A year after Xi’s inspection tour Xi’s inno-tech instruction builds HK-mainland synergy

Researchers welcome national recognition of city’s status as science and technology center

Collaboration between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland in science and technology will form a strong synergy, commentators believe, and ultimately strengthen the nation’s overall development in the field.

Commentators in the city have welcomed President Xi Jinping’s instruction made in May for enhanced science and technology collaboration between the mainland and Hong Kong, and support for the city becoming an international innovative technology center.

Nancy Ip Yuk-yu, vice-president for research and graduate studies at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said she was moved and encouraged by Xi’s instruction.

Ip said the president’s instruction showed the nation attached great importance to Hong Kong’s scientific research. This could create favorable conditions for the city’s development in related fields and facilitate more collaboration between scientists in Hong Kong and the mainland.

Ip, who’s also a Hong Kong academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believed Xi’s speech conferred national recognition on the special administrative region’s scientific research capacity. This could encourage Hong Kong scientists to be better integrated into national inno-tech development.

Agreeing with Ip was Joseph Sung Jao-yiu, a leading biomedical scientist in the city. He said greater cooperation in science and technology between Hong Kong and the mainland will maximize strengths of both sides.

Hong Kong has a number of advantages in terms of scientific research and development across a range of disciplines but the city’s researchers often struggle to access funding and other forms of financial support to sustain projects.

Before Xi’s instruction, Hong Kong researchers could secure national funding and support, as long as the project included experts both from the SAR and mainland.

And they could only use relevant funds within the mainland. But, policies announced following Xi’s instruction made a ground-breaking change by allowing them to submit funding proposals on their own and use the funding in Hong Kong.

Sung and his team were among the first beneficiaries, being granted 990,000 yuan ($149,511) at the end of last year for research into digestive cancers.

He believes cross-boundary collaboration will let both sides maximize their strengths and complement their respective abilities. “Research findings, scientific papers, scientific theories and even products coming from joint projects are more likely to find their way into the world,” he said.

The secured national funding will also help draw more talents to conduct long-term scientific research projects in Hong Kong, said Chung Kwok-fai, director of the Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Steel Construction (Hong Kong Branch).

The arrangement provides new access to funds and the chance to move forward with research, rather than just waiting, Chung said.

“After the change, they (the talents) will know that it is a nationfunded project with continuity, so that they will be more willing to join and stay on the project for five to 10 years,” Chung said.

“Talents are always the most important element in scientific research,” Chung stressed.