I like Startup because I am a dreamer and like finding ways to realize my dream. Startup is perhaps the only option I have beside scientific research to work out my insights. Risk-taking and adventure-loving DNA surely help but it is my faith in God that keys my startup career. "Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it." (Psalms 127:1)
Future Impact Lab "Limited" (FILL) is like an official incarnation of my insights and core values: Design, Create, Connect, Share. FILL is designed to be a venture Starting from technology, and Maturing in Applications with Positive impact on mankind. We particularly picked Agriculture, Environment, and Elderly as our first focused areas. We believe in design thinking and collaborative effort, and we welcome talents to become part of FILL.
Prior to FILL, I also founded an R & D arm in Hong Kong for CTTC, a European R & D centre in Telecommunications. Perhaps being affected by my Stanford adventure, I ran the branch, CTTC-HK, in a lean and startup fashion, trying to create a space with room for innovations and sense of ownership. The results were not just interesting R & D outcomes like LiFi, but also invaluable experience in operation, management, strategic planning and execution, plus meeting many bright minds throughout the process.
Apart from Business, few friends and I also feel obliged to contribute to the industry we focused on, and subsequently founded the Hong Kong Internet of Things Association (IOTA), trying to enrich the definition of IoT perceived by the local community in Hong Kong. We aimed at creating more opportunities for everybody in the local eco-system and bridge them with the Greater China eco-system.
Share below a Startup Diagram from European Innovation Academy. The process and goals may not be exactly the same, but the energy and perseverance definitely resonate. :-)
I am a designer who happens to have a PhD degree in Electronic Engineering specializing in wireless communications. Researching, or more specifically, Daydreaming + Problem Solving, has been my interest. I like learning through thinking and interacting with people. Apart from my professional expertise, I am also interested in Photography, Programming, Business, and Humanity Issues.
Future Impact Lab "Limited" is a place where we gather designers and makers in multi-disciplinary areas to shape and build our ideas together. At FILL, we are attempting to address some bigger problems for the world. To name few, we are currently travelling to villages in Mainland China and working out some smart farms with local farmers and agricultural specialists. We are also working out advanced lightings solution for indoor urban farming.
Prior to FILL, I worked at Stanford University and then founded CTTC-HK in Hong Kong, a Smart City technology company headquartered in Barcelona supported by the Catalunya Government. At CTTC-HK, I led my team to develop advanced Internet of Things and Li-Fi technologies, and initiated several Tech X Social projects for the Education, Elderly, and Green markets.
Regarding my expertise on wireless communications, I worked on channel coding, resource allocation, and wireless system and architectural design, all with a goal of inventing new technologies for realizing a flexible, spectrally-efficient, energy-efficient, and easy-to-manage wireless multiuser network. I got three IEEE Best Paper Awards at top-tier conferences held in Glasgow, Houston, and Paris, and contributed to the standardization of the IEEE 802.22 cognitive radio WRAN system and holds a few US and China patents. Below you can find some publications and related interviews.
I was at cross roads that might have directed my career to sports or photography. At last I realized that they were only my hobbies and I have better ways of making the world better based on what I was gifted. More to be updated...
Ernest is a serial entrepreneur, and a then Croucher Postdoc Fellow at Stanford University at the Electrical Engineering Department. He is currently the CEO and Founder of Future Impact Lab Limited focusing on Tech X Social projects. Before that, he was the Founding Director of CTTC-HK, setting up the Hong Kong Branch of a European R & D Institution on Telecommunications and leading his team to develop Internet of Things and Li-Fi technologies which were applied to the Education and Green markets.
Ernest received three IEEE Best Paper Awards on wireless communications algorithms at IEEE ICC, IEEE GLOBECOM, and IEEE WCNC held in Glasgow, Houston, and Paris, respectively. He was honoured as an Exemplary Reviewer of the IEEE Communications Letters and is serving on the technical program committees of many international conferences. He contributed to the standardization of the IEEE 802.22 cognitive radio WRAN system and holds a few US and China patents with some transferred to other companies.
He is regularly interviewed by media and invited to speak at events organized by Cyberport and Incu-Lab, Hong Kong Productivity Council, HKTDC, Green Technology Consortium, China Radio International, Echo of Moscow, Now TV, Phoneix TV, Apple Daily HK, Rotary Club, PechaKucha, Shanghai Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, SUSTC, etc. He is currently the Founding President of the Hong Kong Internet of Things Association, Council Member of Green Technology Consortium, and was the Liaison Chair of the European Wireless Conference 2014 and Advisor & Support Partner of Future Cities Asia 2014.