Speech by CE at Hong Kong Academy of Sciences 10th Anniversary Celebration Banquet (English only)(with photos/video)

     Following is the speech by the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, at the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences 10th Anniversary Celebration Banquet right now (January 22):

 

Professor Dennis Lo (President of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences), members of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences and the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences, distinguished company, women and gents, 

 

     Good night. It is an honour to affix you tonight, in celebration of the landmark 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences.

 

     Over the previous decade, the Academy has performed a pivotal position in bringing collectively main scientists, domestically and internationally. No much less vital, it has nurtured promising younger science and know-how expertise, inspiring scientific and technological excellence in Hong Kong. The Academy has additionally been the Government’s shut accomplice in growing Hong Kong’s innovation and know-how (I&T) sector.

 

     I&T is shaping the long run of our technology and our world. And the Government is dedicated to making sure Hong Kong’s rise as a global I&T centre.

 

     I’m glad to let you know that we’re making notable progress. To quote a number of figures, our gross expenditure on analysis and improvement in 2024 was greater than double that of 2014, ten years in the past, rising from 16 billion Hong Kong Dollars in 2014 to about 36 billion Hong Kong Dollars in 2024. The quantity of workers within the I&T sector has additionally surged 70 per cent, from 35 000 to about 59 000, over the identical interval.

 

     During that point, we witnessed the beginning of 20 unicorn corporations in Hong Kong. At final rely, we’re house to a thriving group of some 4 700 start-ups. And I’ve confidence that these figures will likely be on the rise, as we proceed to draw high quality I&T expertise, corporations and start-ups to Hong Kong.

 

     And we’re actually not slowing down. Among many different initiatives, we launched the three billion Hong Kong Dollars Frontier Technology Research Support Scheme final September. The funding will assist our universities appeal to main scientists and researchers to Hong Kong.

 

     Last yr, for the primary time, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster ranked first, primary, among the many world’s prime 100 innovation clusters, within the annual Global Innovation Index.

 

     Also final yr, Hong Kong ranked fourth, globally, within the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking revealed by the International Institute for Management Development. That’s up three locations from the earlier yr. In the areas of “technological framework” and “adaptive attitudes”, we got here first globally.

 

     More than topping worldwide rankings, our improvement into a global I&T centre tops the HKSAR Government’s coverage agenda. In this, we benefit from the agency assist of the National 14th Five-Year Plan, in addition to the Recommendations for Formulating the fifteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development.   

 

     We are, let me add, expediting improvement throughout the whole I&T spectrum, which embrace:

 

• consolidating our upstream strengths in primary analysis;
• selling the midstream transformation and commercialisation of analysis outcomes; and
• encouraging downstream trade improvement. 

 

     This wide-ranging, far-reaching strategy is opening up recent alternatives, significantly below our new South-North twin engine, which pairs finance within the south and I&T within the north. Hong Kong Park within the Loop and San Tin Technopole, each positioned in our fast-growing Northern Metropolis, are the technique’s central pillars.

      

     Together, they’ll drive rising know-how industries in Hong Kong, and function a crucial centre for growing new high quality productive forces.

      

     Hong Kong Park within the Loop formally opened final month. That marked a milestone within the improvement of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, an space that straddles our boundary with Shenzhen.

      

     The 210 hectares of new I&T land within the San Tin space is a pure extension of the Loop. And our publication, final November, of the conceptual define of San Tin Technopole’s improvement plan for the I&T trade, units a transparent technique for San Tin Technopole.

      

     The San Tin space’s I&T websites are anticipated to combine with the trade provide chains of cities within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. And the land will accommodate the various scales and know-how fields of their corporations.

      

     We count on it should additionally take up the transformation and industrialisation of Hong Kong Park’s analysis outcomes. That will definitely drive financial progress, creating high-quality employment alternatives and industrial upgrading.

      

     Together, the brand new I&T land surrounding San Tin and Hong Kong Park will type an important node for the built-in emergence of upstream, midstream and downstream I&T industries. They will assist propel Hong Kong’s improvement as an I&T powerhouse, radiating with affect that transcends boundaries.

      

     And that, women and gents, is just the start. Thanks to the unwavering assist of our nation, the Northern Metropolis’ fast-track improvement, and the persevering with contributions of key companions such because the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences, I’m assured that Hong Kong’s science and I&T sectors will likely be at the guts of our metropolis’s flourishing future.

      

     My thanks, as soon as once more, to the Academy of Sciences for its dedication, perseverance and numerous contributions over its first eventful decade. I sit up for the Academy’s subsequent 10 years of scientific promise and nice progress.

      

     Ladies and gents, I want you all a really memorable night and a cheerful, wholesome and affluent new yr. Thank you.

Ends/Thursday, January 22, 2026

Issued at HKT 19:50

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