Developing Hong Kong as an I&T Hub at EMBA Frontier Forum

An EMBA Frontier Forum was held by the College of Business at City University of Hong Kong on 9 December, with guest of honour Professor Sun Dong, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, making the keynote speech.

Dean Kalok Chan kicked off the event, saying, "In this dynamic and changing era, innovation is the primary driving force for development and shaping the future. The innovation of science and technology has not only brought us unprecedented opportunities but also brought great challenges."

"We are in a period of rapid development in artificial intelligence, and only through continuous innovation can we achieve sustainable development."

Professor Chan also mentioned Hong Kong's role as an international I&T hub, its ability to promote local and regional economic development, and how CityU College of Business can make a difference.

Professor Sun presented the Hong Kong Government's blueprint for developing Hong Kong as a technology and innovation hub. "The idea of building Hong Kong as a regional technology and innovation centre has been on the Government's agenda over the past two decades, having a solid infrastructure well laid down. It has now been elevated to a new height at the national level, as part of the 145 Economic and Social Development Plan of the Central Government," he said.

Emphasising the strategic priority of developing Hong Kong as a technology and innovation hub, he went on to elucidate the eight implementation strategies underpinned by four key development directions, namely enhancing the technology and innovation ecosystem, strengthening talent pools, fostering digital economic development, and leveraging national strategy with Hong Kong connecting between the mainland and the other part of the world.

"Hong Kong has been doing well in upstream development of technology and innovation with strong research support from local universities. Looking forward, universities need to strengthen their knowledge transfer effort and consider how to commercialise their research outputs."

The Forum closed with Professor Michael M Yang, Senior Vice-President (Innovation and Enterprise) of CityU facilitating a lively Q&A session. Participants exchanged ideas with Professor Sun on various issues, such as I&T financing, ecosystem certificates, crossborder data and IP transfer.