Nearly a decade of booming cross-boundary collaboration in science and know-how between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Chinese mainland started with a single letter to President Xi Jinping from a famend Hong Kong scientist and fellow academicians, who advocated that nationwide sci-tech funding be cleared for cross-boundary use.
The momentum, which continues to achieve tempo in the present day, started in 2017 when Hong Kong scientist Nancy Ip Yuk-yu and 23 fellow academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering despatched the letter to Xi.
Before mid-2017, the analysis neighborhood in Hong Kong was dealing with hurdles to collaborating within the nation”s fast sci-tech growth, Ip recalled. Access to nationwide analysis funding was proving to be a significant stumbling block for Hong Kong researchers, stopping potential collaborations with the mainland, and Hong Kong-made scientific gear confronted tariffs when getting into the mainland.
The academicians’ aspirations introduced a swift response from Xi, unlocking a extremely fruitful, decadelong golden period of cross-boundary technological cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland.
Today, a grander vision is taking form. The Hong Kong SAR is poised to play a pivotal function in propelling the nation to turning into a technological powerhouse underneath the fifteenth Five-Year Plan (2026-30), Ip stated in an unique interview with China Daily forward of the twenty ninth anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland on July 1.
Ip, a famend neuroscientist and president of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, mirrored upon the decade-long enchancment in Hong Kong’s analysis setting and nationwide assist. She pledged additional contributions towards the nation’s strategic purpose of technological self-reliance.
In an unprecedented transfer in June 2017, hoping to raised combine the Hong Kong SAR into the nation’s scientific growth, Ip and 23 different Hong Kong-based academicians wrote the letter to Xi, outlining the challenges they confronted.
Xi responded shortly and instructed related authorities to comply with up.
The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance then promulgated provisions on opening up science and know-how funding of the central authorities to be used by increased schooling establishments and analysis establishments in Hong Kong.
This included preparations for cross-boundary utilization of permitted mission funding to the SAR.
By September that yr, a pilot program was in place, permitting cross-boundary use of analysis funding at two laboratories — one at HKUST and one at University of Hong Kong. By April 2018, 22 State-level labs in Hong Kong had been permitted to obtain a complete of twenty-two million yuan ($3.24 million).
Chan Ching-chuen, Hong Kong’s first academician elected to the Chinese Academy of Engineering, was a co-signatory of the letter to Xi.
The swift response from Xi to the letter, which conveyed the aspirations of Hong Kong scientists to contribute to the nation’s wants, injected confidence in Hong Kong’s sci-tech sector, stated Chan, who’s broadly lauded for being the “father of Asian electric vehicles”.
Deepened collaboration
Chan added that, catalyzed by Xi’s response, the mainland and Hong Kong have deepened sci-tech collaboration in a rising variety of areas, with Lai Ka-ying, a Hong Kong payload skilled, at present on the nation’s area mission aboard the Tiangong area station. Lai is the primary feminine Chinese civilian from Hong Kong to achieve outer area.
Following Xi’s directions, Hong Kong’s sci-tech sector has ushered in a brand new period of growth by integrating into the nation’s growth, Chan stated, noting prolonged cooperation over the previous decade in areas akin to aerospace, new power, synthetic intelligence and transportation.
This is the residing embodiment of Hong Kong leveraging its distinctive benefits to serve the nation’s wants, he stated.
Since receiving the letter, assist from the central authorities has been “never-ending”, with coverage obstacles falling and extra alternatives opening for Hong Kong scientists to hitch nationwide initiatives, Ip stated.
Not solely the central authorities, but additionally Guangdong’s provincial and municipal authorities have opened analysis funding to Hong Kong scientists.
In 2022, Xi visited the InnoHK Hong Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, and inspired researchers to continuously pursue excellence and contribute to the nation’s scientific endeavors.
During Xi’s go to, Ip, who leads the middle, defined its self-developed blood take a look at know-how for Alzheimer’s illness. The know-how analyzes particular proteins and predicts the danger of growing Alzheimer’s as much as 15 years earlier than signs seem, enabling early intervention.
The neuroscientist stated she appreciated Xi’s care and excessive expectations for Hong Kong scientists, as he was all the time encouraging them to provide larger outcomes and, extra necessary, translate the outcomes into tangible purposes.
“I clearly remember him asking what he could do to help our research results ‘land’ and make them widely available to benefit humanity,” Ip stated.
Xi’s expectations even have change into key targets of the middle.
By refining the know-how, the HKUST group lowered the Alzheimer’s blood protein panel from 21 to 3, slicing prices by 80 % whereas sustaining over 90 % accuracy.
“As one of the inventors, I’m excited to see our (Alzheimer’s) blood test technology moving from the lab into clinical settings and communities,” stated Jason Jiang Yuanbing, a analysis assistant professor in HKUST’s Division of Life Science, who demonstrated the blood take a look at know-how throughout Xi’s go to. “Through collaboration across the mainland and overseas, we’re getting closer to making this innovation more accessible to help meet the needs of an aging society,” Jiang stated.
Mok Kin-ying, chief medical officer of the middle and head of scientific partnerships at HKUST’s School of Medicine, stated: “Over the past decade, Hong Kong and the mainland have seen much closer exchange and collaboration in science and technology. Looking ahead, we hope this momentum will further strengthen research and healthcare services and deliver tangible benefits to people on both sides.”
In current years, and particularly now, because the fifteenth Five-Year Plan has set technological self-reliance as a nationwide purpose, Ip stated that she has felt the nation’s unprecedented dedication to sci-tech growth. As president of HKUST, the educator holds excessive hopes for the town’s younger technology of researchers.
Shadow Li contributed to this story.