As synthetic intelligence (AI) and different frontier applied sciences speed up from analysis to industrial software, Hong Kong should seize the window of alternatives to translate its financial strengths into technological progress by deeper cross-sector collaboration, lecturers and enterprise executives stated on Thursday.
Speaking at an innovation and know-how discussion board hosted by Caijing, a Beijing-based enterprise journal, with tutorial help from the Business School of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Tim Cheng Kwang-ting, HKUST’s vice-president for analysis and improvement, stated Hong Kong’s know-how sector has expanded at an “explosive” tempo over the previous few years, and at this stage town ought to undertake a extra globally related perspective to construct an innovation ecosystem that’s extra commercially viable.
Cheng stated technological development requires integration throughout disciplines, provide chains, sectors and geographies. For occasion, he emphasised the significance of nearer collaboration between business, academia, analysis our bodies, financial establishments and policymakers — with capital taking part in an indispensable position.
Liang Weibin, associate of Shanghai Healthcare Capital, a municipal-level funding fund, agreed, saying that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s standing as an worldwide financial middle provides it a novel benefit in growing cutting-edge applied sciences. High-quality tasks, she added, are inclined to cluster the place capital is deep and coverage frameworks are open.
Taking AI as an instance, business leaders stated competitors over AI capabilities amongst main economies and firms is shifting from analysis breakthroughs to real-world deployment.
ALSO READ: HK builds up strength in I&T to foster future growth engine
Cui Li, chief improvement officer of ZTE, a Shenzhen-based telecommunications multinational firm, stated the efficiency hole amongst main massive language fashions is narrowing, pushed by the fast rise of open-source approaches in addition to falling prices from algorithmic and engineering optimization. As a end result, she stated, mannequin functionality alone is now not the decisive think about AI competitors.
“The real test lies in cost efficiency, application capability and the ability to build an ecosystem,” Cui stated. While the “intellectual race” in AI continues, she added, the “practical contest” has already begun. At this stage, the precedence for frontier applied sciences reminiscent of AI is deeper integration with business, enabling firms to chop prices and enhance effectivity, she famous.
Wu Junhua, vice-president of China’s AI and clever speech large iFlytek, agreed, saying the AI sector is now not competing over who has the most important parameter rely or the “smartest” mannequin, however over who can ship tangible worth.
READ MORE: Chan: HK to fortify finance, tech, trade functions
Academia and business have to give attention to embedding AI throughout each stage of company operations and making it a part of infrastructure, Wu added. He cited iFlytek’s work with China National Petroleum Corporation as an instance of AI translating into actual financial worth, the place a mannequin with lots of of billions of parameters has been built-in into oil exploration, advertising and marketing and different elements of operations.
During the discussion board, HKUST’s Center for Technology and Business Ecosystem, in collaboration with Ernst & Young, launched a report titled Measuring the Future: Constructing a Dual-Dimension Index of Technology Development Potential and Ecosystem Co-Benefit Capacity for Global Leading Tech Cities.
The report discovered that Hong Kong’s technological improvement has moved above the worldwide common, however nonetheless faces challenges together with a restricted pool of high-growth know-how firms and absence of technology-focused enterprise capital and later-stage development funds.
Contact the author at [email protected]