Isaac Leung, Co-Founder and CEO of AutoSafe, has achieved significant recognition for his innovative work. His start-up won a Gold Medal at the 48th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva, and was also named Champion at the 2022 HKUST-Sino One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition for its automated construction site safety monitoring system.

For Leung and his team, it all began with the cognizance of the high occurrences of accidents on construction sites, most of which resulted in fatal injuries or mortality. As one of the major pillars in Hong Kong, the construction industry had become increasingly challenged by frequent accidents, constituting up to 40% of workplace hazards and numerous heart-breaking news recently.

To solve this industry-specific problem, the idea of an AI-powered monitoring system for construction workers and their activities was hatched by some graduate students and research professors at HKUST.

As one of the pioneers of this project, Isaac Leung envisioned a safe space for construction workers by using the knowledge of AI technology to design a fool-proof safety monitoring system. The AutoSafe system functions would include simple tasks such as worker head counts, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) detection, and machine and equipment counting. AutoSafe would set itself apart from other systems by introducing their own technology, such as dynamic danger zone alert mechanism, a trans-zonal worker tracking feature with multi-camera information.  And by integrating with the digital works supervision system (DWSS) they are aiming for a highly sophisticated and centralized monitoring system.

In collaboration with Professor Jack Cheng, Associate Head, and Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Isaac Leung co-founded AutoSafe in 2021.

Following its acclaim at the HKUST-Sino Competition, Autosafe’s construction site-focused automated technology blazed its success trail. It won an award at the Lo Kwee Seong TECH-Ship Fund, Young Innovators award from CIC 2022 and has attracted quality clients from across the board, such as the Drainage Services Department of Hong Kong, contractors, and real estate developers. Autosafe is set to enter the Hong Kong Science Park as an incubation company this year.

As a pioneer in successful technological innovation, Isaac Leung graduated from HKUST with a Master of Philosophy in Civil Engineering, and his company, Autosafe has enjoyed tremendous support from the institution since its inception.

In tune with the HKUST vision, Isaac Leung has always expressed his commitment to the timely execution of ideas without hesitation or procrastination.

"The best time is now," he says. "The market cannot always wait for some ideas to be fully ready."