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This summer, the Department of Computer of Science will be offering courses in 3 hot topics – Artificial Intelligence, FinTech, and Big Data Analytics in Finance for secondary school students at the HKU Summer Institute. There are no prerequisites for taking these summer courses. Click the individual course below for more information including schedule, duration, fee, teaching mode, course outline, and application procedures and deadline. COMP0001 Natural Intelligence versus Artificial Intelligence Course Instructor: Dr. Dirk Schnieders Course Description: For thousands of years, we have tried to understand how humans think. In the first part of this course, we are going to study natural intelligence (NI) with a focus on the human brain. Do we really understand how the brain enables intelligent behavior? In the second part of this course, we will study Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how our knowledge of NI has influenced the development of AI. You will learn about the recent progress in the field and how state-of-art models enable intelligent machines. Finally, we are going to discuss the philosophical, ethical and safety aspects of developing AI. Should we really develop AI or could it mean the end of humanity? COMP0002 How is Fintech Changing the World? Course Instructor: Dr. John Yuen Course Description: FinTech is at the evolving intersection of financial services and technology. It represents not only a powerful force of disruption to the financial industry, but also a digital transformation of individual consumers’ daily life. In this course, students will gain a broad understanding of FinTech and how it transforms the financial industry. They will learn about the recent FinTech applications, ranging from Bitcoin, virtual banks, to crowdfunding. The underlying technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence will also be introduced in this course. COMP0003 Big Data Analytics in Finance Course Instructor: Dr. H.F. Ting Course Description: This course studies how to use advanced Machine Learning technologies for predicting financial data. In the first part of this course, we explain what Machine Learning is and list some of its major applications. We also describe the key components in most machine learning tools and the types of learning these tools can handle. In the second part of this course, we illustrate how to apply some powerful machine learning tools to predict stock prices. Then, we show how to apply Natural Language Processing on twitter tweets to analyze automatically the sentiment of stock investors in order to improve our predictions. For enquiries, please contact the HKU Summer Institute.

The Hong Kong FinTech week will take place on 1-5 November this year at HKCEC and online. Bringing together over 17,000 physical and virtual attendees including the region’s biggest FinTech executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and regulators, this one-week event will go beyond the borders of online and offline and connect FinTech practitioners across the globe. Our top-of-the-lines sessions will navigate you through the ever-changing landscapes of the FinTech industry and share with you insights and business opportunities within Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area, ASEAN, and international markets. Topics this year range from the future of FinTechs, empowering consumers together, leading China FinTech and a rising global ecosystem. Recognized as the biggest FinTech event and the key place of networking in the region, we will roll out our first hybrid Hong Kong FinTech Week that breaches geographical limits and integrates the benefits of both physical and virtual events. This event will bring you unparalleled hybrid networking experiences and help you connect with the right prospects. To secure your place at Hong Kong FinTech Week 2021, register now at:  https://bit.ly/2XQmJGm

The Hong Kong Academy of Finance (AoF) has launched the Thematic Programme on Fintech and Digitalisation for AoF members and senior practitioners in the financial industry. On May 4, 2021, a webinar on “Cryptography and Cyber Security” under the Thematic Programme was conducted.  Dr K.P. Chow, BASc(FinTech) and MSc(CompSc) Programme Director, also the Associate Professor of the Department of Computer Science was invited as a guest speaker for the programme and introduced the basic ideas and properties of cryptography as well as the security and privacy issues behind blockchain and bitcoin. On 20 May 2021, a webinar on “Regtech and Algo-Trading” under the Thematic Programme was conducted. Prof Douglas Arner, Kerry Holdings Professor in Law, also the Associate Director of HKU-SCF FinTech Academy, and Prof S.M.Yiu, Professor of the Department of Computer Science, also the Deputy Director of HKU-SCF Fintech Academy, were invited as guest speakers for the programme. Prof Douglas Arner introduced the conceptual issues and latest trends of Regtech across global markets and regulations, and Prof S.M. Yiu shared his insights on algo-trading with real life examples. Please visit https://www.aof.org.hk/leadership-development/thematic-programme for more information about the Thematic Programme on Fintech and Digitalisation organized by the Hong Kong Academy of Finance.