Hong Kong has emerged as Asia’s top innovation and technology hub, with unicorns, start-ups, and strategic investments flourishing in the city. The Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing, highlighted this achievement during his speech at the Hong Kong Laureate Forum 2023 Gala Dinner.
Throughout the week-long event, participants had the opportunity to visit various research and development centers, universities, and secondary schools in Hong Kong. These visits showcased the city’s transformation into an international innovation and technology center. Hong Kong’s compact size and easy accessibility make it an ideal place for turning great ideas into reality. It offers convenience and connectivity, allowing individuals to visit places like the Science Park or Cyberport in the morning, have lunch with start-up entrepreneurs, and still be home in time for dinner.
Hong Kong is also known for its top-ranked universities. The city boasts five universities ranked among the world’s top 100, making it the only city in Asia with this distinction. This achievement reflects the quality of Hong Kong’s tertiary institutions and the presence of world-renowned scholars and experts. Hong Kong benefits from the unique advantages of one country, two systems, with strong support from the motherland and close connectivity to the rest of the world.
With a comprehensive research and development ecosystem, Hong Kong is now home to around 4,000 start-ups and has given birth to more than 10 unicorns. The city ranks first in Asia and second globally in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2023. This success has attracted strategic enterprises with cutting-edge technologies, contributing to an initial investment of approximately HK$30 billion (US$3.8 billion) to establish or expand operations in Hong Kong.
To further support innovation and technology development, Hong Kong is actively promoting frontier fields such as microelectronics and artificial intelligence. The city will establish the Hong Kong Microelectronics Research and Development Institute next year to facilitate collaboration among universities, research centers, and industry in exploring third-generation semiconductor core technology. Cyberport will also establish an AI supercomputing center to meet the increasing demand for computing power in research and development sectors.
In addition to existing research clusters focusing on healthcare technologies and AI, Hong Kong is preparing to establish a third cluster that will focus on advanced manufacturing, materials, energy, and sustainable development.
The Hong Kong government has rolled out various initiatives to enhance the innovation and technology ecosystem. These include the Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme (RAISe+), aimed at accelerating the transformation and commercialization of research and development outcomes. The government will also launch the HK$10 billion (US$1.3 billion) New Industrialization Acceleration Scheme, providing financial assistance to enterprises in the fields of life and health technologies, AI and data science, advanced manufacturing, and new energy technologies.
The government’s ambition and determination to fuel innovation and technology development in Hong Kong are evident through these initiatives. They welcome talent, start-ups, and entrepreneurs to join in developing a world-class innovation and technology hub in Asia.
The Hong Kong Laureate Forum Gala Dinner was hosted by the Council of the Hong Kong Laureate Forum, and Mr Cheuk Wing-hing expressed his gratitude to everyone involved in making the event a success. He wished all attendees the best in their endeavors to contribute to the improvement of the world.
Note: The article was generated by OpenAI’s language model.
