilities: provides 1,551 undergraduate places^※ across four residence blocks totalling about 35,500 square metres, arranged in a hexagonal layout and certified BEAM Plus Platinum. The "i" stands for internationalization and innovation^※.

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# Otto Poon Charitable Foundation

• Amount: HK$100 million^※
• Announced: 24 September 2018^※
• Purpose: to establish an endowment supporting research and education in the environment, technology and innovation — including environmental sustainability research infrastructure, central university research facilities, and named professorships and scholarships.
• Named facilities: named professorships including the Otto Poon Professor of Engineering.
• The donor's background: Dr Otto Poon is the founding chairman of the ATAL Group^※.

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# Li Dak Sum

• Gift (1): HK$100 million^※ (presentation ceremony on 28 June 2016)
• Purpose: to establish the "Li Dak Sum Yip Yio Chin Kenneth Li Research and Development Fund^※", supporting five strategic areas: data science, autonomous systems and robotics, design thinking and entrepreneurship, sustainability, and public policy.
• Named facility: a new conference lodge on campus named "Li Dak Sum Yip Yio Chin Kenneth Li Conference Lodge"^※.
• Gift (2): HK$100 million^※ (a separate donation in December 2015) earmarked for undergraduate scholarships, benefiting graduates of Ningbo College and Ningbo No. 2 College.
• The donor's background: Dr Li Dak Sum is Chairman of Roxy Property Investment Co. Ltd. and Honorary President (in perpetuity) of the Ningbo Residents (HK) Association^※.

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# Lo Kwee Seong Foundation

• Amount: HK$100 million^※
• Announced: 6 September 2018^※
• Purpose: to acquire a high-resolution cryo-electron microscope (Cryo-EM) and establish the "Lo Kwee Seong Research Fund" to support frontier life-science research.
• Named facility: part of the laboratory space in the University's Academic Building was named "Lo Kwee-Seong Building"^※ to house the cryo-EM and related facilities; expected to be operational in early 2019^※.
• The donor's background: The Lo Kwee Seong Foundation was founded by the late Dr Lo Kwee Seong in 1991^※.

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# Yuexiu Group

Yuexiu Group has donated to HKUST in three consecutive years, cumulatively reaching HK$280 million^※:

None of the three gifts carried a dedicated naming right^※. Yuexiu Group is a state-owned enterprise; at the time of its third gift, it spoke of building industry-academia collaboration for the University and for the Greater Bay Area^※.

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# Fok Ying Tung Foundation

• Named facilities: the Fok Ying Tung Research Institute Building and the HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School (in Nansha, Guangzhou)
• Building opening: 16 December 2014 (the opening of the building on the Guangzhou Nansha campus)^※
• Scale of facilities: the institute building has a total floor area of 36,000 square metres, with advanced laboratories and educational facilities^※.
• Research focus: the Internet of Things, advanced engineering materials, advanced manufacturing and automation, and the environment and sustainability.
• Note: the specific donation amount has not been publicly disclosed by official sources, which describe the gift only as "generous".

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# Alumni giving: Tsang Chiu Sang and Lam Po Yu

• Donors: HKUST alumni brothers Mr Terry Tsang and Terence Tsang
• Naming ceremony: 16 December 2025^※
• Named facilities:
  • Tsang Chiu Sang Tower (formerly University Residence Block A)
  • Lam Po Yu Tower (formerly University Residence Block B)
• Amount: the gift amount has not been publicly disclosed.
• Background: Tsang Chiu-Sang joined HKUST in 1990 as a campus security guard; he passed away in 2004 while his sons were still students, and the University's emergency fund helped the two brothers complete their studies^※. After graduating, the Tsang brothers founded the mobile-game company Mad Head Limited, whose title Tower of Saviors has been downloaded over 23 million times worldwide^※, and have given back to their alma mater through sustained donations since. The two residence towers carry the names of their father and mother respectively — a rare case of HKUST naming buildings after the family of a front-line campus staff member.

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# Frank Wang and DJI

• Who he is: Frank Wang is an alumnus of the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering (ECE), and founder and CEO of DJI^※, the world's largest maker of commercial drones.
• Giving to HKUST: Frank Wang has funded a joint postgraduate supervision scheme and contributed to ECE research projects; DJI has also set up robotics research scholarships for HKUST postgraduate students^※.
• Amount: no specific figure has been officially disclosed; Wang is listed as a "Life Grand Patron" of the HKUST Foundation.
• A note on sourcing: searches of multiple official channels found no public statement giving a specific donation figure for Wang; only his "Life Grand Patron" status and the contributions above are confirmed.

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# 3. The Foundation's Donor Honour Roll Tiers

The HKUST Foundation maintains a tiered classification of donors by cumulative giving, updated at the start of each fiscal year in July^※:

The exact entry threshold for each tier is not publicly disclosed. The Foundation states that the "Life Grand Patron" tier can only be reached through sustained and substantial giving^※.

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# 4. The Named Professorship System

HKUST operates a formal Named Professorship Program, designed to attract distinguished scholars and to honour donors' commitment to education^※. Once a gift establishes a professorship, the University provides the incumbent professor with additional research funding and academic expenses each year.

Confirmed major professorship gifts (in part):

HKUST has not publicly disclosed the full number of named professorships, their values, or the application criteria.

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# 5. A Chronology of Major Gifts

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# 6. The Eighth Matching Grant Scheme and the Surge in Giving

In February 2018 the government announced the Eighth Matching Grant Scheme (2019–2021), with a total matching pool of HK$2.5 billion^※. The ten funded institutions together raised about HK$5 billion in donations^※, and the government paid out the full HK$2.5 billion in matching funds.

According to HKUST's consolidated financial statements for 2019/20^※ and annual report, donations and gifts recognised that year reached HK$741 million^※, an increase of roughly twelve times over the HK$62 million of 2018/19^※; matching grants recognised amounted to about HK$600 million^※, the highest single-year matching support in the University's history.

The South China Morning Post noted^※ that the surge in large gifts to HKUST and other universities came during the 2019 social unrest in Hong Kong, with some analysts attributing the spike more to the timing window of the matching scheme than to sociopolitical factors.

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# 7. Items Without Verifiable Sources

The following entries could not be confirmed through official sources after repeated searching; they are recorded here as such:

• Cheng Ka-shan: the original brief asked that this name be included, but searches of all official HKUST news, annual reports and building-naming pages found no record of any donation or naming associated with "Cheng Ka-shan", nor any building, professorship or fund matching the name. No record found; not included in this article.
• Amount of Frank Wang's donation: Wang is listed as a "Life Grand Patron" but no specific figure has been officially disclosed.
• Amount behind the Tsang Chiu Sang / Lam Po Yu tower naming: the donation amount has not been officially disclosed.

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# Related Reading

• For the full story of Lee Shau Kee's HK$400 million gift and the naming of the campus, see Lee Shau Kee's Gift and the Named Campus
• For the financial background to the Eighth Matching Grant Scheme and the surge in giving, see Income, Reserves and Endowment
• For the investment and ESG performance of the endowment, see Endowment Investment Returns and ESG

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