On March 4, 2025, Taiping Reinsurance and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) signed a memorandum of cooperation in Hong Kong. Professor Zhang Limin, Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at HKUST and founder of Stellerus Tech, signed the agreement on behalf of both parties, with Stellerus Tech’s CEO Liao Ziping witnessing the event.

As the technical support party for this cooperation, Stellerus Tech will provide professional technical support for the joint projects, especially in the development and application of the Hong Kong flood catastrophe model. Through this collaboration, Stellerus Tech will not only fully demonstrate its leading advantages in meteorological science and AI technology but also provide the insurance industry with more accurate and efficient disaster prediction and risk management solutions.

Professor Zhang Limin (fifth from left), Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at HKUST and founder of Stellerus Tech, and Liao Ziping (third from left), CEO of Stellerus Tech.

Before signing, both parties held discussions. Zhao Feng welcomed Guo Yike and his delegation’s visit to China Taiping, congratulated the joint research project between Taiping Reinsurance and HKUST — the “Hong Kong Flood Catastrophe Model for the Insurance Industry,” which has received support from the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission’s Innovation Fund, and expressed gratitude for HKUST’s trust and support of China Taiping. Zhao Feng introduced the history and business characteristics of China Taiping, stating that China Taiping has always been based in Hong Kong and Macau, deeply cultivated the Greater Bay Area, adhered to internationalization, and committed to serving national strategies. Taiping Reinsurance is the flagship of China Taiping’s international operations and a well-known professional reinsurance company in Asia, adhering to prudent management, innovative development, and win-win cooperation. It is dedicated to providing customers with professional and comprehensive risk solutions. Zhao Feng hopes that both parties will take the signing of the memorandum as an opportunity to actively promote deep integration of industry, academia, and research, exploring practical cooperation in education and training, low-altitude economy, risk reduction, and big data analysis, enhancing disaster risk management capabilities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and supporting the construction of Hong Kong as an international risk management center.

Guo Yike introduced HKUST’s teaching, research, planning, and development philosophy, expressed gratitude for Taiping Reinsurance’s support and trust in HKUST’s scientific research, and said that through the development of the Hong Kong flood disaster model, both parties have established a good cooperative foundation. He hopes that this memorandum will be an opportunity to continuously expand the scope of cooperation, carry out deeper collaboration in joint innovative research, technology transfer, talent cultivation, and artificial intelligence, jointly promote Hong Kong’s economic and social development, and support resilient city construction.

This cooperation holds significant commercial importance for Stellerus Tech. As a company deeply rooted in meteorological technology, Stellerus Tech will enter the insurance industry for the first time through cooperation with Taiping Reinsurance and HKUST, leveraging its core technical capabilities in extreme weather forecasting, disaster management, and data analysis. This not only marks an important step in expanding the breadth of industry applications but also lays a solid foundation for future cooperation with more insurance companies and financial institutions, opening new markets and development space for Stellerus Tech.

01 Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

HKUST is a world-renowned university, with its science, engineering, business management, and humanities and social sciences disciplines all reaching world-class levels. It is committed to promoting innovative teaching, excellent research, and impactful knowledge transfer. HKUST ranked third in the 2024 Times Higher Education Global Young University Rankings and has 12 subjects ranked in the global top 50 in the 2024 QS World University Rankings by Subject, with “Data Science and Artificial Intelligence” ranked 10th globally—the highest among local Hong Kong universities.

02 Logistics and Supply Chain MultiTech R&D Centre

The Logistics and Supply Chain MultiTech R&D Centre (LSCM) was established in 2006 with funding from the Innovation and Technology Fund of the Hong Kong SAR Government. Since its inception, LSCM has been dedicated to developing technologies that promote the development of logistics and supply chain-related industries and assisting various industries in Hong Kong and Mainland China in adopting these technologies. The centre is co-organized by the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and HKUST.

03 Stellerus Tech Limited

Stellerus Tech Limited is a startup incubated by HKUST at the end of 2023, focusing on providing climate risk-related solutions using satellite remote sensing and artificial intelligence.