Yearly Archives: 2021

PR Newswire

BEST Inc. to Hold 2021 Annual General Meeting on October 20, 2021

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HANGZHOU, China, Sept. 3, 2021 — BEST Inc. ("BEST" or the "Company") (NYSE: BEST), a leading integrated smart supply chain solutions and logistics services provider in China, today announced that it will hold its 2021 annual general meeting of shareholders at 5th Floor, Block A, Huaxing Modern Industry Park, No. 18 Tangmiao Road, Xihu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China at 10:00 a.m. (Beijing time) on October 20, 2021.

No proposal will be submitted for shareholder approval at the annual general meeting. Instead, the annual general meeting will serve as an open forum for shareholders to discuss Company affairs with management. The chairman of the AGM will conduct and lead the AGM and may accept questions from shareholders at his sole and absolute discretion.

The board of directors of the Company has fixed the close of business on September 17, 2021 (Eastern Daylight Time) as the record date (the "Record Date") for determining the shareholders entitled to receive notice of and attend the annual general meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof.  Holders of record of the Company’s ordinary shares at the close of business on the Record Date are entitled to attend the annual general meeting and any adjournment or postponement thereof in person.  

BEST has filed its annual report on Form 20-F (the "Annual Report"), which includes the Company’s audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). BEST’s Annual Report can be accessed on the investor relations section of its website at http://ir.best-inc.com or on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

Holders of the Company’s ordinary shares may obtain a hard copy of the Annual Report, free of charge, by writing to:

BEST Inc.
c/o 5th Floor, Block A, Huaxing Modern Industry Park 
No. 18 Tangmiao Road, Xihu District, Hangzhou 
Zhejiang Province 310013 
People’s Republic of China 
Attention: IR Department

ABOUT BEST INC.

BEST Inc. (NYSE: BEST) is a leading integrated smart supply chain solutions and logistics services provider in China. Through its proprietary technology platform and extensive networks, BEST offers a comprehensive set of logistics and value-add services, including express and freight delivery, supply chain management and last-mile services, truckload service brokerage, international logistics and financial services. BEST’s mission is to empower business and enrich life by leveraging technology and business model innovation to create a smarter, more efficient supply chain. For more information, please visit: http://www.best-inc.com/en/.

 

 

Related Links :

https://www.best-inc.com/

PR Newswire

BORN Group Establishes Philippine Office

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METRO MANILA, Philippines, Sept. 3, 2021 — BORN Group, an award-winning global agency (a subsidiary of Tech Mahindra) that combines creative design, content production and ecommerce services, is excited to announce their expansion into the Philippines with a new Metro Manila office.

BORN President Sandeep Kulkarni noted, "Born Group has ambitious plans to expand in the Philippines to leverage the immense creative & tech. talent that the country has to offer. I have travelled frequently to the country and have always come away impressed with what it has to offer."

The Metro Manila office is set to be a key source of high caliber marketing and technology talent intended to support large-scale, complex eCommerce implementations globally. BORN intends the space to be a training hub for the APAC region along with research and development capabilities for leading innovations in commerce. BORN’s Program Director Billy Favis will lead the center.

"I am excited to harness the incredible talent of the people from my home country to support the exponential growth of BORN globally," said Mr Favis.

As an employer of choice offering a good work-life balance and a competitive reward and benefit package, BORN is seeking technical  talent in the Philippines to scale the practice to 500+ strong over the next three years. BORN offers several options to travel to the US and other countries for onsite client support and training as well as the unique opportunity for joiners to be a thought leader, project manager, business analyst, marketer or technology expert to build and grow the Philippine operations.  

About BORN Group:

Connecting creative, content and commerce, BORN Group is an award-winning, global agency that helps brands with digital transformation. BORN is a Tech Mahindra company [www.techmahindra.com]. The group operates in 90 countries employing 120,000 staff from 37 nationalities speaking 18 languages. The company produces unique brand experiences by connecting ten specialisms that serve as the foundation of the digital economy: creative design, content production, commerce enablement, conversions (visitors to customers), cloud technology, cognition (analytics), cohesion (integrating all the systems), consulting and completeness (connecting brand experiences) across all channels.

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Business, Mobile, News

vivo Announces the Imaging Chip V1 – Its first In-house Imaging Chip

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vivo seems to be doubling down on its commitment to delivering the best imaging on mobile devices. The company only recently signed an agreement with ZEISS to co-develop camera technologies for mobile. Now, it is looking to spread its wings into creating imaging processors. Vivo announced its first foray – the Imaging Chip V1 – last week in Shenzen, China.

The Imaging Chip V1 is the result of over two year’s of research and development by over 300 personnel. vivo is viewing the Imaging Chip V1 as its first step towards pushing the image processing envelope forward. The company will be focusing on four strategic tracks to achieve its ambitions; image system, operating system, industrial design and performance. While the announcement comes in the midst of a chip shortage, vivo’s Executive Vice-President and COO, Hu Baishan, remains confident that vivo is able to meet its own needs and demands, ruling out collaborations at this time.

The announcement of the Imaging Chip comes as the latest in a series of collaborations and announcements from vivo as it looks to cement itself as a leader in mobile imaging technologies. That said, the company hasn’t revealed any details of the capabilities of the chip. However, if rumours are to be believed, the upcoming X70 series of smartphones will be the first to have the Imaging Chip V1. We won’t have to wait very long as the X70 series is expected to launch in October.

PR Newswire

Luokung Announces eMapgo to Lead Development of Standards for Technical Requirements of Automated Valet Parking Map and Localization

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BEIJING, Sept. 2, 2021 — Luokung Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: LKCO) ("Luokung" or the "Company"), a leading spatial-temporal intelligent big data services company and provider of interactive location-based services ("LBS") and high-definition maps ("HD Maps") in China, today announced that the Technical Requirements of Automated Valet Parking Map and Localization (the "AVP Requirements"), a standard project sponsored by Luokung’s operating affiliate eMapgo Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. ("EMG"), a leading provider of navigation and electronic map services in China, has passed the review of the China Society of Automotive Engineers and entered the development phase.

Automated Valet Parking ("AVP") is known as the L4 autonomous driving technology that enables vehicles to park themselves. Luokung believes that AVP is currently the most promising application for autonomous driving technology and is the first to achieve commercial launch. The development of the AVP Requirements will further improve and refine the AVP standards and establish a uniform set of safety and technical requirements in China, providing a clear foundation for future AVP products. The development of the AVP Requirements allows the industry to promote the progress of AVP product development and launch, as well as the safe and rapid expansion of the autonomous driving industry.

Development of the AVP Requirements will be led by EMG, together with representatives of nearly 60 industries including relevant map vendors, positioning service providers, software and hardware vendors in the field of autonomous driving, car manufacturers, communication operators, and parking lot operators.

Mr. Xuesong Song, Chairman and CEO, stated, "We are pleased that EMG will be continuing its leadership role in the development of new industry standards, in this case for the exciting and growing autonomous driving industry. We believe that this role will open up additional opportunities for Luokung in the areas of autonomous driving and supportive technologies, affirming our leading position in the industry and enabling us to establish working relationships with new partners that are as dedicated to improving industry standards and laying a foundation for more widespread application of the AVP standard."

About Luokung Technology Corp.

Luokung Technology Corp. is a leading spatial-temporal intelligent big data services company, as well as a leading provider of LBS and HD Maps for various industries in China. Backed by its proprietary technologies and expertise in HD Maps and related intelligent spatial-temporal big data, Luokung establishes city-level and industry-level holographic spatial-temporal digital twin systems serving industries including smart transportation (autonomous driving, smart highway and vehicle-road collaboration), natural resource asset management (carbon neutral and environmental protection remote sensing data service), and LBS smart industry applications (mobile Internet LBS, smart travel, smart logistics, new infrastructure, smart cities, emergency rescue, among others). The Company routinely provides important updates on its website: www.luokung.com/en.

ABOUT EMAPGO

eMapgo, a variable interest entity ("VIE") of Luokung, is a leading provider of navigation and electronic map services in China, as well as a leading provider in Internet map services, geographic information system engineering and other A-level mapping qualifications. EMG possesses the National Class-A qualification certificates of navigable Surveying and Mapping, and actively develops autonomous driving and HD Map services. Effective March 17, 2021, Luokung consummated its acquisition of EMG through the purchase of the equity interests of Saleya Holdings Limited, which, through a series of contracts between its wholly-owned subsidiary DMG Infotech Co., Ltd. and EMG, made EMG Luokung’s VIE. For more information, please visit EMG’s website: www.emapgo.com.cn.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and other statements that are other than statements of historical fact. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "could", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "might", "plan", "probable", "potential", "should", "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, management’s examination and analysis of the existing law, rules and regulations and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you the statement herein will be accurate. As a result, you are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements.

CONTACT:

The Company:
Mr. Jay Yu
Chief Financial Officer
Tel: +86-10-5327-4727
Email: ir@luokung.com

Investor Relations:
Ms. Carolyne Sohn
Vice President
The Equity Group Inc.
Tel: 415-568-2255
Email: csohn@equityny.com

Related Links :

http://www.luokung.com

Lifestyle, Mobile, News

Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound Brings aptX Lossless

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Audio has gone through a mobile renaissance in the past few years. The number of companies developing technology to enable lossless, audiophile-quality sound has drastically increased. Just this year, services like Apple Music, Spotify and TIDAL have started offering spatial and lossless music on their services. Now, Qualcomm is looking to complete the experience with high fidelity, lossless sound over Bluetooth with their new aptX Lossless. This new Lossless standard will come built-in to the aptX Adaptive standard.

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Source: Qualcomm

Qualcomm’s aptX Lossless come as part of their Snapdragon Sound Technology which looks to up the ante when it comes to sound on mobile devices. The new standard will allow users to experience lossless CD-quality sound. Qualcomm claims that the new technology in the aptX Adaptive standard will produce high quality, lossless audio which will be mathematically bit-for-bit exact.

Qualcomm isn’t just revealing another standard with aptX Lossless, the technology behind it will also be ensuring better connectivity while streaming lossless audio. AptX Adaptive will work in tandem with Qualcomm Bluetooth High Speed Link technology to deliver sustainable bitrates to support lossless audio. Using these technologies simultaneously, Qualcomm is able to deliver data rates beyond 1Mbps yet seamlessly scale down to 140kbps in more congested RF environments. This helps minimize any dropouts or glitches for a more reliable listening experience.

pexels sound on 3394651
Photo by Sound On from Pexels

While the technology sounds promising, we will only be seeing aptX Lossless capable devices become commercially available in 2022. It may still be a little bit before we see the aptX Lossless standard become ubiquitous. That said, we’re looking at a growing demand for lossless audio among consumers with technologies like Spatial sound and 360 Audio becoming more mainstream.

Lifestyle, Mobile, News, Podcast, Social Media

Spotify Launches Blend for You to Share Playlists and Compare Musical Tastes

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Sharing your playlist with your friends in the old days means that you have to copy a whole music library you have created over a USB drive, or a CD. That was the days before content streaming services like Spotify came to be. Even when Apple’s iTunes was a thing, it served more like a digital music library that requires you to have the music files stored in your device.

Before the days of Spotify too, you still had to pay money for individual songs and albums if you want to legally listen to them and own them for your own personal consumption or even share it with your friends. Obviously, sharing your music library before then is still a grey area in terms of copyright.

Spotify may not be the first music streaming service and cloud-based music library to exist. It is, in 2021 at least, the most successful thus far. This is amidst the rise in other services like Deezer, Tidal, YouTube Music, and more. If you think about it, Spotify has a tough competition to work with especially in Tidal and YouTube Music at this point. Tidal features a higher quality music streaming that allows music to play at near lossless quality while YouTube Music offers a more robust and complete music library compared to Spotify. At some point Taylor Swift criticised Spotify’s royalty structure and pulled all her assets away from Spotify.

SPOTIFYBLEND 1
Source: Spotify

When spotify launched, sharing your favourite songs and curated playlists is made super easy. You only need to share a URL with your friends now and you can listen to it at anytime where you have internet or data. Of course, your friends can still comment on your music selection and judge your music taste according to what you have just shared. You could also say sometimes that you share the same music taste with your best friends, but you would not really know how similar sometimes.

Spotify introduced Blend Playlists in June 2021 as a Beta feature. It was introduced as a way for two users to create a shared playlist that is dedicated to their shared musical tastes. It is also created as a new way for friends to interact and bond over their love of music.

The feature is now out in full force on your Spotify. Blend Playlists also now allows you to customise the playlist with unique cover arts for easy identification. The Blend feature also scores your music taste compatibility with your friends. Of course, you can share those on social media to brag that you and your besties are very similar to one another.

SPOTIFYBLEND 3
Source: Spotify

Blend is not a personally curated list though. It is still a curated list, but it is curated via Spotify’s clever mechanism that adds and changes the playlist to adapt to your listening behaviour combined with your friend’s listening behaviour that you share the list with. The best part is that both you and your friend can have a similar playlist experience but in completely different situations and locations at the same time.

Of course, this experience is not just limited to you and your best friends. It is a good way to start sharing a curated playlist with your family members, or a loved one. This is a way to keep your bonds as strong as they are in these trying times where face time and physical interaction has to be limited.

The feature should now be available on the Spotify app. You can supposedly access the feature from the “Made for you” hub on mobile devices. You simply hit “create blend” and invite your friends to create a Blend Playlist with whichever friends you choose to have a blend with (if the person accepts) and let Spotify do everything for you there. To our knowledge, we have found that the feature has not been made available to us (could just be us). The Spotify app is available for free on both Android and iOS via Google Play Store and Apple Play Store respectively.

PR Newswire

NDB initiates membership expansion, extends global outreach

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Development bank established by BRICS welcomes the admission of UAE, Uruguay and Bangladesh as new members

SHANGHAI, Sept. 2, 2021 — The New Development Bank (NDB) – established by BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in 2015 – has initiated its membership expansion.

NDB’s Board of Governors authorized the Bank to conduct formal negotiations with prospective members in late 2020. After a round of successful negotiations, NDB approved the admission of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Uruguay and Bangladesh as its first new member countries.

"We are delighted to welcome the UAE, Uruguay and Bangladesh to the NDB family. New members will have in NDB a platform to foster their cooperation in infrastructure and sustainable development", said Mr. Marcos Troyjo, President of NDB. "We will continue to expand the Bank’s membership in a gradual and balanced manner".

"The United Arab Emirates’ membership in the New Development Bank represents a new step to enhance the role of the UAE economy on the global stage, especially in light of the great capabilities and expertise that the country possesses in supporting infrastructure projects and sustainable development. This monumental step would not have been achieved without the vision and directions of the UAE leadership who believe in the importance of supporting development projects around the world especially in the emerging economies", said H.E. Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs of the UAE.  

"Uruguay sees in the NDB a great opportunity to harness cooperation with its member countries, aiming to achieve stronger international integration in trade and cross-border investment flows", said H.E. Azucena Arbeleche, Minister of Economy and Finance of Uruguay.

"Membership of Bangladesh to NDB has paved way for a new partnership at a momentous time of 50th anniversary of our independence. Membership in the NDB is an important step forward in meeting the development vision of our Hon’ble Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina. We look forward to working closely with NDB to build together a prosperous and equitable world for our next generation as dreamt by our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman", said Hon. A H M Mustafa Kamal, Minister of Finance of Bangladesh.

Once admitted, a country’s membership to NDB becomes effective when it completes its domestic processes and deposits the instrument of accession.

Since the beginning of its operations, NDB approved about 80 projects in all of its members, totaling a portfolio of US$ 30 billion. Projects in areas such as transport, water and sanitation, clean energy, digital infrastructure, social infrastructure and urban development are within the scope of the Bank.

NDB’s membership expansion is in line with the Bank’s strategy to be positioned as the premier development institution for emerging economies.

Background information

NDB was established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, complementing the existing efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global growth and development. NDB has an authorized capital of US$ 100 billion, which is open for subscription by members of the United Nations.

 

PR Newswire

Veritas Appoints Brian Hamel as New Leader of Worldwide Field Operations

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Further demonstrating Veritas’ ability to execute in the cloud

SINGAPORE, Sept. 2, 2021 — Veritas Technologies, the global leader in enterprise data protection, today announced that Brian Hamel has joined the company as executive vice president of Worldwide Field Operations.

Brian Hamel (Executive Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations, Veritas Technologies)
Brian Hamel (Executive Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations, Veritas Technologies)

Brian started his career at IBM as an enterprise account manager and over a 30-year career held Infrastructure leadership positions in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. More recently, Brian spent approximately five years at Oracle as Senior Vice President, Cloud Business Group.

"I am delighted to welcome Brian Hamel to lead our global sales organization as we continue to attract top talent to Veritas’ leadership team," said Greg Hughes, chief executive officer at Veritas. "Brian’s experience leading global direct sales, channel partners, systems integrators, and cloud service providers will help us to even better serve our customers on their data management journeys."

"Veritas is the recognized market leader in enterprise data protection and customers across all industries rely on Veritas to keep their critical information safe and protected from threats such as ransomware," said Hamel. "The company is well positioned to help organizations keep pace with the growth and complexity of the cloud as data and workforces become even more distributed. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to drive growth for the company at such a crucial time by helping customers modernize their approach to data protection across their on-prem, hybrid and cloud environments."  

About Veritas

Veritas Technologies is a global leader in data protection, availability and insights. Over 80,000 customers—including 87 percent of the Fortune Global 500—rely on us to abstract IT complexity and simplify data management. The Veritas Enterprise Data Services Platform automates the protection and orchestrates the recovery of data everywhere it lives, ensures 24/7 availability of business-critical applications, and provides enterprises with the insights they need to comply with evolving data regulations. With a reputation for reliability at scale and a deployment model to fit any need, the Veritas Enterprise Data Services Platform supports more than 800 different data sources, over 100 different operating systems, more than 1,400 storage targets, and more than 60 different cloud platforms. Learn more at www.veritas.com. Follow us on Twitter at @veritastechllc.

Veritas and the Veritas Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Veritas Technologies LLC or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries.

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http://www.veritas.com

PR Newswire

Litmaps closes $125K in seed-stage investment from Quidnet Ventures

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SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 2, 2021 — Litmaps, a Science software company based in Wellington, New Zealand has received NZ$125,000 in funding from Quidnet Ventures, a New Zealand-based venture capital fund with operations in Auckland, NZ, San Francisco and New York. Litmaps has built a research navigation platform that allows scientists, engineers, and other experts to more rapidly and deeply navigate peer reviewed research and patent literatures, accelerating breakthroughs and allowing them to work more effectively in R&D teams. The total size of Litmaps’s seed round was $1M NZD, and was led by Icehouse Ventures.

Tools like Google Scholar and Scopus allow for basic academic search, but what Litmaps allows is domain experts such as scientists and engineers to dive into their field of expertise, and use data visualisation and network science tools to understand the full picture: how the research is evolving, what they might have missed, and where breakthroughs and commercial opportunities might exist. Litmaps helps accelerate research breakthroughs – from medicine to policymaking to space travel – with more efficient discovery of 200+ million published and peer-reviewed studies.

Quidnet Ventures is a seed and series-A fund that mentors and invests in early-stage startups based in New Zealand that aspire to have global impact. Quidnet’s team consists of a group of experienced investors and advisors that can leverage their knowledge set to support Litmaps. Litmaps joins Quidnet Ventures’s portfolio, consisting of Aider, Dawn Aerospace, Winely and MaramaLabs.

"With my original training in physics I can really appreciate the problem that Litmaps is solving. Both the world of academic research and that of industrial R&D will benefit from the company’s solution," states Mark Bregman, Founder and General Partner of Quidnet Ventures.

Kyle Webster, CEO of Litmaps, states, "It’s fantastic to have Quidnet on board. Litmaps sees real value and excellent strategic alignment in Quidnets expertise in R&D intensive companies and access to both North American, and other international markets."

Litmaps’s research platform combines interactive citation maps, modern search tools, and models of a researchers’ existing knowledge to create a more efficient research discovery experience to help accelerate scientific breakthroughs. Over 30,000 researchers worldwide, from public research organisations to development teams in science-heavy companies, have already used Litmaps.

Quidnet Ventures brings years of experience and a network of experts that are well aligned with Litmaps’s strategic direction. Quidnet Ventures is capable of providing guidance on building Litmaps’s product, and opening access to networks in the global R&D market for its newest portfolio company. Quidnet Ventures’s involvement will accelerate the growth of Litmaps in the next phase of its journey.

About Quidnet Ventures: Quidnet Ventures is a seed and series-A fund investing in New Zealand-based founders building impactful companies. Quidnet Ventures focuses on taking New Zealand innovation to the world and takes an active role in helping its portfolio companies succeed by leveraging its team’s global, multi-sector network as its portfolio companies position themselves to enter international markets. Quidnet Ventures provides unrivaled access to a global network across academia, government affairs, venture capital and industry. The Quidnet Ventures team has worked in Europe, Japan, China, India and Australia; and 20+ years in New Zealand. Our partners and analysts have 150+ years of total experience in the international technology industries. The Quidnet Ventures team prides itself in leveraging its extensive experience to help its entrepreneurs work through many of the issues that the members of the team themselves have experienced.

About Litmaps:
Litmaps has built a next-generation research platform that empowers scientists, engineers, and other researchers to explore and better understand academic and patent literature. It launched an early access product in November 2020 with rapid uptake by a global user base. It has received extremely positive feedback from researchers and has been featured on the front page of both product hunt and hacker news. Having recently closed its seed round Litmaps is focused on expansion of the user base and exploring how its technology can deliver value for high performing research teams in R&D intensive companies.

Contact:
Skye Grayson
Quidnet Ventures
skye@quidnetventures.com

Related Links :

http://www.quidnetventures.com

PR Newswire

PolyU’s research finds contact tracing is an effective way for controlling the spread of COVID-19 when borders reopen

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HONG KONG, Sept. 1, 2021 — As some countries in the world begin to consider adjusting their pandemic control strategy from "zero COVID" to "living with COVID", a research study by the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has found that contact tracing is as vital as social distancing measures and vaccination in controlling the spread of COVID-19 when borders reopen. The research team has also developed a mobile app with a contact tracing feature, designed for use by inbound travellers, that would help fight the pandemic in this respect.

The pandemic situation in Hong Kong is presently under good control, thanks to the implementation of various measures, such as social distancing and vaccination, with strong support from the general public. In the past 14 days (17-30 August), only one local case with unknown sources was reported. 

Nevertheless, the economy is facing severe challenges as the economic activity of many industries has been seriously affected as passenger traffic, in terms of both arrivals and departures, remains low.

With COVID-19 vaccinations being widely implemented in many countries, against the backdrop of needing to revive cross-border activities, there is a growing prospect of easing social distancing regulations and reopening borders in different countries and regions. As a more sustainable control strategy for the long term, focus is shifting towards living with the virus.

Professor CHEN Wu, Head and Professor of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics at PolyU, said, "We have conducted a study that employed a computational approach to investigate the contact tracing integrated policy in different border-reopening scenarios in Hong Kong. Built on an epidemic model with 50% vaccination coverage, the results suggest that scenarios with digital contact tracing can reduce the infectious population by 84.7% compared to those without contact tracing."

One of the key recommendations drawn from the study is that contact tracing is an effective measure for reducing local virus spread, especially when it is applied along with social distancing and vaccination measures. "Contact tracing is an influential factor in controlling the spread because all the necessary pandemic control measures would not be promptly carried out without effective tracing against confirmed cases and identifying their close contacts," Professor Chen explained.

Consequently, the research team has developed a mobile app with a contact tracing feature, targeting inbound travellers when borders reopen. Utilising the Global Navigation Satellite System, Bluetooth Low Energy and Data Analysis Technology, the mobile app is designed not only for users to record individual locations they have visited but more importantly to help users identify whether they have had close contact with those who have tested positive for COVID-19 within the last 14 days.

If any user is confirmed positive for COVID-19, they can share their record with all other users at their own discretion (or through a public health department that is acting as a central coordinator on the use of the mobile app). The app on other users’ handsets will then automatically compare the individual users’ record against the record received. If the record overlaps with that of the confirmed case, individual users will be immediately alerted to take appropriate actions.

All the information recorded by the mobile app is saved in the users’ own handsets only. No personal data is required when users download or use the app, and only anonymous data will be shared with other users. The app will also provide convenience for users to access the COVID-19 pandemic information released by the Government.

Professor Chen remarked, "Contact tracing is key to effectively controlling the spread of the virus when borders reopen and the mobile app we designed for use by inbound travellers would serve as a possible solution. Furthermore, the app can be adapted for incorporating into other apps as an add-on feature."   

Media Contact

Mr Kenrick Ko

Communications and Public Affairs Office

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Tel: (852) 2766 6374 / 6393 1317

Email: kenrick.ko@polyu.edu.hk