Connect with us

Technology

ASTRI Fully Supports HK’s Inaugural Five-Year Plan and 2026 Policy Address

Published

on

Aligning with National Strategy and Fully Leveraging Applied Research
to Accelerate the Development of New Quality Productivity Forces

HONG KONG, Sept. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) welcomes the HKSAR Government’s publication of the “First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (2026–2030)” (the “Hong Kong’s Five-Year Plan”) and The Chief Executive’s 2026 Policy Address (the “Policy Address”). Closely aligned with the national “15th Five-Year Plan” and its strategic development framework, Hong Kong’s Five-Year Plan sets out a clear vision and direction for Hong Kong’s development over the coming five years, guiding the city towards high-quality growth. In the field of innovation and technology (I&T) in particular, ASTRI fully supports the strategic initiatives outlined in the Hong Kong’s Five-Year Plan and will play an active role in realising the vision of establishing Hong Kong as an international I&T hub by 2030 — one rooted in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, radiating across the nation and connecting with the world.

As one of the “five key research and development (R&D) institutions”, ASTRI is encouraged by the direction set out in the Hong Kong’s Five-Year Plan, which proposes elevating Hong Kong’s I&T development through the establishment of “three major I&T parks and five key R&D institutions” and the optimisation of the city’s I&T development framework. This reflects the Government’s firm commitment to strengthening Hong Kong’s R&D capabilities in frontier technology and supporting the nation in achieving critical breakthroughs in these fields. ASTRI will work closely with the HKSAR Government to enhance the local innovation ecosystem and contribute further to establishing Hong Kong as an international I&T hub.

ASTRI also welcomes the Policy Address proposal for the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau to set up a new Task Group on Frontier Technology to plan for the development of frontier technologies covering artificial intelligence, new energy, new materials, aerospace technology, quantum technology and other areas to explore technology and industry development. It will report to the “Committee on Innovation, Technology and Industry Development” (the “Committee”), supporting policy formulation and industrial planning. As an ex officio member of the Committee, ASTRI will continue to provide advice and insights to support the Government in formulating policies and measures that foster I&T development.

In alignment with the national15th Five-Year Plan” and Hong Kong’s future development blueprint, ASTRI has positioned itself as an integrated applied technology platform dedicated to advancing new quality productive forces and serving as an applied technology hub bridging national strategies with international innovation. It focuses on key technology areas including artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, new energy, low-altitude economy, next-generation communications, and digital finance, leveraging technological innovation to drive industrial upgrading.

Promote Industry-Academic-Research Collaboration in Northern Metropolis

Ir Prof Sunny Lee, Board Chairman of ASTRI, emphasised that the Hong Kong’s Five-Year Plan and Policy Address present unparalleled opportunities to elevate Hong Kong’s I&T ecosystem, catalyse high-quality development, and drive the city’s next wave of economic transformation, while enhancing competitive advantages and enabling Hong Kong to better integrate into and contribute to national development priorities.

He pointed out that over the next five years, through combining strengths in information technology, advanced materials, and engineering systems, ASTRI aims to create cross-disciplinary synergies, bridge the gap between fundamental research and industrial applications, maximise the impact of public R&D investments, and accelerate sustainable technology commercialisation.

He also strongly agrees to position the Northern Metropolis as the primary growth engine for the development of higher education and innovation and technology, efforts will be made to promote the integrated development of education, technology, and talent. Through the coordinated development of industrial parks, universities, and research institutions, an innovation ecosystem characterised by the deep integration of “industry, academia, and research” will be established, while promoting upgrade and transformation across industry through technology.

He remarked: “The Northern Metropolis University Town will nurture the next generation of research talent and expand Hong Kong’s innovation workforce, while industry will provide diverse application scenarios for research outcomes – the two complement each other perfectly. With strong research capabilities and extensive experience in technology commercialisation, combined with a deep understanding of industry needs, ASTRI is able to establish an end-to-end pathway from laboratory research to market deployment, and accelerate technology commercialisation through industry-academia-research collaborations, joint laboratories, IP licensing, technology standardisation, and the incubation of spin-off companies.”

Leverage ASTRI’s Technological Strengths to Shape Emerging Fields

Ir Dr Ted Suen, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI, welcomed the Government’s continued investment in advancing core technologies, highlighting the alignment between the Hong Kong’s Five-Year Plan’s priorities and ASTRI’s mission. “ASTRI will spearhead the development of ‘AI+’ technologies, integrating with advanced semiconductors, green energy, new industrialisation, healthcare technology and cutting-edge communications technology to create a new paradigm for carbon-neutral, healthy, intelligent and connected living. We will concentrate resources on these strategic research domains to support innovation in core areas, creating a comprehensive and systematic technology ecosystem,” he said.

He added: “ASTRI is committed to capitalising Hong Kong’s strategic role as a ‘super-connector’ to support homegrown technologies expand into Chinese Mainland and international markets with special focuses on the Middle East and ASEAN countries. We are committed to developing forward-looking and sustainable core technological capabilities, accelerating industrial transformation and upgrading, attracting and nurturing international technology talent, and creating long-term and sustainable economic value for Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area, and beyond.”

Photos Download: https://bit.ly/4gE795y

 

About ASTRI

Founded in 2000 by the HKSAR Government, Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) is the city’s largest government-funded R&D centre. Committed to transforming high-impact research into practical innovations, ASTRI drives market-driven, interdisciplinary advancements across sectors, including Smart City, FinTech, Digital Health and Life Sciences, New Industrialisation and Intelligent Manufacturing, Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) and Advanced Electronics, New Energy and Energy Storage, and Green and ESG Technologies. Following its merger with the Nano and Advanced Materials Institute, ASTRI has further strengthened its capabilities, with over 1,500 patents and 2,200 successful cases of technology transfer. Recognised with numerous international awards, ASTRI continues to nurture top I&T talent and foster collaborations among the I&T ecosystem, contributing to Hong Kong’s high-value economic development. For more information, please visit: https://www.astri.org

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/astri-fully-supports-hks-inaugural-five-year-plan-and-2026-policy-address-302881322.html

SOURCE Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI)

Continue Reading

Technology

DapuStor to Showcase AI Storage Innovations with Global Infrastructure Partners at Tech Week Singapore 2026

Published

on

By

SINGAPORE, Sept. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — DapuStor, an enterprise storage solutions provider, will showcase its latest enterprise SSD technologies alongside four global AI infrastructure partners at Tech Week Singapore 2026, taking place September 29–30 at Marina Bay Sands.

Under the theme “Powering AI Infrastructure Together,” DapuStor will demonstrate how enterprise storage works with data platforms, compute infrastructure, and AI applications to support increasingly data-intensive AI workloads.

The showcase will feature DapuStor’s latest enterprise SSD portfolio, including the 512TB R6060 E2 QLC SSD, J5060 SLC/QLC mixed-mode SSD, R6 liquid-cooled E1.S SSD, and J5 M.2 boot drive SSD. Designed for evolving AI training and inference requirements, the portfolio addresses growing dataset sizes, thermal constraints, storage density, and infrastructure efficiency.

DapuStor will also present a series of joint AI infrastructure showcases with its partners. Together with DDN (DataDirect Networks), DapuStor will demonstrate high-performance enterprise TLC SSDs supporting AI data platforms including DDN Infinia, EXAScaler, and X3M, with a focus on efficient data access and movement at scale.

With Ubitus, DapuStor will showcase an integrated AI infrastructure solution combining scalable GPU computing with enterprise storage for AI training and inference. Together with ExponTech, DapuStor will highlight AI-oriented storage for KV Cache, RAG, training, and inference workloads.

DapuStor will also showcase enterprise NVMe storage alongside platforms from a leading global server technology provider, highlighting scalable compute and storage infrastructure for AI and cloud deployments.

Beyond the exhibition, DapuStor will participate in two conference sessions. On September 29 at 3:35 p.m. SGT, John Li, VP of Marketing and Operations at DapuStor, will join the panel “AI Sovereignty in Asia Pacific – Navigating Strategy, Policy, and Control.”

On September 30 at 12:45 p.m. SGT, DapuStor and DDN will jointly present “Powering AI Infrastructure with High-Performance Storage” at the Cloud & AI Infrastructure Keynote Theatre, sharing perspectives on scalable, production-ready AI infrastructure.

Visitors can meet DapuStor and explore the joint showcases at Booth 5-I45, Level 5, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, September 29–30.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/dapustor-to-showcase-ai-storage-innovations-with-global-infrastructure-partners-at-tech-week-singapore-2026-302883380.html

SOURCE DapuStor

Continue Reading

Technology

Xinhua Finance: Robotics Contest Highlights Chongqing District’s Push Into Embodied AI

Published

on

By

National competition in Shapingba District draws more than 100 teams developing robotics technologies for real-world deployment

CHONGQING, China, Sept. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A national robotics competition held this month in Chongqing offered a look at China’s efforts to move embodied artificial intelligence out of research laboratories and into commercial use.

The finals of the 11th “Maker in China” SME Innovation and Entrepreneurship Contest for Intelligent Biomimetic Robots concluded Sept. 11 in Chongqing’s Shapingba District. The three-day national competition drew more than 100 teams from across China, with projects spanning biomimetic robotics, industrial automation and AI systems designed to perceive and interact with the physical world. 

Alongside the competition, organizers arranged meetings involving companies, universities and research institutions, as well as discussions aimed at technology transfer, financing and local deployment. The event formed part of a national program intended to support innovative SMEs with specialized technologies. Its theme was “Pushing Tech Frontiers, Unleashing Creativity.”

The competition comprised 13 tracks, covering work ranging from foundational research to systems approaching commercial deployment. Teams in the startup category competed in three broad areas: cutting-edge technologies, core enabling technologies and specialized applications. Their projects focused in part on the hardware, software and control systems underpinning the next generation of robots.

Teams in the enterprise category, by contrast, tested systems designed for real-world use in the electric power, healthcare and service sectors. The emphasis was on whether the technologies could perform reliably in operating environments and be scaled for broader deployment.

Many of the entries targeted technical bottlenecks that have limited the wider deployment of robotic systems. Projects included multi-robot coordination and task-scheduling systems for warehouses; assistive exoskeletons for older adults and rehabilitation patients; biomimetic robots for inspecting electric power infrastructure; miniature hummingbird-inspired flapping-wing drones; and robots capable of folding clothing autonomously. Together, the projects illustrated the range of engineering approaches Chinese developers are pursuing as they seek practical applications for embodied AI.

The competition also served as a venue for financing and business-development discussions, and several participating projects announced plans to establish operations in Shapingba. At the closing ceremony, the Shapingba District government signed letters of intent with SIASUN Robot & Automation Co., Ltd. and Chentu Technology, among other companies. ZTE also signed letters of intent with teams from Zhejiang University and Xi’an Jiaotong University.

Shapingba is seeking to establish itself as a center for embodied AI within Chongqing’s broader robotics supply chain. The value of the district’s robotics output rose 233% from a year earlier during the first seven months of 2026, according to local government data.

 

 

 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/xinhua-finance-robotics-contest-highlights-chongqing-districts-push-into-embodied-ai-302883729.html

SOURCE Xinhua Finance

Continue Reading

Technology

Peoplevine Secures Multi-Million-Dollar Growth Investment to Accelerate AI-Powered Hospitality

Published

on

By

Investment from Recurring Capital Partners will accelerate Peoplevine’s AI roadmap, payments infrastructure and global expansion across private clubs and luxury hospitality.

CHICAGO, Sept. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Peoplevine, the Guest & Member Experience CRM for hospitality, today announced a multi-million-dollar growth capital investment from Recurring Capital Partners (RCP). The investment will accelerate Peoplevine’s AI-driven product roadmap, payments infrastructure and continued global expansion across private clubs and luxury hospitality.

“Hospitality has always been about remembering people, who they are, what they value and what makes them feel known. AI gives us an entirely new way to unlock it.” Boren Novakovic, CEO, Peoplevine

For hospitality operators in more than 20 countries, Peoplevine helps deepen guest and member relationships through a living profile, connecting identity, membership, preferences, payments, reservations, visits and experiences to make hospitality more personal.

Peoplevine is investing in AI capabilities designed to make the depth of guest and member context within its platform dramatically easier for operators to surface, understand and act on, turning the living profile into intelligence, personalization and action.

“Hospitality has always been about remembering people, who they are, what they value and what makes them feel known,” said Boren Novakovic, CEO of Peoplevine. “For more than 12 years, our technology has helped clients build those relationships, and the living profile gives operators that memory at scale. AI gives us an entirely new way to unlock it. This investment allows us to accelerate that vision and help our customers create more personal, more intelligent hospitality around the world.”

Peoplevine’s Guest & Member Experience CRM helps private clubs, hotels, resorts, stadiums, restaurants and other membership-driven hospitality operators manage the guest and member relationship across its lifecycle.

“The opportunity isn’t simply to add AI features to the interface,” said Jordan Gilman, CTO and Co-Founder of Peoplevine. “It’s to make the depth already inside Peoplevine more accessible and actionable. When intelligence can securely reason across the living profile, operators can move from searching for information to understanding what matters, identifying opportunities and taking action. We’re building toward a system of identity and intelligence that puts the full context of the guest and member relationship to work.”

The investment will also support Peoplevine’s continued international expansion, extending the company’s platform and support capabilities to private clubs and luxury hospitality operators in new global markets.

“Peoplevine has a proven track record of driving growth through innovation in the private club and hospitality market,” said Brian Henley, Managing Partner at Recurring Capital Partners. “Peoplevine is exactly the kind of high-growth, capital-efficient company we’re excited to support, led by a proven management team. We look forward to fueling their continued success and innovation.”

About Peoplevine

Peoplevine is the Guest & Member Experience CRM for hospitality, purpose-built for private clubs, hotels, resorts, stadiums, restaurants and other membership-driven hospitality businesses.

Peoplevine helps operators acquire, check in, engage, retain and grow guest and member relationships through a connected living profile that brings together identity, membership, engagement, transactions and experiences.

For more than 12 years, Peoplevine has helped hospitality businesses create more connected and personalized experiences and today serves customers across 20 countries.

Peoplevine integrates with leading hospitality platforms across property management, point of sale, reservations, payments and other critical systems.

For more information, visit Peoplevine.com.

About Recurring Capital Partners

Recurring Capital Partners provides growth capital to SaaS technology companies. Combining deep operating experience with startup finance expertise, the firm partners with founders and management teams to accelerate growth, manage business and personal risk, and help capital-efficient software businesses scale.

Media Contact

Chris Lindsey, Peoplevine, 1 7734160841, chris@peoplevine.com, www.peoplevine.com

View original content:https://www.prweb.com/releases/peoplevine-secures-multi-million-dollar-growth-investment-to-accelerate-ai-powered-hospitality-302883594.html

SOURCE Peoplevine

Continue Reading

Trending