Where Ideas Root and Flourish
Under the pressure of the epidemic, the trend of “e-learning” has revealed its advantages. The emergence of virtual reality teaching has further promoted the education sector to enter the era of digital learning. We can also ride the “STEM wave” and find the key to coping with changes and challenges. Professor Morris Jong, the cover story of this issue of Cubic Zine, fell in love with computers from playing computer games, and then researched the combination of games and learning, which not only satisfied the many wishes of local non-Chinese students, but also extended the teaching effect to overseas universities.
In this issue: #E-learning #VR #Gamification #VirtualFieldTrip#ChineseCulture #Deeplearning #SocialInclusion
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Scholarly Outreach → GLOCAL
Click Into VR Place — PC game enthusiast Morris Jong stays ahead of the game in educational VR and Outdoor Museum
“In fact, information technology and games go hand in hand with learning!” Prof. Morris Jong, who loved playing computer games during secondary school, how did he embark on the road of academic research?
Professor Jong analyzed the characteristics of learning and games from his own experience. He revealed that a research experience is to infiltrate the elements of “Gamification” when designing teaching materials.
With the support of the CUHK Knowledge Transfer Project Fund (KPF), Professor Jong has focused his research on cultural education. With the help of EduVenture® VR (Virtual Reality Study Platform), Hong Kong’s ethnic minority students can conduct field trips without leaving classroom to get in touch with things that are endowed with traditional Chinese characteristics.
During the interview, Professor Jong mentioned the word “gratitude” from time to time. How can e-learning benefit students thousands of miles away? What is the invincible “deep learning” skill?
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Technology→ TECH on TREND
Metaverse | Global
Since Facebook morphed to Meta, the building of Metaverse in film, game, business and so on has become all the rage. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, announced earlier the solution Enterprise Metaverse.
The Metaverse Standards Forum, inaugurated in June this year, brought together active organisations and companies such as Microsoft, Meta, Adobe and Nvidia. Soon after, HTC Corporation announced the launch of the world’s first Metaverse smartphone “Desire 22 Pro”. Users may upload their NFT collectibles via HTC’s Viverse ecosystem, and manage NFT and mobile-control VR with VIVE Wallet.
NFT of toy brands | Hong Kong
According to industry research published by Bloomberg, the market scale of Metaverse may increase from USD500 billion in 2020 to USD800 billion in 2024. Non‑fungible tokens (NFTs) have played a crucial role in the birth of the Metaverse, and companies in Hong Kong are riding the crest of the NFT wave to market their own brands and intellectual properties (IPs) in the form of NFTs. B.Duck, an original IP brand from Hong Kong, had its first batch of 4,000 B.Duck NFTs sold out within five hours of public sales.
B.Duck is an original brand from Hong Kong that began with designing and manufacturing gifts and premiums. To meet the demands of the future virtual world, B.Duck has decided to create an interactive virtual-actual ecosystem, and espouse the business model that it entails. Its launch of NFTs hopes to draw private traffic pool of B.Duck fans into the Duckverse, allowing the company to analyse and determine customer preferences and market movements. Interactions within the Metaverse community can strengthen connections between the brand and its fans, and extend to offline sales and brand experience.
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Government→ POLICY Alert
Green Finance | Hong Kong
As Hong Kong celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Handover, the HKSAR government is making headways in new areas of financial services. These include the inaugural issuance of retail green bond amounting to $20 billion in May this year, the largest retail green bond issuance in the world so far.
In 2020, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) took the lead to set up the Green and Sustainable Finance Cross-Agency Steering Group with other government departments and supervisory authorities. The Steering Group is expected to launch the Pilot Green and Sustainable Finance Capacity Building Support Scheme, which was announced in the 2022/23 Budget, in the 4th quarter of 2022. The 3-year Scheme will provide subsidies to practitioners in green finance and university students to take part in related training courses and acquisition of relevant professional qualifications.
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Entrepreneurship→ STARTUP on DATA
Startup Ecosystem | Global
In 2020, the number of startups in Hong Kong reached 3,360 with over 10,000 employees — a vivid representation of the thriving startup ecosystem. In the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2020 issued by Startup Genome, Hong Kong ranked eighth among all fintech ecosystems in the world.
In the latest report in 2022, Silicon Valley continues to be at the top of the league, followed by New York and London tied at second place. Beijing and Shanghai are still the most vigorous ecosystems in Asia, ranking fifth and eighth respectively. The report points out that China remains a startup powerhouse, with tech companies raising USD39 billion in total VC rounds in 2021, 25% more than in 2020.
The report also has it that COVID-19 has ultimately boosted the sector by accelerating digitisation with massive revolutions in everything from AI and social media to autonomous vehicles and precision medicine. A record-high 540 companies achieved unicorn status in 2021.
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Be → ENGAGING
The annual Hong Kong Computer & Communications Festival will be held on 19-22 Aug 2022. There will be a designated area of Metaverse with the participation of virtual platforms such as AiR and BetterArena for the general public to learn about concepts and applications of innovation and technology.
ORTKS organises “knowledge transfer” events such as sharing and seminar on social and technological innovation throughout the year.
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