Distinguished visitors, girls and gents,
Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to affix you all as we speak at the Australia-China Innovation Summit. My honest because of the Australia China Business Council for bringing us collectively and for giving me this chance to share Hong Kong’s newest innovation and expertise (I&T) panorama and the promising alternatives for deeper Hong Kong-Australia collaboration.
Hong Kong and Australia have lengthy been related by means of commerce, funding and vibrant people-to-people ties. These hyperlinks had been additional strengthened when the Free Trade Agreement and Investment Agreement entered into drive in 2020, opening new channels for enterprise, enhancing market entry, and reinforcing our shared dedication to open, rule-based financial co-operation.
Today, a brand new chapter of collaboration is unfolding. Supported by the National fifteenth Five-Year Plan, Hong Kong is transferring full steam towards its imaginative and prescient of turning into a global I&T centre and a worldwide hub for high-calibre expertise.
Promoting I&T growth ranks excessive on the agenda of the present time period of the HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) Government. Our purpose is evident: to inject new impetus into financial development, develop a diversified financial system, and create high-quality jobs. In 2022, we promulgated the I&T Development Blueprint, setting out clear instructions and techniques for Hong Kong’s future I&T growth. We undertake a transparent business coverage, with priorities in a number of areas together with life and well being expertise, AI and robotics, superior manufacturing and new vitality expertise.
Hong Kong’s I&T energy begins with expertise. We are residence to 5 universities ranked among the many world’s prime 100, together with two medical colleges in the worldwide prime 40, and three universities ranked among the many world’s prime 30 in information science and AI. This educational energy gives a strong R&D (analysis and growth) basis to remodel analysis breakthroughs into real-world purposes.
Our flagship R&D initiative, InnoHK, exemplifies this ambition. It has constructed collaboration with greater than 30 world-renowned universities and analysis institutes from 12 economies, introduced over 3 000 worldwide researchers, and arrange a complete of 38 laboratories. We are proud that two main Australian establishments – the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland – are in collaboration with one in all our InnoHK R&D centres named the Microbiota I-Center, which focuses on advancing microbiome science for personalised healthcare. We stay up for extra collaboration with Australia to conduct world-class and impactful collaborative analysis.
The HKSAR Government can also be dedicated to selling I&T growth by means of strategic investments. Three HK$10 billion initiatives are launched to drive analysis translation and tech business development. The Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme, launched in 2023, accelerates the commercialisation of excellent college analysis and has already supported 73 initiatives. The New Industrialisation Acceleration Scheme, launched in 2024, helps strategic industries in establishing sensible manufacturing amenities in Hong Kong. This yr, we are going to launch the Innovation and Technology Industry-Oriented Fund to additional channel market capital into rising and future industries of strategic significance.
We are additionally investing HK$3 billion, round AUD550 million, in the Frontier Technology Research Support Scheme, enabling native universities to recruit worldwide top-notch researchers or scientists in frontier fields. To assist start-ups, we launched the Pilot I&T Accelerator Scheme earlier this yr to draw skilled I&T accelerators from world wide to arrange bases in Hong Kong. Together, these initiatives present sturdy and tangible assist throughout all levels of innovation – from expertise attraction and primary analysis to start-up growth and business scaling.
Infrastructure is equally crucial. The Hong Kong Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone is a robust instance. Located at the boundary between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, it allows the seamless circulation of expertise, capital, information and important supplies comparable to organic samples. Since its opening final December, greater than 90 tenants from pillar industries comparable to life and well being expertise, microelectronics, new vitality and AI have already established a presence there, signalling sturdy confidence in Hong Kong as a spot the place enterprise can develop.
Hong Kong’s northern area is quickly rising as a robust engine for future I&T growth. The Hetao Hong Kong Park and the adjoining San Tin Technopole will kind a whole pipeline from analysis to prototyping, pilot manufacturing and full-scale manufacturing. By 2032, the Sandy Ridge Data Facility Cluster will present 180 000 PFLOPS of computing energy – 36 occasions Hong Kong’s present capability – creating a significant cross-boundary information hub that strengthens Hong Kong’s AI growth and high-performance computing. With the pilot traces in the Hong Kong Microelectronics Research and Development Institute coming into operation later this yr, Hong Kong is constructing a complete I&T hall in the North, integrating analysis, computing energy, prototyping, testing and manufacturing right into a unified ecosystem.
This new cluster will stand amongst Asia’s most dynamic I&T ecosystems, connecting Hong Kong’s analysis excellence and institutional benefits with the huge utility eventualities and market alternatives of the Chinese Mainland – particularly the Greater Bay Area, residence to 88 million folks and a GDP exceeding AUD3.1 trillion.
Hong Kong ranks second globally total in the most recent IMD (International Institute for Management Development) World Competitiveness Ranking and fourth in digital competitiveness, reflecting a mature ecosystem the place expertise, capital, and insurance policies align. Our start-up scene has surged to five 200 corporations, a development of 40 per cent since 2021. 1 / 4 of founders are from abroad, which is a transparent signal that worldwide entrepreneurs see Hong Kong as a spot the place they’ll scale quick, plug into international markets, and function with confidence. Coupled with Hong Kong’s bilingual enterprise tradition, easy low-tax system, skilled providers and world-class infrastructure, all of those make Hong Kong a pure match for Australian innovators searching for clear, high-trust environments.
Ladies and gents, Hong Kong and Australia share a protracted historical past of partnership and friendship. As the worldwide financial system undergoes profound transformation pushed by expertise, our two economies are exceptionally effectively positioned to co-create options which might be trusted, scalable and globally aggressive. Whether in life and well being sciences, AI, superior manufacturing, or inexperienced expertise, the alternatives earlier than us are ample and rising.
I warmly invite Australian companies, researchers and innovators to deepen your engagement with Hong Kong – to discover our I&T ecosystem, to companion with our universities and analysis institutes, and to grab the alternatives rising throughout the Greater Bay Area. Hong Kong stands able to act as a “super-connector” and “super value-adder” for companies in search of worldwide development.
May I want the summit a terrific success. Thank you very a lot.
Ends/Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Issued at HKT 12:45
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