Hong Kong urged to ramp up research and innovation to boost tech hub goals Hong Kong’s state key laboratories must ramp up research and innovation to help develop the city into a tech hub through its international connections while aligning with the national strategy to boost China’s power on the global stage, top local and Beijing officials have said. China’s tech minister attended a ceremony in Hong Kong on Monday to present plaques to the directors of the facilities, as he urged the city to support national development through innovation. “I hope the state key laboratories in Hong Kong will further bolster their mission positioning [and] focus on scientific challenges arising from national demands … to seize the commanding heights in the global scientific and technological competition,” said Yin Hejun, the Chinese minister of science and technology. Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong also said the laboratories could help Hong Kong achieve national goals. He added that the city had initiated the establishment of the facilities in 2023 following Beijing’s optimisation and restructuring exercise in 2022. The laboratories – three of which are newly established – were earlier approved by the central government’s Ministry of Science and Technology and began operating in July, according to the city’s innovation and technology minister. The twelve others are bolstered versions of pre-existing laboratories. At the ceremony for the 15 sites, Zhou Ji, director of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong, said the central government had strong support for the city’s technological development and its efforts to attract global talent. Yin noted that the designation of the sites as state key laboratories signalled a high degree of recognition and full trust from Beijing in Hong Kong’s scientific research capabilities, innovation and development potential. “It also represents the earnest expectations and challenging mission that the central government has placed on Hong Kong’s scientific community,” he said. “With less than a decade to go until the goal of becoming a powerful science and technology nation by 2035, I hope Hong Kong’s scientific community will work with a free hand, innovate and continue to produce significant breakthroughs.” Hong Kong’s Innovation and Technology Commission will provide each facility with an annual grant of up to HK$20 million (US$2.6 million), while host universities must allocate at least HK$4 million in matching funds every year. The facilities’ research focuses included biotech, biomedicine and agrobiotechnology, he said. “More importantly, we hope all of them can fully leverage the advantage of the internationalisation of Hong Kong, strengthen global research collaboration, and nurture and attract international talent, making contributions to develop a strong nation in science and technology,” Sun said. The newly established laboratories will also cover research areas such as optical quantum materials, led by the University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) vice-chancellor Xiang Zhang, quantum information technologies and materials by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and climate resilience for coastal cities co-led by Polytechnic University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Zhou said Hong Kong’s universities and state key laboratories played a crucial role as a “superconnector” between mainland China and the rest of the world, and expressed his “three hopes” for them. “First, strengthen basic research by leveraging Hong Kong’s advantages in free exploration and rigorous academic inquiry to achieve more ‘from zero to one’ breakthroughs,” he said. “Second, use scientific innovation to drive industrial upgrading by promoting the transformation of research findings into actual productivity. “Third, gather top international talent and deepen the integrated development of education, technology and talent.” The laboratories were transformed to focus more on achieving national strategic goals and excelling in areas targeted by the West, instead of being purely frontier science-driven facilities. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the government would continue to support the city’s innovation and technology development. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3323043/hong-kong-should-strengthen-research-drive-industrial-upgrading-zhou-ji (ICE HONG KONG)

Fonte notizia: South China Morning Post