Better preparing fintech graduates in order to meet strong industry demand
Hong Kong, June 7, 2017 —Microsoft today announced it is extending its successful collaboration with The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), by supporting the University’s first full-time Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Financial Technology.
Finance is a key pillar of Hong Kong’s economy. According to the HKSAR Government, during 2014 to 2016, Hong Kong attracted some US$400 million of venture capital investment in fintech companies, ahead of many regional peers. The number of fintech startups locally increased around 60% between August 2015 and August 2016. Fintech will become even more important in the digital transformation era.
Attracting and retaining talent remains a key driver in ongoing fintech market development and a fundamental challenge for both local fintech companies and those looking to set up business in Hong Kong.
In 2015, Microsoft and PolyU opened an official joint Smart Computing Laboratory to support applied research, teaching and learning activities devoted to smart computing in Hong Kong. Building on its success, Microsoft will build on its collaboration with PolyU by supporting the University’s first bachelor’s degree in fintech. “Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. In the fast-growing fintech industry, we see a clear gap between market development and the pool of available talent in Hong Kong. We are pleased to provide strong support in terms of cloud computing technologies, training modules and internships in order to nurture local fintech talent,” said Fred Sheu, National Technology Officer of Microsoft Hong Kong.
Prof Jiannong Cao, Chair Professor and Head of PolyU’s Department of Computing, said, “We strive to provide a diverse learning environment for students through working closely with the industry. The extended collaboration with Microsoft not only asserts our leading role in the new focused areas of fintech and cyber security but also enables our students to keep abreast of the innovative computing technologies as well as gaining practical training opportunities. I believe these experiences will pave the way for our students to face future challenges and develop a career in the emerging fintech market.”
Nurturing local talent for fintech development in Hong Kong
The Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Financial Technology is a two-year, full-time program funded by the Hong Kong government, which will start in the 2017/18 academic year. With the goal of nurturing local fintech talent, this multidisciplinary program will foster the first batch of fintech graduates from university in Hong Kong to address market demand.
Providing tools and professional technology software is crucial for students to learn how fintech works in the real commercial world. In addition to academic sessions in classrooms, Microsoft is providing free-of-charge cloud computing resources for fintech application development and is leveraging Microsoft Azure and Azure Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) to provide students with 13 hours of practical, hands-on development experience at the Smart Computing Lab. BaaS provides a rapid, low-cost, low-risk and fail-fast platform for organizations to collaborate and experiment with new business processes, backed by the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.
Microsoft will organize up to 24 monthly seminars and workshops hosted by its experts during the course of the two-year program. To empower students in gaining more insight into technology, these seminars and workshops will be open to around 1000 students in the Computing Department at PolyU. Microsoft is also offering summer internship placements with practical training and even project matching (where applicable) for students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Financial Technology program.
Since the establishment of Microsoft x PolyU Smart Computing, close to 10 workshops or seminars were conducted and attended by a few hundreds of participants. PolyU’s Department of Computing and Microsoft organized an internal smart computing competition in April 2017. Two of the winning teams have subsequently joined the Microsoft Imagine Cup Hong Kong Final. One team has won the Champion award and will represent Hong Kong to join the Imagine Cup World Final at Microsoft Headquarters in the United States. Another team has won the Best Data Analytics Award.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
About PolyU
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is a university with a proud and illustrious history. Formerly known as the Hong Kong Polytechnic, the Institution assumed full university status in 1994. The University prides itself on its professional education and innovative research as well as close ties with business and industry. It is the largest publicly-funded tertiary institution in Hong Kong in terms of number of students, with around 30,000 full-time and part-time students, and a vast pool of more than 380,000 graduates. PolyU website: www.polyu.edu.hk
For more information, please contact:
Microsoft Hong Kong Limited
Alice Li
Tel: +852 2804 4130
Email: [email protected]
Hill+Knowlton Strategies for Microsoft
Raymond Woo / Nicole Chan
Tel: +852 2894 6355 / Tel: +852 2894 6207
Email: [email protected] /[email protected]
