COVER STORY • 封面專題 27 2025 UMAGAZINE 32 • 澳大新語 practices, offering valuable insights for the Macao government and the tourism industry to support industry transformation. These initiatives also play an important role in expanding students’ perspectives. UM curriculum integrates research findings on smart tourism technologies, such as AI-based planning tools and VR tour guides, as well as sustainable tourism and cross-cultural communication. This equips students with a diverse skill set, including proficiency in digital tools and modern service concepts. In doing so, UM nurtures interdisciplinary talent with both technical expertise and humanistic qualities, preparing graduates for high-quality employment opportunities. The research team also focuses on improving tourism demand forecasting and resolving data mismatches in the process. By refining forecasting methods and integrating diverse data sources, their work provides tourism practitioners and policymakers with reliable, evidence-based insights. This supports sustainable business decisions, destination planning, and the development of green supply chains, and also contributes to SDG12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). Reshaping Modern Industry With Nanomaterials Developing high-quality, reliable, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure is a key component of SDG9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure). Achieving this goal requires innovative building materials. To support this effort, UM has established the Zhuhai UM Science & Technology Research Institute, the UM Advanced Research Institute in Hengqin, and several research and development centres specialising in areas such as microelectronics, biomedicine, smart cities, and advanced materials. These institutes collaborate closely with businesses to align fundamental research with industry needs, creating an ecosystem that integrates ‘platform development, enterprise incubation, and result commercialisation’. This collaborative approach delivers practical solutions to drive reform and technological progress. A research team led by Sun Guoxing, associate professor in the Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering (IAPME), has developed the world’s first nanoparticle-stabilised foam concrete, marking significant breakthroughs in efficiency, energy savings, affordability, stability, and safety. This groundbreaking innovation earned third prize in the Technical Invention Award category at the 2022 Macao Science and Technology Awards. The nano-foam concrete stabilises its structure by aggregating nanoparticles at the boundaries of bubbles. When mixed with cement slurry, it produces nano-foam concrete with significantly smaller pores than conventional products, making it ideal for both manufacturing building materials and large-scale cast-in-place projects. Quality tests conducted by a construction engineering quality inspection centre in Zhuhai, in collaboration with an industrial partner, revealed that UM’s nano-foam concrete has a strength 1.2 to 1.5 times greater than the design standard. At the same strength level, its dry density is 1 to 3 grades better than the national standard, making it considerably lighter. The material also offers impressive advantages: it uses 15% to 40% less raw material compared to similar products on the market, while its thermal insulation performance is 20% to 25% higher. In addition, the nanoparticle-stabilised foam is fire-resistant, non-toxic, and can be manufactured into fire-fighting foam. These features make the foam cement a practical solution for reducing material and energy consumption in commercial and residential applications, such as heating and cooling, while also enhancing disaster protection. The foam concrete has been applied across a wide range of uses, including lightweight wall panels, door cores, roofing, cushion insulation, backfilling, bathroom sedimentation tanks, and large-scale cast-in-place road and bridge projects. It has been successfully used in various projects in the Chinese mainland, such as the backfilling of building foundations in the Zhuhai Hi-Tech Zone, the transport hub at the Hengqin Port, and the Xiangyang East-West Axis Road Project. Locally, it has been used in the Macau Bridge, New Town Area A Public Housing, and the Hengqin Port. Internationally, the material has been adopted in projects in Ghana in Africa. By October 2025, the total volume of foam concrete applied had reached 70,000 cubic metres, saving 12,000 tons of cement and reducing carbon emissions by over 10,000 tons, making it a leading example of sustainable infrastructure material. Prof Sun and his team are currently working on
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