Hong Kong Industrialist Jan-Mar 2021

FOCUS STORY | 專題 the market.  Alfred has been an outstanding student since he was young. He majored in computer science disciplines at the Imperial College London and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon graduation, he was engaged in the research projects at well-known tech companies like Nokia and Qualcomm, developing profound expertise in modular hardware design methods. Based on his motto, "scientific talents are the cornerstone of social development," he spares no effort in supporting local scientific research by funding and collaborating with local universities and research institutions . He is also devoted in nurturing young local talents by serving as an adjunct professor at the City University of Hong Kong.   Two Ways of Education, Two Generations of Engineers   In the face of the current shortage of industrial talents in Hong Kong, Alfred believes that it is necessary for engineers to expand horizons and think from different angles to meet the needs of industry of our times. Engineers in SUGA are mainly from the post-70s and post-90s generations. As engineering education in the past was more rigorous, post- 70s engineers tend to have stronger professional expertise; whilst for post-90s engineers, they are generally educated in more diverse approach, allowing them to perform better at interdisciplinary professions and master cross-disciplinary skills, including programming and artificial intelligence. The mix of two generations of engineers complement to each other with their own characteristics. Alfred pointed out that local engineers are generally not good at capturing user preferences. “Let say we want to design a music-related product. There’s no doubt that a Hong Kong engineer can produce a design with technical excellence. However, they may lack the music knowledge and understanding on users’ needs to design features that meet consumers’ expectations.” As a result, Alfred partnered with foreign companies in JDM projects where foreign engineers handle the front-end design and local engineers to be in charge of back-end production, achieving complementarity through cooperation. JDM projects can relieve part of the problem in talent shortage, but the time cost of communication is high. For instance, minor amendments that could have done within days often take months to finalise, slowing down the progress of the product development.  Industry-Academia Collaboration Fills the Industrial Experience Gap   In the long run, Alfred hopes that the industry’s talent pool can be enhanced through from the root of education, nurturing students' multifaceted interests from an early age to build up competitiveness for their future career. Currently, SUGA is actively collaborating with universities through internship programmes, thesis guidance and joint science research projects, allowing students to absorb industrial experience prior to graduation. The R&D project of home-use hydroponics machines where SUGA and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University are jointly working on has just entered the user testing stage when empirical data and users’ feedback are collected to enhance product design. Students participating in this project can obtain engineering and product development experiences, and at the same time understand the importance of accommodating users’ needs, helping them to build a solid foundation for their future career. 吳民卓是一位不折不扣的高才生，他曾在英 國倫敦帝國學院及美國麻省理工學院研修計算機 科學專業，畢業後曾參與諾基亞和高通等知名科 技公司的科研項目，對模塊化硬件設計有深刻研 究。他認為「科學人才是社會發展的基石」，所以 特別支持本地科研，出錢出力與不少本地大學及 科研機構合作進行科研項目，現時亦在香港城市 大學擔任客席教授，以個人經歷絳帳春風，培育 本地人才。  兩種教育造就兩代工程師  談及對香港工業人才的發展，吳民卓認為，工 程師需要擴闊視野，學會從不同角度思考，以應 付現今工業界的需要。就信佳而言，他們的工程師 主要是70後和90後兩代人居多，由於過往工程學 科較獨立，70後工程師在專業知識上普遍較強； 反觀近年的教育則較提倡多元學習，故90後工程 師的跨學科專業較出色，亦能掌握包括編程、人 工智能在內的技能和新興技術趨勢，兩者各有所 長的同時亦互補不足。  他同時指出，本地工程師較不擅長捕捉用戶需 求，「例如我們要設計音樂產品，香港工程師技 術上雖然勝任，但因為對音樂和用家偏好不夠理 解，產品設計上頗難達到消費者期望。」故此， 他透過與外國公司的共同開發 (JDM) 項目，由外 國工程師負責前端設計，本地工程師負責後端生 產，透過兩地人才合作達至互補。雖然此法能解決 部分專業人才不足的問題，惟溝通上的時間成本 較高，例如一些幾天便應完成的修正，往往需要 一個多月時間才能定案，拖慢了項目的研發進度。 產學合作補全經驗缺口 長遠而言，吳民卓希望社會能從教育的根本上 着手，從小培養學生多方面的興趣，在職場上將 更有優勢。現時信佳積極與大學合作，透過實習生 計劃、畢業論文指導及科研合作項目，讓更多學 生能在投身職場前吸納產業經驗。信佳亦正與香港 理工大學合作研發家用水耕機，目前進入了用戶 測試階段，透過收集數據和用戶反饋不斷改良產 品。同學在參與研發時不但可學習工程和產品開發 的知識，亦能明白捕捉用家需要的重要性，為日 後的工作建立良好基礎。  在產學合作上，他表示能夠理解大學偏向注重 科研成果及論文發表，業界在產學合作上可更積 極參與，在大學課程以外提供學習和培訓機會， 24 | 1-3/2021