Title: From Biodesign to Entrepreneurship - An Innovative Education Approach

 

A new era of low cost, highly efficient value-based healthcare relies on health technology innovation. Innovation isn’t magic, everyone can do this. It is a process that can be learned, practiced and perfected through hard work and interdisciplinary teamwork. Biodesign relies on a three-step proven approach - “identify, invent, implement” that provides a practical formula for health technology innovation. Realising biodesign in HK is exciting but challenging. On top of the biodesign principles, understanding the health technology ecosystem is the key to success in biodesign entrepreneurship. In this talk, Professor Carrie Ling is going to share her experience of teaching biodesign and nurturing entrepreneurial mindset of university students, as well as her visions in educating and empowering health technology innovators and entrepreneurs in the future.

 

Biography

Professor Carrie Ling is currently the Director of Entrepreneurship Center and the Adjunct Assistant Professor of Integrative Systems & Design (ISD) leading the entrepreneurship development at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Before joining HKUST, Professor Ling was an Associate Director of Business Development (InnoHK) at Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP). Her role was to drive the commercialization of research projects from InnoHK, a $10B flagship innovation and technology initiative of the HKSAR government, at HK Science Park. She also led the development of the translational research innovation ecosystem by equipping the researchers with entrepreneurial mindset and knowledge. As an Associate Director of Office of Innovation and Enterprise of Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 2019-2020, she assisted the Associate Vice President (Innovation and Enterprise) to establish the CUHK InnoHK centers with renowned overseas institutions. In 2018, Professor Ling was a Senior Manager in Medical Device of Biomedical Technology Cluster and a Technical Leader of Healthy Ageing Platform of HKSTP. Her role was to drive the development of health technology innovation ecosystem and to support the start-ups to commercialize their innovation in collaboration with the stakeholders from universities, NGOs, industry and government.

 

Professor Ling is passionate about empowering one’s creativity in science and technology through solving real-life problems and nurturing the next generation entrepreneurs in HK, believing that everyone can be an innovator. She currently drives the development of entrepreneurship education at HKUST. When she was a senior lecturer of ISD in 2017-2019, she taught entrepreneurship introductory and healthcare innovation courses for undergraduate students. In 2016, she co-founded the “DreamCatchers Medtech Hackathon” with Stanford University and HKU. Her tie with HKUST started from a Lecturer position of Bioengineering Graduate Program at HKUST from 2012 to 2015. She launched a new biodesign experiential learning course to teach undergraduate students.

Professor Ling obtained her bachelor and PhD degrees in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2002 and 2006 respectively. She pursued her orthopedic research training at University of Florida, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, after her doctoral degree for two years. From 2009 to 2011, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University, Department of Mechanical Engineering. She has authored/co-authored more than 60 papers in international journals and conference proceedings and one US patent in mechanical and biomedical fields.