InnoHK Launch Ceremony concludes with great success

The InnoHK Launch Ceremony was successfully held today (May 25), marking a new milestone in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government's commitment to promoting Hong Kong's innovation and technology (I&T). As the flagship I&T initiative of the HKSAR Government, InnoHK aims to promote global research collaboration with a view to putting Hong Kong on the global advanced technology map.

Photo shows (from fifth left) the Permanent Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Ms Annie Choi; the Chairman of the InnoHK Steering Committee, Professor Tsui Lap-chee; The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam; the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, Dr Sunny Chai; and other guests unveiling the official logo of InnoHK.

Addressing the Launch Ceremony, the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, showed her strong faith in the long-term development of Hong Kong's I&T industry, given that Hong Kong is endowed with a series of unparalleled advantages. Coupled with the unequivocal support for Hong Kong to develop into an international I&T hub as highlighted in the National 14th Five-Year Plan last year as well as the immense opportunities brought about by the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, there will be a promising path for the development of I&T in Hong Kong. She said that these 28 research laboratories will not only translate their impactful research into applications that bring good for humankind but also attract and nurture more research talents, thereby developing Hong Kong into the hub for global research collaboration.

Subsequently, Mrs Lam, together with other officiating guests, presided over the InnoHK launch and unveiled InnoHK's logo and official website.

The InnoHK Launch Ceremony was attended physically by more than 300 top-notch researchers of the 28 research laboratories and I&T industry leaders, as well as virtually by hundreds of researchers from the research clusters.
 
Promoting research and development is a crucial part of I&T development. To this end, the Government has allocated $10 billion to this flagship I&T initiative. Leveraging on Hong Kong's clear advantages in research capability, two research clusters have been set up at the Hong Kong Science Park, namely Health@InnoHK, focusing on healthcare technologies, and AIR@InnoHK, focusing on artificial intelligence and robotics technologies. InnoHK is committed to bringing together leading researchers from around the world to conduct world-class and impactful collaborative research with local universities and research institutions.
 
Since its inception, the InnoHK initiative spearheaded by the Innovation and Technology Commission has received an overwhelming response from many world-renowned universities and research institutions. After a rigorous selection and assessment process, 28 research laboratories have been admitted, involving seven local universities and research institutions as well as over 30 institutions from 11 economies, and pooling around 2 000 researchers locally and from all over the world. In addition to fostering more collaboration among top local, Mainland and overseas researchers as well as industry, InnoHK provides an excellent platform for training and building up a pool of talents in Hong Kong. InnoHK also enables different parties to share their research outcomes and further collaborate with each other in order to achieve synergy and translate research outcomes into applications. All this will bring substantial benefits to society. Health@InnoHK will help promote the development of global healthcare technologies in response to the emerging challenges in society, such as an ageing population and epidemic outbreaks, whereas AIR@InnoHK will help enhance efficiency in the fields of finance, healthcare, construction, logistics and advanced manufacturing, with a view to building a smart city for the future.