Saint Francis University (SFU) received a donation of HK$300,000 from the Lions Youth Innovation and Technology Foundation on 7 March 2025 (Friday). The donation will be used to support the mission of combining of technology and humanities, support science and innovation competitions, and to help nurture young entrepreneurs in SFU. The signing ceremony of the donation agreement was held at the SFU campus with the attendance of Mr Sammy SHUM, District Governor of the Lions Clubs International District 303 Hong Kong & Macao, China; Mr Henry SHIN, Chairperson of the Lions Youth Innovation and Technology Foundation; Prof LO Tit Wing, the Acting President of SFU; Prof Annie BLIGH, the Provost; Mr Manhoe CHAN, the Vice-President (Resources and Finance); Dr Ricky LEUNG, the Associate Vice-President (Institutional Advancement); Prof CHAN Sin-wai, Dean of the Ip Ying To Lee Yu Yee School of Humanities and Languages, as well as members of the Lions Youth Innovation and Technology Foundation, and also the heads and staffs of other departments of SFU.
Addressing the ceremony, Acting President of SFU, Prof LO Tit Wing, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Lions Club for their donation and support. The collaboration reflects the close engagement of SFU with the industry, embedding practical knowledges into the curriculum and working together to nurture the talents needed by the community. Prof LO said that the experience gained by young people in the entrepreneurial process is invaluable and contains knowledge that cannot be found in books, describing it as an investment in the future of Hong Kong's young people, and SFU will continue to promote this approach.
Mr Henry SHIN, Chairperson of the Lions Youth Innovation and Technology Foundation, took the example of DeepSeek, a domestic artificial intelligence language model, to point out that there are many successful examples of Chinese entrepreneurship in recent years, and Hong Kong should treasure the talented young people. Mr SHIN added that he hoped to provide resources to SFU so that more young people could succeed in science and innovation and contribute to the society. He also hoped that Lions Clubs members could interact with SFU students and share business-related experiences. Mr Sammy SHUM, District Governor of the Lions Clubs International District 303 Hong Kong & Macao, China, said the club is committed to community and youth services, and hopes to help universities to cultivate outstanding talents for the long-term development of Hong Kong.
Prof CHAN Sin-wai, Dean of the Ip Ying To Lee Yu Yee School of Humanities and Languages, said the collaboration was a great news for the School, which would encourage students from different disciplines to participate in entrepreneurship competitions to foster entrepreneurship. Prof CHAN also said that he would work hard to promote the development of Techno-Humanities, as well as the steady development of entrepreneurship education.