About 60 enterprises forge partnership with new innovation park
About 60 enterprises have forged a partnership with the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology (I&T) Park, with 24 of them setting up shop or expanding their operations to bring in billions of dollars and thousands of jobs as the city works towards global tech hub status.
Among the groups to sign a partnership deal with the Lok Ma Chau Loop park yesterday were well-known firms and institutes from nine major economies – the mainland, the US, UK, Australia, France, Singapore, Thailand, Japan and Hong Kong.
The firms included Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, China Mobile, China Unicom, Lenovo Group, Hutchmed (Hong Kong) and Tencent Cloud International. Among the others were US firms Drug Farm and ASC Therapeutics, AstraZeneca from the UK and Novotech (Australia) Pty Ltd. The Alibaba Group is the owner of the Post.
The enterprises, 45 per cent of which are from the life and health technology, new energy and microelectronics sectors, are expected to invest billions of dollars in the park and create thousands of jobs.
“These enterprises and enterprising partners will help to attract talent and investment, cultivate industry collaboration, facilitate market access, and provide many other services essential to an undertaking as ambitious, and far-reaching as this one,” Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said.
The park, in a strategic spot near the border, will form part of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone. The park is in the San Tin Technopole, which is planned to become the city’s premier I&T centre.
Lee said the 300-hectare site would support Hong Kong’s rise as an international I&T hub.
It will be developed in two phases, from west to east. The first three buildings under phase one are scheduled for completion from the end of 2024.
“Our prowess not only cultivates a versatile workforce, but also attracts talent from around the world,” Lee said. “That, in turn, brings a rising tide of strategic companies, entrepreneurs and start-ups turning to Hong Kong for their future.”
Sun Dong, the innovation, technology and industry secretary, said about a quarter of the companies were from overseas.
“This diverse portfolio highlights Hong Kong’s unique advantage as an international city,” he said. “Today’s partnership casts a big vote of confidence in the development of the park as well as Hong Kong’s I&T development.
“The park will become our most strategic and important I&T platform that transcends beyond our boundary with the mainland.
“Today’s ceremony is one of our key milestones and I can say it is just a beginning. More and more good news is coming.”
Park CEO Vincent Ma said some partners would become its tenants in the two wet laboratory buildings – where physical tests are carried out – and set up advanced research and development centres. Others would support the development of the firms and the park’s I&T centre, he added.
Zhi Zhe, executive vice-dean of China Resources Research Institute of Science and Technology which is among the enterprise partners, said his firm planned to set up a biotech testing centre with a 30,000 sq ft lab and 200 workers, and aspired to develop medical breakthroughs.
“We chose to set up in the Lok Ma Chau Loop because Hong Kong provides very good resources for conducting R&D on life and science technology … The government has also provided policy support for us,” he said
Biopharmaceutical company Hutchmed, which focuses on cancer drugs and targeted therapies, planned to set up an R&D centre in the park, executive director and chairman Simon To said.
“It’s like being in China [with great access to patients’ data], but enjoying the benefits of Hong Kong … We are an international finance centre with freedom of capital movement and the low tax rate,” he said.