行政总裁出席2025MRC研讨会致辞 (英文) (2025年5月30日)
Professor Sham, Professor Chiu, Professor Au, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my great pleasure to join you today at the MRC Symposium 2025, which not only showcases the forefront of medical robotics research and innovation, but also brings together great minds in these fields from around the world for discussion and collaboration.
I would like to start by thanking the Multi-Scale Medical Robotics Centre (“MRC”). Since its establishment in 2020 by the Chinese University of Hong Kong in collaboration with various world renowned universities, the MRC has always served as a great platform to foster the development of innovative biomedical engineering research and driven its effective translation into practical medical applications, bridging cutting-edge technology and clinical practice.
The HKIC's Background
The HKIC looks forward to further joining hands with the MRC, playing our part in accelerating “from zero to one” in the medical robotics industry, and contributing to what we always call “from one to infinity” particularly in business and corporate development of the relevant companies. In fact, we have been doing this for our investee companies and partners, because we want to facilitate them to grow with speed and scale to maximise value and bring good to the society.
Let me elaborate what the HKIC is about. Wholly owned by and as the Patient Capital institution representing the HKSAR Government, we carry a dual mandate - seeking reasonable financial return over the medium to long term, and enhancing the long-term competitiveness and economic vitality of Hong Kong. With this in mind, when selecting our investment themes, we align with Hong Kong’s unique strengths and development needs. Currently, we have invested in over 100 projects across 3 key themes, namely Hard & Core Technology, Biotech, and New Energy/Green Technology. As you could see from these themes, innovation and technology (“I&T”) is always our focus, and areas such as artificial intelligence and robotics are important to drive growth in our portfolio.
The HKIC as an Investor and Collaborator
We are an investor and also a collaborator. We bring with us not only capital but also passion, ability and experience to connect our investee companies and partners to different resources that they may require in different stages of their growth. For example, we link them up with long-term capital sources which co-invest with the HKIC; and we connect them with other players which could be good partners for them in the form of clients and providers of goods and services necessary in their production and development journey. These investors, clients and providers of goods and services could be from Hong Kong, or beyond Hong Kong from Mainland and overseas.
We always believe in our investee companies and partners. I will give you two examples in terms of curating capital for them. One is what we called a programmatic approach, and the other is about a bespoke approach tailor-made to suit individual cases. Which approach to take always depends on how to best meet the need and preference of all parties involved.
For the programmatic approach, leveraging our reputation and influence in the long-term investors circle, or what we always call the Patient Capital community, we have been proactively working with other capital sources from around the world. Patient Capital institutions may be from a very diverse spectrum of background, including but not limited to sovereign wealth funds, pensions funds, family offices, and university endowments. Generally, common attributes of Patient Capital institutions include the flexibility to invest with a longer time horizon, and mission to bring not only financial return but other benefits to the local economies and societies. Such characteristics are important when we talk about I&T investment and development, because innovative and disruptive technologies often require an extended development cycle from research to application then commercialisation.
Last week, the HKIC hosted the inaugural “International Forum for Patient Capital” (“IPC”), the first of its kind around the world. The IPC brought together Patient Capital institutions from 15 geographies including the US, Europe, Australia, Japan and Global South such as Southeast Asia and Middle East. Together, these jurisdictions take up over 50% of the world’s GDP. In fact, the attending institutions recorded an aggregate AUM of over US$20 trillion. These are capital sources which have investment mandate transcending cycles and generations. They are very eager to find the best trends and opportunities to invest, and guide the positive outcomes to benefit local economies and societies.
Against the backdrop of such keen interest, we set up bilateral and multilateral partnerships and programmes under which other investors could simply follow the HKIC’s footstep to access and invest in interesting I&T companies. For example, we announced the “Patient Capital Strategic Fund”, “Co-investment Partnership Programme” and “International Strategic Expansion Platform” to facilitate our overseas peers to deploy capital into opportunities originated from or developing in this part of the world, which include those in the medical science and robotics sectors. The response from these investors has been very positive.
In addition to the aforesaid programmatic approach, we also proactively match capital and other resources to individual companies and partners in the HKIC ecosystem. For example, we have already invested in Cornerstone Robotics, Professor Au’s company, and are closely working with him to promote his company and initiatives on the international stage for the attention of more long-term investors and clients.
Hong Kong’s Differentiating Strengths
The HKIC has benefited from the differentiating strengths of Hong Kong to do all the above. Practising “One Country Two Systems” and being an integral part of the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong is reputable for our role as “super connector” and “super value-adder”. With our attributes as an international talent hub, international I&T hub, and international financial centre, we could efficiently connect 3 important elements to capture future growth, namely talents, I&T opportunities and finance. Hong Kong is a well-established epicentre for all these elements, which is increasingly evidenced by the strong velocity of international talents, companies and capital flow into Hong Kong, or via Hong Kong to Mainland China. All these translate into a pipeline of high quality I&T companies across financing stages, that are accessible and investable by international investors via the well-established capital market of Hong Kong.
Secretary Sun has earlier talked about the I&T side so let me focus more on the finance side. According to the latest Global Financial Centres Index released this year, Hong Kong retained its ranking as the world’s third-largest financial centre. Remarkably, we secured the top global spots in “investment management”, “insurance” and “finance”.
On the public market side, Hong Kong has emerged as the largest IPO hub for biotech companies in the Asia-Pacific region, ranking second globally. Initiatives such as Chapter 18A and the Technology Enterprises Channel of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange have further enhanced access to financing for high-potential companies, providing them with tailored pathways to raise capital and accelerate growth. On the private market side, Hong Kong is home to a vibrant ecosystem comprising venture capital and private equity investors. Numerous international investment institutions have also chosen to establish their global or Asia-Pacific headquarters here.
Most importantly, despite all the global and market uncertainties, we are always an open and welcoming hub where global capital and business can operate and prosper, and the best talents from around the world, like all attending the event today, would feel safe and comfortable to live and work. We will continue to be in that way.
Closing
In closing, we believe that the convergence of cutting-edge research, a world-class financial system, and robust government support uniquely positions Hong Kong to play our part in the development and commercialisation of medical robotics technology. The HKIC looks forward to investing more and contributing more to this journey. By investing with a forward-looking vision, we foster partnerships for long-term, mutual benefits, and support Hong Kong’s emergence as a global hub for medical robotics innovation. We will continue our proactive collaboration with all stakeholders to unlock the full potential of medical robotics, delivering better health outcomes for patients worldwide.
Thank you once again for having me today. Wishing the event a great success.