HK’s innovation and technology strengths promoted in Germany (with photos)

     Hong Kong's advances in innovation and technology (I&T) have been in the spotlight in Germany over the past week thanks to the efforts of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Berlin (HKETO Berlin) and other organisations. 

     On August 29, the Director of HKETO Berlin, Mr Bill Li, visited Aachen in Germany and met with the Head of the Department of Operative Technology Management at the renowned Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology (IPT), Mr Toni Drescher. Mr Drescher is also the Chief Executive Officer of KEX Knowledge Exchange AG (KEX), a spinoff from the Fraunhofer IPT, and Director of the INC Invention Center on the Aachen Campus of RWTH, one of the top 100 universities in the new Times Higher Education World University Rankings. The INC Invention Center housed in the KEX office is a place where companies can find a network of I&T experts, information managers and business model specialists who help turn ideas into innovations. KEX is teaming up with the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) to replicate the INC Invention Center in Hong Kong to support Hong Kong enterprises in smart products and services invention, time-to-market development and prototyping by leveraging the intensive expertise and diverse technology networks of KEX and the HKPC.

     Hong Kong was also present at this year's IFA, a trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances, held in Berlin from August 31 to today (September 5). The Hong Kong Pavilion hosted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), a public corporation set up by the Hong Kong Government to foster the development of I&T in Hong Kong, showcased what the city has to offer as a hub for I&T development. 

     The HKSTP delegation led by the Corporation's Head of Electronics & ICT Clusters, Smart City Platform, Mr Peter Yeung, further strengthened multilateral ties with scientists, entrepreneurs and experts when visiting Berlin's noted European Energy Forum Campus (EUREF Campus), which hosts around 100 companies from the focus sectors of energy, sustainability and mobility. HKSTP delegates exchanged ideas with their EUREF Campus counterparts on digitisation, smart mobility, smart living and smart government.

     During the past week's promotional efforts, German enterprises and researchers were briefed on how Hong Kong is preparing for the future. Asia's world city is not only widely acknowledged as the world's freest economy and China's international financial centre but is also advancing in I&T. Local and international talents, world-class research facilities and robust intellectual property protection underpin Hong Kong's growing success in I&T.

     Among the renowned overseas institutions that have set up operations in  Hong Kong is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which launched its Innovation Node, a collaborative space that aims to connect the MIT community with unique resources, in the city in 2015. The Swedish Karolinska Institutet also reached out to Hong Kong: its Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine functions as a technology hub exploring novel technologies, including genome editing, reprogramming, single cell transcriptomics, biomedical engineering, and 3D tissue imaging technologies.

     The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area comprises the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao and the nine municipalities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing in Guangdong Province. The essence of the Bay Area development is to leverage the comparative advantages of every Bay Area city to the largest extent; deepen co-operation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao; facilitate in-depth and organic regional integration; and drive co-ordinated regional economic development. Hong Kong's connectivity within the Bay Area will be further enhanced by the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, which will commence operation on September 23, and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge expected to complete by the end of 2018. 

     The steadily improving connectivity in the region is emphasised by the fact that Hong Kong will host FinTech Week from October 29 to November 2 with the financial technology event taking place in both Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The event is one of the largest conferences on the international calendar, and is expected to attract more than 8 000 senior executives and feature over 200 of the world's top financial technology founders, investors, regulators and academics who are shaping the future of financial services by driving a technological revolution across Asia and globally. Hong Kong's hosting of this signature event is further proof of the city's emerging status as Asia's hub for I&T.

     For more information about FinTech Week, please visit www.fintechweek.hk, and for more facts about the Bay Area, please see www.bayarea.gov.hk.

About HKETO Berlin

     HKETO Berlin is the official Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government representative in commercial relations and other economic and trade matters in Germany as well as Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Switzerland.