A Ten‑Year Legacy of Empowering Young Engineers
Celebrating its 10th Anniversary, the Academy for Bright Future Young Engineers at HKUST marks a decade of inspiring curiosity and empowering young innovators. The Academy has connected students with cutting‑edge engineering education, hands‑on learning, and a strong community of mentors and peers. Looking ahead, it remains committed to fostering creativity and engineering excellence for a brighter, more sustainable future.
Academy Membership Drive
Our members come from local primary and secondary schools. Through learning sessions led by HKUST faculty and student mentors (“Fellows”), students explore advanced STEM concepts and discover diverse STEM career pathways. Primary and secondary teachers also support the programme as consultants, advising on the development of engaging, level-appropriate STEM activities for local students.
4000 +
Members
300 +
Fellows
400 +
Teachers
Community Outreach
Community Outreach is a core part of our mission to strengthen STEM learning in the wider community, helping students and educators access engaging, high-quality STEM experiences and resources.
Offered
400 +
STEM education programmes
for young people
Offered
70 +
training workshops
for teachers
Outreached to
300 +
local primary and secondary
schools
Our Timeline
2016
Establishment of Academy for
Bright Future Young Engineers
The establishment of the Academy for Bright Future Young Engineers (ABFYE) under the School of Engineering marked a significant milestone for HKUST. Founded with the generous support of Professor Roy Chung, ABFYE was created as an innovative, student-centred platform that immerses secondary school learners in authentic engineering experiences and nurtures engineers’ habits of mind—curiosity, creativity, evidence-based reasoning, and resilience. To extend its impact beyond one-off activities, ABFYE introduced a membership system that supports sustained engagement through workshops, competitions, mentorship, and campus-based learning, while strengthening links with the HKUST engineering community.
2017
A Year of Expansion and Engagement
Since the Academy’s establishment, it has steadily expanded its outreach by supporting the HKUST Underwater Robot Competition, advancing inclusive engineering education through accessible, hands-on robotics experiences for students with varied backgrounds and skill levels. By lowering barriers to participation and emphasizing learning-by-doing, the competition guides students through the engineering design cycle—planning, prototyping, testing, troubleshooting, and refining—while building teamwork and practical problem-solving skills under real constraints. The Academy also contributed to other flagship engagements, including the Airship Program and Paper Tower Challenge 2017 organized with The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers. Together with IEEE and Electron Devices Society, foundational skills were reinforced via the IEEE Electronic Endeavor Match circuit‑building challenge. These activities strengthened ABFYE’s broader STEM ecosystem, helping students build confidence, creativity, and engineering thinking through progressive exposure to authentic challenges.
2018
Driving Innovation Forward
In 2018, the Academy for Bright Future Young Engineers continued to broaden STEM engagement through impactful community and school partnerships. A major highlight was the WeCan x HKUST nine‑month joint‑school STEAM project, which concluded with a public finale at Plaza Hollywood on July 6–7, showcasing student innovation and collaborative engineering solutions. The Academy also partnered with China Light and Power (CLP) Holdings to run a four‑day electric vehicle (EV) summer programme, where secondary students designed and built their own drivable electric cars while learning about EV technologies and low‑carbon energy systems. These initiatives strengthened hands‑on learning and inspired future engineers, by giving students real-world contexts to apply engineering thinking and teamwork.
2019
Empowering Young Innovators
In 2019, ABFYE strengthened its focus on empowering young innovators by trusting students to build, test, and improve through authentic engineering cycles. Its Electric Vehicle (EV) programmes anchored this approach: F.3–F.5 teams learned EV fundamentals, assembled drivable vehicles, and demonstrated performance in a capstone competition—strengthening teamwork, role‑sharing, and troubleshooting under real constraints. The Academy then broadened participation through campus STEM Month workshops that let students sample multiple hands‑on challenges in one visit, and through HK SciFest at the Hong Kong Science Museum, pairing a public talk on engineering for community good with interactive DIY activities.
2020
Adapting Through Uncertainty
Despite pandemic disruptions, the Academy for Bright Future Young Engineers actively shifted to online STEM education. The most significant initiative was the IET STEM Online Workshop Series, co-organised by ABFYE and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). This series offered multiple free online workshops for primary and secondary students. These sessions were delivered fully online via live virtual classes, with morning and afternoon options, and catered to students from P.4 to S.4. All were free of charge and supported by sponsors including China Light and Power (CLP), Hong Kong Electric, and RS Components. The online format also broadened access by allowing students to join safely from home while maintaining continuity in STEM learning during school disruptions. By combining practical engineering concepts with approachable delivery, the series helped sustain students’ curiosity and confidence in engineering at a time when hands‑on opportunities were limited.
2021
Reconnecting Through Hybrid STEM Experiences
In 2021, the Academy for Bright Future Young Engineers reconnected the STEM community through hybrid learning experiences that bridged distancing with collaboration. The year’s signature event was the secondary school student conference “Developing Student’s Innovation Competency through Advanced STEM Learning Experiences” organised in collaboration with the Education Bureau, which provided a platform for students to engage with the conference theme and learn through curated sessions on advanced STEM learning experiences. Complementing the conference, the Academy also ran Summer STEM Online Workshops 2021 covering 3D art with TinkerCAD, and Micro:bit music‑making—to keep STEM access open to students across Hong Kong.
2022
Rebuilding Hands‑On Creativity
In 2022, the Academy for Bright Future Young Engineers rebuilt post‑pandemic hands‑on creativity through blended STEM outreach. April’s Easter STEM Online Workshop Series 2022 was led by a Blender 3D Modelling workshop in collaboration with Hong Kong Tramways, where students progressed from simple shapes to polished 3D creations through iterative design, rendering, and presentation—reviving confidence in making. With campuses reopening, ABFYE co‑organised an August PCB Soldering Workshop where Secondary 1–4 students built an electronic piano while learning safe techniques under HKUST’s vaccination rules. Together, these programmes restored collaborative, practical engineering experiences after disruption.
2023
A Year of High‑Energy STEM Engagement
In 2023, the Academy for Bright Future Young Engineers delivered a dynamic lineup of STEM programs, marking one of its most active post‑pandemic years. The Bright Future Cup 2023, in collaboration with the Education Bureau STEM Education Centre and Art & Technology Education Centre, brought together teams of student‑built soccer robots, culminating in a vibrant Engineering Carnival featuring seminars, workshops and hands‑on activities.Toward year‑end, the Academy participated in InnoCarnival 2023 organized by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, hosting creative DIY STEM stations ranging from solar cars to electric bicycles. Collectively, these initiatives strengthened community engagement by giving students multiple, progressive opportunities to explore engineering through building, experimentation, and public showcase.
2024
Expanding Creativity and Inclusion
In 2024, the Academy for Bright Future Young Engineers advanced the theme of Expanding Creativity and Inclusion by collaborating with the JYC Girls’ Foundation’s IdeaGO Ideathon 2024—an initiative that empowers teen girls to build Innovation & Technology capabilities and apply project management and design thinking to develop end‑to‑end solutions for real‑world social issues using tools such as Artificial intelligence, programming, robotics, and 3D printing. Furthermore, the Academy has also collaborated with Hong Kong Family Welfare Society in hosting a Artificial intelligence Creative Media Workshop, for children from diverse backgrounds.
2025
Advancing STEM Education Research and Use of Artificial Intelligence
In 2025, the Academy for Bright Future Young Engineers presented its STEM‑education research at ACEID 2025, delivering “STEM Education Development in Hong Kong and Its Impact to High School Students”. Using questionnaire data from 428 secondary students, the paper found strong aspirations: over 62% wanted STEM studies and 66% would consider STEM careers, especially engineering. The ACEID 2025 presentation reinforced the Academy’s programme direction. The Academy also ran two workshops related to AI and biomedical technology, namely the “Explore Linear Algebra Behind AI Bootcamp”, linking core mathematics to modern AI applications. The other workshop is the "Biomedical Technology with AI Workshop", which links biotechnology with AI.
2026
Celebration of Academy's 10th Anniversary
To mark ABFYE’s 10th Anniversary, we will host two flagship events: a symposium highlighting the future of STEM education in Hong Kong
and a 24‑hour biomedical engineering hackathon that challenges young innovators to create impactful solutions.
Together, these events celebrate a decade of inspiration and discovery.
Acknowledgements
Over the past decade, we have empowered young minds through hands‑on engineering experiences, innovative STEM programs
and meaningful collaborations. These achievements reflect the dedication of our students, mentors, and partners.
As we mark this milestone, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to everyone who has contributed to our inspiring journey.
(All organizations here are listed in alphabetical order)
AECOM
ARUP
Art & Technology Education Centre
Caprikon Education
China Light and Power (CLP)
Civil Engineering and Development Department
EDB STEM Education Centre
Education Bureau
Electron Devices Society
ExxonMobil
HKEdcity
Hong Kong Council of Social Service
Hong Kong Family Welfare Society
Hong Kong Fire Services
Hong Kong Observatory
Hong Kong Public Libraries
Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation
Hong Kong Science Museum
Hong Kong Trade Development Council
Hong Kong Tramways
IEEE
JA Hong Kong
JYC Girls Impact Foundation
Plaza Hollywood
Po Leung Kuk Hong Kong
Project WeCan
RS Components
Semia
The Boys' & Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Award For Young People
The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups
The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers
The Institution of Engineering and Technology