We are now in the era of the fourth industrial revolution, which is featured by the fast development of application of data science (DS) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. DS and AI have become two critical strategic policies for many countries and regions, including HKSAR. AI and DS are transforming our world, both fields are at the forefront of innovation in robotics, healthcare, materials science, autonomous vehicles, and countless other areas that are key to the Hong Kong’s future economy and security. The research centre of data science and artificial intelligence (RC-DSAI) offers an additional resource for solving complex problems like detecting fraud buried deep in financial systems, reducing human bias in the judicial system, and efficiently finding the right compound for the safest and most effective medicine etc. RC-DSAI brings together researchers, labs, institutes, and centres of excellence at PolyU that are focused on advancements in AI, DS, and related areas of research to tackle complex problems.

The RC-DSAI will perform both theoretical and applied research on DS and AI, including new machine learning theory and algorithms, new deep optimization techniques, new network architectures, deep visual learning and understanding, big data management and analytics, and natural language processing. Based on the research content of fundamental DS and AI research, the RC-DSAI will also set specific research teams, including Fundamental DS&AI Techniques, Big Data Management and Analytics, Computational DS&AI Theory and Algorithms, and Visual Computing with Big Multimedia Data, etc. In the future, the RC-DSAI will also explore new application areas, such as Event Discovery and Management, Financial Event Mining and Prediction, and Social Events and Societal Impact (e.g., youngster depression and suicide), etc.

Our vision is to innovate new means of interrogating and understanding DS and AI then to innovate and apply cutting-edge methodologies to diverse questions. We are a truly interdisciplinary research centre with data scientists, mathematicians, and computer specialists across many of our research labs and departments.