CityUHK College of Computing Secures HK$55.69 Million RGC Funding for Flagship AI Project on Urban Emergency Response and Rescue
31 Jul 2026
Led by Prof. Wang Jianping, Dean of the College of Computing, the project titled “SynapseCity: AI-driven Urban Emergency Response and Rescue” has secured HK$55.69 million under the latest Research Grants Council Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS). The flagship AI project aims to build SynapseCity, the world’s first privacy-preserving, cross-departmental emergency coordination platform designed to enhance urban public safety and emergency management. The project demonstrates the College’s growing research leadership in artificial intelligence, smart cities, multi-agent systems, data-driven decision-making, and urban resilience.
By leveraging advanced multi-agent systems, SynapseCity seeks to break down data silos across departments and organizations, enabling real-time analysis, knowledge sharing, and decision support during extreme weather events and other urban emergencies. The platform is expected to provide timely and intelligent coordination support for complex emergency scenarios, where rapid information exchange and cross-sector collaboration are critical. The project has received strong support from more than 20 government, industry, and academic institutions locally and internationally, including the Hong Kong Fire Services Department, the Hong Kong Police Force, the Hong Kong Observatory, Towngas, China Taiping Insurance, and the University of Cambridge. This broad-based collaboration underscores the real-world significance of the project and its potential impact on public safety, emergency response, and smart city development in Hong Kong and beyond.
"Looking ahead to smart city development, urban public safety faces increasingly complex and dynamic challenges,” said Prof. Wang. “Traditional, fragmented emergency networks can no longer meet the demands for real-time cross-departmental collaboration. CityUHK has a strong research foundation and interdisciplinary advantages in AI, smart cities, structural and infrastructure safety and lifecycle maintenance, as well as disaster- and climate-resilient cities. Through this project, our team will drive interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration, providing key technical support for public safety and resilience building in Hong Kong and smart cities worldwide"
The RGC Theme-based Research Scheme supports academic research in areas of strategic importance to the long-term development of Hong Kong. The success of SynapseCity highlights the College of Computing’s commitment to advancing AI-enabled technologies that address pressing societal challenges and contribute to the development of safer, smarter, and more resilient cities.
