UM inaugura o seu terceiro laboratório de referência do Estado

The University of Macau (UM) today (8 October) held a plaque unveiling ceremony for the State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City, which is the university’s third state key lab approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology, in the Macao Cultural Centre. The lab is expected to promote smart city development in Macao and inject a fresh impetus to the development of the Greater Bay Area by enhancing research and training in the field and providing technical support plans for improving economic performance, people’s quality of life, and social management.

Plaque-unveiling guests included Chui Sai On, chief executive of the Macao SAR; Zhang Jianguo, deputy minister of science and technology of China; Yonghua Song, rector of UM; and Liu Liang, president of the Macau University of Science and Technology. Other officiating guests at the ceremony included Zheng Xiaosong, director general of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Macao SAR; Shen Beili, commissioner of the Office of Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of PRC in Macao; Raimundo Arrais do Rosário, secretary for transport and public works of Macao; Lam Kam Seng, vice president of the Science and Technology Council of Macao; and Ma Chi Ngai, president of the Administrative Committee of the Science and Technology Development Fund of Macao.

The development of Macao into a smart city needs to be based on the local situation and a macro-approach. It must assume a leadership role in the studies of basic scientific problems in smart city development, develop key technologies, and create representative smart city applications that can serve Macao and the Greater Bay Area with the help of policies, science, technology, education, application, and the industry. Therefore, the lab will follow a blueprint that places an emphasis on four areas, namely city development, basic research, talent development, and serving Macao. It will gradually initiate urban innovations and provide scientific basis and support for urban transport planning, urban renewal, comprehensive energy planning and regulation, urban security monitoring, and disaster prevention and reduction.

The lab will make it a top priority to tackle the technical challenge of constructing a new type of Internet of Things (IoT) in the development of a smart city. It will overcome the shortcomings of the current smart city and IoT technologies and combine its basic theories, methods, algorithms, and scientific models into a basic resource. The lab will also provide technical support for related applications that serve the local community, in order to improve economic performance, people’s quality of life, and social management. In its effort to contribute to the development of the Greater Bay Area and China, it is necessary for Macao to propose its own solution for smart city development. Therefore, UM’s establishment of this third state key lab is of great significance.

The state key lab is comprised of five chair professors and distinguished professors, as well as 14 full professors, associate professors, and assistant professors. One of them is a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering and four are fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The lab also includes 16 Macao scholars and postdoctoral researchers, as well as more than 60 PhD students and master’s students. Members of the lab have participated in multiple projects under the 973 Programme and the 863 Programme of the Ministry of Science and Technology, as well as key projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, with more than 1,000 papers published in international journals and at international conferences. They have received numerous national awards in science and technology, as well as more than ten patents.