General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6302 / JDOC6302 |
| Course name: | LITE Lab: Emerging Technology and Business Models (Postgraduate) |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme / JD Programme |
| Semester: | First |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Credit point value: | 9 credits / 6 credits |
Technology entrepreneurs often seek new and innovative ways of introducing products and services through new business models (eg, fintech, online marketplaces, software-as-a-service, Web3.0) and/or new technologies (eg, AI, blockchain, Internet of things (IoT)). Inevitably, questions arise regarding whether these innovations conform with existing law and regulations, many of which are still evolving and differ across borders.
This experiential and interdisciplinary course enables students to co-design legal, regulatory and/or policy research with Hong Kong’s under-resourced technology and innovation ecosystem (eg, tech startups, social entrepreneurs) as real-world project partners.
LITE Lab works with our ecosystem partners Cyberport, Hong Kong Science & Technology Park, HKU’s iDendron and Fintech Association of Hong Kong to outreach to Hong Kong’s startups to be our project partners. Examples of past 80+ student projects cover normal business operations such as cross-border employment law and data privacy, to cutting-edge areas such as AI, metaverse, virtual assets (NFTs, DeFi, cryptocurrencies), quantum computing, environment, social and governance (ESG) and cybersecurity.
Students may work alone or in teams, and are expected to spend 9-10 hours per week on their projects, with regular check-ins with their project partners. In class, students learn and apply industry innovation and technology methodologies (including legal design thinking, business model canvas, agile methodology and computational thinking), and share at weekly case rounds. Students may have the opportunity to visit and work at the offices of our project partners, who will be invited to provide feedback at the end of semester presentations.
Selected final projects may be hosted on the LITE Lab@HKU website or published whitepapers to serve as a resource to benefit Hong Kong’s innovation and technology ecosystem. LITE Lab also organises field trips and offers opportunities to compete in global and local legal and technology competitions (which our past students have won).
This is not a clinical course supervised by a licensed legal practitioner, and so student work product does not constitute legal advice. Like all other Faculty of Law experiential courses, assessment is on a pass/fail basis. Students are warned that inadequate effort during class and for their projects will result in a failing grade, and students may only drop the course after enrolment with the instructor’s consent.
Learn more about LITE Lab@HKU via the student-created website (still being updating) (https://litelab.law.hku.hk/) and via Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/@litelabhku6246/videos ).
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Brian Tang | bwtang@hku.hk | CCT 802 | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Demonstrate verbal communication skills with technology entrepreneurs and their issues by learning from and providing legal-related research and assistance directly to such Hong Kong tech startups to assist their real-world needs. Students will learn to communicate in real world lient-like environments, and meet and interview with Hong Kong tech startups at LITE Lab@HKU on campus, at HKU-Cyberport Fintech Nucleus, at the startup premises and/or electronically under the supervision of instructors.
CLO 2 Apply legal research and reasoning to complex real-life issues raised by Hong Kong tech startups, often relating to cutting-edge legal and commercial issues that will require multijurisdictional comparative law research, risk-reward analysis and policy proposals.
CLO 3 Demonstrate written communication skills with technology entrepreneurs and their issues by creating written deliverables that apply design-thinking principles to be user-friendly, comprehensible and helpful to lay persons.
CLO 4 Apply their skills and contribute to LITE Lab@HKU online resource and tools to enable an inclusive access to justice and democratization of legal information to empower entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency for tech startups, social entrepreneurs and citizens.
2.2 LLM and JD Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link:
LLM – https://course.law.hku.hk/llm-plo/
JD – https://course.law.hku.hk/jd-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class contribution | N/A | 10% | 2, 3, 4, 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Learning reflections | TBC | 10% | 2, 3, 4, 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Project service/product delivery | TBC | 40% | 2, 3, 4, 5 | 1,2 ,3, 4 |
| Research/case study | TBC | 40% | 2, 3, 4, 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by the course convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Students will be assessed on a pass/fail basis.
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar: | 3 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/