Making HK the 'Greatest City in the Metaverse'

Time flies. Wang Yang — a world-leading scholar in pure and interdisciplinary mathematics — was already in his 10th year of service at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology when he granted a young journalist a special interview on a sizzling summer afternoon.
 
Sitting with Aden Su in his office with a view of the sea, Wang shared his thoughts on mathematics, a subject for highbrows, and the trend toward "embracing the GBA" — Hong Kong's integration into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area — for China Daily Hong Kong Edition's Junior Scoop program, which views the city from a young person's perspective.
 
Besides advancing the "new front lines" of the Greater Bay Area, Wang, a Harvard graduate, wants to claim Hong Kong's dominant position in the virtual realm — the metaverse. To start with, HKUST launched the MetaHKUST project on its campuses with a slew of "digitalization measures", ranging from merging both universities, some 130 kilometers apart, into one organic virtual campus, to issuing diplomas in digital format with unique blockchain marks.
 
For Wang, MetaHKUST is a starter in testing the waters. The ultimate goal is to turn Hong Kong into a top-notch institution in the metaverse. Over the years, he has said the city has "all the elements required for future-shaping development of Web3 amidst the rapid convergence of the physical and digital realms". The scientist is now one of the highest-profile leaders in advancing the promising and burgeoning digital industry in the SAR and beyond.


Source: China Daily