Multidisciplinary and out of the box Students produce multiple projects throughout their four years and are encouraged to repeatedly go through the iterative process of trying, failing, reflecting and trying again. An interdisciplinary approach is also essential because, as Professor So points out, almost all highimpact innovations of the past decade arose from cross-disciplinary collaborations. “Future innovators must be able to communicate and work efficiently in teams with diverse backgrounds to bring positive change to society.” The innovation process itself is a multidisciplinary endeavour requiring skills to identify needs, conduct iterative design, turn ideas into products, prototype and test, understand how to work with partners, find resources, and commercialise projects. I-School students also learn about different kinds of innovation, from high-tech gadgets to lower-tech social innovations, and how to assess their project’s impact. Humanities are also part of the curriculum, including a compulsory course called ‘Sciences and Technologies through Time’ that looks at the origins of innovations, their impact on the world and their future potential. An example of the I-School’s approach in action is the first semester course, ‘Human-Centred Innovation’, which requires students to understand the importance of human factors in good innovations and to explore the question of how innovations may spark joy. They first discuss what this means as a class, then interview people outside the classroom before designing their project. Students have free rein to make anything they want, and the first batch revealed the diversity of their thinking – everything from a remote-controlled car using augmented reality to a low-tech tree to attach wishes to. The students also had to develop a way to measure whether their project indeed sparked joy. “This was completely out of the box, creative thinking,” Professor So said. “We let them do anything they wanted, then brought them back to the class for more systematic reflection on the process and what they learnt.” Professor Hayden Kwok Hay So I often say we are cultivating and nurturing innovators at the I-School instead of teaching them, because you really need time and experience to become an innovator through doing. The new School of Innovation encourages students to let their imaginations run wild, while also grounding them with technical skills and interdisciplinary understanding for making innovations that will benefit society. A School for Fresh Approaches In 2011, Professor Hayden Kwok Hay So took up a challenge to create a course for first-year engineering students that would go beyond traditional classroom learning. Students were asked to perform a simple task – design a Rube Goldberg machine to pop a balloon that incorporated electronic-controlled stages. The result was many inventive contraptions and students enthused about their discipline. That sense of fun and innovation is now embodied in the new School of Innovation (I-School), founded by the Faculties of Architecture, Business and Economics, Engineering, and Science, that was conceived by HKU’s President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Xiang Zhang to address the need for more creative, risk-taking, entrepreneurial graduates to meet the rapid changes facing society. Its flagship programme, the Bachelor of Science in Innovation and Technology, was launched in September 2025. Professor So was recruited as School Director, bringing ideas and commitment to that mission. “STEM education in universities around the world used to emphasise training students to excel scholastically in a focussed discipline, and HKU has plenty of excellent programmes providing just that. But the I-School wants to produce innovative students who have a much broader vision and creative mindset, while at the same time possessing the technical know-how to turn these ideas into reality. This is at the heart of the School of Innovation,” he said. The surest way to do that is to embrace trial-anderror. “Innovation is something you can hardly teach. It’s more about learning through doing. I often say we are cultivating and nurturing innovators at the I-School instead of teaching them, because you really need time and experience to become an innovator through doing.” HKU Bulletin | May 2026 Teaching and Learning 26 27 No borders The diversity of the students’ approaches is grounded in their backgrounds. The first intake of 40 students includes those with strong experience in engineering techniques, those who have never touched a wire before, and everything in between. The common denominator is their desire to go beyond laboratory-based work and do something more impactful and challenging. “We emphasise very heavily on an innovation aptitude, so how creative they are, how risky they are, whether they’re a little bit crazy or eccentric in some way – these are the students we want,” he said. Internationalisation also guides intake and the I-School’s philosophy that innovation has no borders, he said. Almost half of the students come from a diverse range of places outside Hong Kong. The I-School plans to launch a postgraduate programme next year, and it has recruited teachers to help develop interdisciplinary research in such areas as sustainable city development, gerontology, and AI-human interactions. The plan is to involve undergraduate students in these projects, too, and invite professors from across the University to tap into students’ expertise. First, though, the focus is on securing a permanent home (the current accommodation is temporary) and keeping the enthusiasm going. “The I-School is like a start-up itself. We are living what we teach,” Professor So added. ‘HKU School of Innovation Inaugural Celebration: A Dialogue with Future Innovators’ was held in May 2026. In the workshop course ‘Physical Computing’, students put their skills to the test in a cha chaan teng delivery robot competition, balancing speed and service to deliver local delicacies.
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