(Hong Kong, 16 June 2022) The Hong Kong Industrial Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Centre, known as “FLAIR”, which is founded by the Hong Kong Productivity Council with RWTH Aachen Campus of Germany as its major collaborator, is delighted to announce the signing of research and development (R&D) sponsorship agreements with four local industry partners today. The sponsorships symbolise a strong vote of confidence in FLAIR’s research capability to develop world-class innovative and practical industrial artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics solutions for application by Hong Kong enterprises.

Witnessed by Mr Edmond Lai, Chief Executive Officer of FLAIR, Dr Ge Ming, Chief Operating Officer of FLAIR, signed the sponsorship agreements with the representatives from Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Limited (Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group), Q P Group Holdings Limited (Q P Group), Pro-Technic Machinery Limited (Pro-Technic) and NiRoTech Limited (NiRoTech).

Mr Edmond Lai, Chief Executive Officer of FLAIR, said, “Different industries around us are increasingly using AI and robotics technologies to streamline their business process and optimise the quality of their products and services. These sponsorships are not only signal of the determination from our Industry partners to adopt advanced technologies to stay ahead of their competitors but more importantly, are also a show of their faith in FLAIR’s research capability and in delivering solutions that best serve their needs.”

Mr Bobby Liu, Executive Director of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, said, “As we journey towards our centennial milestone, Chow Tai Fook has been transforming its products, manufacturing and business processes, and customer experience proactively with an innovative and open mind. Hence, we look forward to leverage on the research results of FLAIR to address the pain points in our production and operations, and we hope that the research efforts will inject new growth momentum into our business.”

Mr Thomas Chan, Executive Director of Q P Group, said, “We are committed to creating value for our stakeholders through innovation, and have been actively pushing forward the introduction of smart operations in recent years. We are honoured to take part in this collaboration with FLAIR who shares similar visions and research areas, and we look forward to leveraging our experience in manufacturing operations to support its research work.”

Mr Nicholas Lai, General Manager of Pro-Technic, said, “Since 1977, Pro-Technic has catered to the various needs of the manufacturing industry in Hong Kong and Mainland China. As we enter the age of Industry 4.0 and re-industrialisation, it is our pleasure to partner up with FLAIR to research smart manufacturing solutions that would enable our partners to embark on digital transformations, particularly utilising AI technologies to greatly improve their productivity and efficiency.”

Mr Roberto Leone, Managing Director of NiRoTech, said, “FLAIR in Hong Kong shows a successful synergy which has provided global sources of researching advanced technologies in various aspects, such as AI, IoT and automation to local industries. For us, its stated objective of facilitating high value-added intelligent manufacturing for Hong Kong enterprises to drive transformation fits perfectly with our strategy of implementing mechatronic manufacturing here.”

Under the agreements, the Industry partners will sponsor and collaborate with FLAIR on the following R&D projects:

Looking ahead, FLAIR will continue to actively approach private enterprises and industry associations for partnership building and solicit their involvement in FLAIR’s research work to ensure its industry orientation in addressing major technology problems encountered by the industries in the area of AI and robotics.

Witnessed by Mr Edmond Lai, Chief Executive Officer of FLAIR (left, back row), and Mr Bobby Liu, Executive Director of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group (right, back row), Dr Ge Ming, Chief Operating Officer of FLAIR (seated left), and Mr Lau-King Ming, General Manager (Production and Logistics) of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group (seated right), signed the FLAIR industry partner sponsorship agreement

Witnessed by Mr Edmond Lai, Chief Executive Officer of FLAIR (left, back row), and Mr Thomas Chan, Executive Director of Q P Group (right, back row), Dr Ge Ming, Chief Operating Officer of FLAIR (left), and Dr Vincent Fung, Chief Technology Advisor of Q P Technology Development Limited (right), signed the FLAIR industry partner sponsorship agreement

Witnessed by Mr Edmond Lai, Chief Executive Officer of FLAIR (left, back row), and Mr Nicholas Lai, General Manager of Pro-Technic (right, back row), Dr Ge Ming, Chief Operating Officer of FLAIR (seated left), and Mr Ben Leung, Assistant Manager of Pro-Technic (seated right), signed the FLAIR industry partner sponsorship agreement

Witnessed by Mr Edmond Lai, Chief Executive Officer of FLAIR (left, back row); Mr Roberto Leone, Managing Director (second from right, back row); and Mr Louis Yip, Finance Director of NiRoTech (first from right, back row), Dr Ge Ming, Chief Operating Officer of FLAIR (seated left), and Ms Nicole Yip, General Manager of NiRoTech (seated right), signed the FLAIR industry sponsorship agreement

Group photo of Mr Edmond Lai, Chief Executive Officer of FLAIR (seventh from left); and Dr Ge Ming, Chief Operating Officer of FLAIR (first from left); Dr-ing Benny Drescher, Chief Technical Officer of FLAIR (fourth from right), with the representatives of FLAIR industry partners - Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, Q P Group, Pro-Technic and NiRoTech