The Young Members Committee of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) organized a summit of “Opportunities and Challenges for the Development of Low-Altitude Economy – The Engineer’s Perspective” on 14 May 2026. This summit was supported by HKIE’s Logistics & Transportation Division and Control, Automation & Instrumentation Division. The event brought ideas to the engineer of how the Low-Altitude Economy development will provide opportunities and possible challenges for Engineers.
Ir. Dr. Angus Cheung, Chief Executive Officer of Aerovision Technology Limited (ATL), was invited to speak on the opportunities and challenges that the development of the Low-Altitude Economy (LAE) presents for engineers in Hong Kong. Given Hong Kong’s unique advantages, it is well positioned to lead the rollout of the LAE. Ir. Dr. Cheung emphasized that this emerging sector creates significant opportunities for engineers in aerospace & aviation, electrical & electronics, control & automation, information technology, and civil engineering, etc., while also posing complex multidisciplinary technical challenges to the engineers. To address these issues, a real-world testing environment should be established to support the development of standardized rules, operational frameworks, and rigorous safety protocols for sustainable long-term commercial operations. Hong Kong’s aviation industry is famous in the world in terms of its regulatory standards and management, airport facilities and operations, airlines operations, aircraft maintenance capabilities and safety standards. In this regard, it will be beneficial to Hong Kong if we can extend our knowhow and experience to support the development of diverse LAE applications and solving practical operational challenges.
As a testament to engineering innovation in aviation, ATL has achieved a major milestone by inventing the Intelligent GNSS Interference Detection and Monitoring System (IGIDMS). It is well known that the environment and human interventions can interfere the GNSS signals, which causes air traffic disturbances, drone accidents, and malfunctioning aircraft navigation equipment or other serious incidents. To achieve safe and sustainable air traffic operations, ATL’s system IGIDMS equips with the ability to detect, localize and locate the source of any interference or abnormal activities in multi-level airspace and alert related parties in real time for further actions. Highlighting its breakthrough contribution to the industry, this invention recently gained the prestigious international recognition at the 51st International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva in March 2026, winning a Gold medal.
With the growth of the Low-Altitude Economy activities, it is envisaged that it will bring huge opportunities along with government policies, but it cannot succeed without resolving tough engineering challenges. ATL will continue to contribute its efforts in promoting the safe, efficient, and sustainable development of LAE in Hong Kong. With this speech, Ir. Dr. Cheung hopes to inspire more engineers to be part of this development and contribute to the long-term growth and success of Hong Kong and our Country.