HONG KONG, 8 June 2026 — The School of Biomedical Sciences (SBMS) at HKUMed and Votee AI today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to foster collaboration in applied artificial intelligence education, student internships, and joint research and development.

The partnership connects Hong Kong’s biomedical talent pipeline with frontier enterprise AI capability, providing students with practical exposure and positioning them in AI-enabled life sciences in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. As an industry partner building enterprise-grade, on-premise AI for regulated industries, Votee AI will work alongside HKUMed SBMS faculty, students, alumni and affiliated start-ups to bring real-world AI deployment experience into the learning and research environment.

Key Areas of Cooperation

Educational activities: Guest seminars delivered by Votee AI staff for HKUMed SBMS students, alumni and staff, bringing real-world AI engineering and applied research experience into the School’s learning environment.

Internship programme: Structured internship opportunities for HKUMed SBMS undergraduate and postgraduate students at Votee AI, with hands-on experience across language, document and applied AI workstreams. Interns placed at Votee AI will have the opportunity to work on real-world projects within Votee AI's ecosystem, including direct exposure to and collaboration with its strategic partners.

Research and development: A joint R&D programme spanning student capstones, summer placements and projects initiated by either party, with joint applications for external competitive R&D funding. The track is open to HKUMed SBMS faculty, students, and School-affiliated start-ups.
 

A Distinguished Occasion

The MoU signing ceremony was held at the HKUMed campus, attended by senior representatives from both organisations alongside HKUMed SBMS faculty and students. Representing HKUMed were Professor Michael Häusser, Director, School of Biomedical Sciences; Professor Cora Lai Sau-wan, Associate Director from the same School; and Professor Joshua Ho Wing-kei, Assistant Dean (Innovation & Technology Transfer), HKUMed. Representing Votee AI were Mr Pak-Sun Ting, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder; Dr Leo Ma, Chief Scientist APAC; Mr Jeff Tai, Head of Sales; Mr Jack Ng, Head of Corporate Communications; and Ms Gariel Weng, Business Development Manager.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Pak-Sun Ting, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Votee AI, said, ‘Hong Kong has world-class biomedical science and a generation of students ready to translate it into impact. We are honoured to partner with the School of Biomedical Sciences, HKUMed, and we look forward to welcoming its students into our teams, hosting joint research, and pursuing R&D funding together.’

Mr Jacky Chan, Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder of Votee AI, added in a written statement: ‘Partnering with HKUMed’s School of Biomedical Sciences gives our engineering and research teams access to one of Asia’s leading biomedical research environments, and gives HKUMed SBMS students the chance to build and ship enterprise-grade AI on real systems. We look forward to mentoring the next generation of researchers and engineers.’

Professor Michael Häusser, Director of School of Biomedical Sciences, HKUMed, said: ‘Votee AI brings frontier enterprise AI expertise - including the world's first open-source Cantonese large language model - that will meaningfully enrich our students' learning and our researchers' capability. This collaboration gives our students a structured pathway from the classroom to industry and from a research idea to a working system, and brings valuable engineering experience into our research environment.’

Professor Joshua Ho Wing-kei, Assistant Dean (Innovation & Technology Transfer), HKUMed, commented, ‘Translating frontier research into real-world impact requires close engagement with industry partners. This MoU creates structured pathways for our students, researchers and affiliated start-ups to engage with industry, supporting Hong Kong’s positioning as an international health and medical innovation hub.’

About the School of Biomedical Sciences, HKUMed

Founded in 2015, the School of Biomedical Sciences (SBMS) builds on a more than a century-long legacy in advancing modern medicine at the oldest academic institution in Hong Kong – the LKS Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed). As the largest pre-clinical School at HKUMed, we draw on the Faculty’s heritage to advance fundamental understanding of life and translate discoveries to improve human health. HKUMed SBMS hosts Hong Kong’s first Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences programme, which provides four academic majors: biomedical research, bioinformatics, clinical sciences, and health technology. In 2026, SBMS launched Hong Kong’s only Master of Biomedical Innovation programme, which aims to train a pool of local talents who can turn pioneering biotechnology and AI digital health technology into innovative new health products and services through technology transfers and entrepreneurship.  

About Votee AI

Votee AI (Votee Limited) is an enterprise AI company headquartered in Hong Kong and Toronto, advancing enterprise-grade, sovereign AI for the world’s underserved languages. Votee AI built the world's first open-source Cantonese large language model and partners with enterprises across banking, government, FMCG and telecommunications to deploy on-premise AI with no external data transmission. With operations in Hong Kong, Toronto and Ho Chi Minh City, Votee AI builds AI that underserved communities can own, operate and trust. Learn more at votee.ai.

Media enquiries

HKUMed: medmedia@hku.hk  

Votee AI: Jack Ng, Head of Corporate Communications — jack.ng@votee.com