The President of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Prof. Nancy IP, welcomed the 2025 Policy Address delivered by the Chief Executive, Mr. John LEE, at this time. She expressed nice enthusiasm by its forward-looking initiatives and strategic blueprint. President Prof. Ip significantly highlighted key measures akin to accelerating the event of the Northern Metropolis, enhancing the strategic structure of innovation and know-how infrastructure, boosting the built-in improvement of schooling, know-how and abilities, in addition to selling the “Study in Hong Kong” model. She emphasised that these initiatives aren’t solely pivotal in reinvigorating Hong Kong’s long-term improvement but in addition function essential methods to drive financial upgrading and transformation, and to develop the top-tier expertise pool. HKUST will actively help these measures and collaborate with all sectors to collectively advance Hong Kong as a global innovation and know-how (I&T) hub and a number one schooling centre.
Strengthening Hong Kong’s I&T Ecosystem
Prof. Ip applauded the Policy Address’s push for Hong Kong’s I&T improvement throughout three key dimensions: coverage innovation, {industry} improvement and expertise cultivation. She emphasised, “I&T development must be talent-centric. Hong Kong needs to bring together international experts and local elites to continuously expand a diverse talent pool. Through policy innovation, we can foster a conducive environment for R&D and commercialization.” “In terms of industry development,” she added, “it is essential to build highly synergistic research ecosystems that facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration among industry, academia and research institutions.”
HKUST at the moment leads 5 InnoHK analysis centres, overlaying cutting-edge fields akin to neuroscience, clever chips and methods, synthetic intelligence, in addition to robotics applied sciences in aerospace engineering and sensible manufacturing-all reaching internationally main requirements. The Low-altitude Economy Research Centre, established on campus earlier this yr, has additionally been included within the first batch of pilot initiatives beneath the SAR authorities’s “regulatory sandbox,” reflecting sturdy coverage help for rising fields.
Looking forward, HKUST will additional strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration and deepen analysis in vital areas together with life and well being applied sciences, synthetic intelligence and knowledge science, superior supplies, new vitality, atmospheric and marine sciences, in addition to aerospace know-how. The University may even work carefully with the federal government and numerous sectors to reinforce the innovation and know-how {industry} chain and high-end expertise pool, actively aligning with the National fifteenth Five-Year Plan and the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, thereby facilitating new breakthroughs in Hong Kong’s innovation and know-how ecosystem.
To deepen the I&T ecosystem, Prof. Ip expressed sturdy help for the federal government’s launch of the “Innovation and Technology Talents Exchange Scheme”, describing it as a visionary transfer that aligns completely with HKUST’s technique to reinforce industry-academia-research integration. She emphasised that HKUST is devoted not solely to offering cutting-edge analysis help and fostering an modern tradition for its school, college students, and researchers, but in addition to actively constructing bridges with {industry}. Last yr, the University established the “Redbird Innovation Fund (RIF)”, proactively partaking market funding companions to collectively arrange a HK$2 billion enterprise capital fund aimed toward supporting early-stage deep tech ventures originating from HKUST. As of July 2025, HKUST members have based greater than 1,900 energetic start-ups, together with 10 unicorns and 17 which have achieved profitable exits.
Expanding International Talent and Promoting “Study in Hong Kong”
Talent serves as the basic driver of social progress. Prof. Ip highlighted that Hong Kong’s rise to 4th globally and 1st in Asia within the IMD World Talent Ranking 2025 displays its high-quality schooling system and internationally aggressive expertise panorama. She famous, “While Hong Kong’s higher education sector faces certain challenges, it is also presented with significant opportunities. Amid increasingly intense global competition for talent, Hong Kong must continue to enhance its academic environment and research resources to strengthen its distinctive edge.”
As a global metropolis, Hong Kong holds appreciable benefits in constructing the “Study in Hong Kong” model, due to its distinctive mix of Eastern and Western cultures, world-class tutorial assets, and an internationally aligned curriculum. Prof. Ip emphasised, “Hong Kong is not only a key city within the Greater Bay Area (GBA), but also deeply connected to the global stage. Taking HKUST as an example-our students can engage in internships at leading enterprises within the GBA, while also having access to exchange programs with numerous prestigious institutions worldwide. This allows them to gain broad global perspectives while developing a nuanced understanding of the Chinese market.”
Prof. Ip additionally underscored the significance of nurturing native expertise and expressed help for the federal government’s efforts to reinforce AI and digital schooling, enabling younger individuals to grab alternatives introduced by synthetic intelligence. She shared, “HKUST is at the forefront of AI education. We were the first university in Hong Kong to actively integrate generative AI into teaching and learning. Through the Von Neumann Institute, we have also launched an AI education program for secondary school students to improve AI literacy locally. The Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Centre (HKGAI), led by HKUST, has introduced its first large-scale AI model, HKGAI V1, which supports Cantonese, Putonghua, and English, and is tailored to Hong Kong’s cultural and linguistic context.”
The University additionally embraces the launch of the “Frontier Technology Research Support Scheme”, which goals to draw world-leading researchers in AI and different fields to Hong Kong. Prof. Ip believes this initiative will function a catalyst for the town’s complete and sustained development in cutting-edge foundational analysis.
Seizing the Opportunities of the Northern Metropolis and Hetao to Build an International I&T Ecosystem
Prof. Ip affirmed the positioning of the Northern Metropolis as a strategic improvement base for improvement and confused that HKUST extremely values the strategic significance and development potential of the Hetao Cooperation Zone. She revealed, “HKUST will deepen its engagement in the Hetao area, actively align with the government’s Northern Metropolis development strategy, and strengthen collaboration with other cities in the Greater Bay Area. We place special emphasis on deep integration with the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou innovation cluster, fully leveraging HKUST’s location within this world-class innovation and technology region to jointly advance cross-border research collaboration and high-end talent development.”
Furthermore, Prof. Ip acknowledged that HKUST pledges its full help for the Committee on the Development of the Northern Metropolis led by the Chief Executive. The University anticipates that the event of the University Town will synergize with the innovation and know-how initiatives within the San Tin Technopole and the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone, thereby driving progress in expertise cultivation, technological innovation, and sustainable financial development.
HKUST additionally thanks the federal government for its energetic efforts towards establishing a 3rd medical faculty and sincerely hopes that the federal government will help the proposal for a medical faculty submitted earlier by HKUST. The profitable institution of the third medical faculty would promptly enhance the variety of docs and speed up Hong Kong’s improvement into a global hub for medical innovation.
Conclusion: Walking in Step with Hong Kong and the Nation
President Ip concluded, “Guided by the philosophy of ‘teaching and research as the core, innovation for impact,’ HKUST is fully committed to supporting the implementation of the Policy Address and its goal of strengthening our nation through technology and education. We are confident that through educational internationalization, the industrialization of innovation and technology, and deeper regional collaboration, Hong Kong will solidify its role as an international I&T centre and a premier education hub-making significant contributions to the nation’s high-quality development.”