Speech by SITI at forum organised by Healthtech Finland and Finland Chamber of Commerce in Helsinki, Finland
Following is the speech by the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, at a forum organised by the Healthtech Finland and the Finland Chamber of Commerce in Helsinki, Finland on May 13 (Helsinki time):
Marko (Minister Counsellor, Trade and Business Promotion, Embassy of Finland, Beijing, Mr Marko Tiesmäki), Timo (Consul-General of Finland to Hong Kong, Mr Timo Kantola), Saara (CEO of Healthtech Finland, Ms Saara Hassinen), ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon. It is a great pleasure to meet you here in Helsinki and engage with the HealthTech Finland.
Finland has long been recognised for its excellence in digital health, medical engineering, and human-centric innovation. These strengths make Finland an ideal partner for Hong Kong as we are accelerating the development of our innovation and technology (I&T) ecosystem, particularly in life and health technology, which has been identified as a strategic priority under the Hong Kong I&T Development Blueprint. Today, I would like to share how Hong Kong is advancing this sector, and why this opens meaningful opportunities for collaboration between our two economies.
Hong Kong's progress in life and health technology begins with our strong foundation in research excellence and clinical capability. Our city is now home to five universities ranked among the global top 100, including two of the world's top 40 medical schools. This academic strength is complemented by a healthcare system internationally recognised for its quality, safety, and efficiency. Our clinical research environment is trusted for its rigour and adherence to international standards — an essential asset for translating scientific discoveries into real-world medical applications.
Building on this foundation, Hong Kong has established a flagship R&D (research and development) platform called the InnoHK Research Clusters. InnoHK brings together more than 30 world-renowned universities and research institutes from 12 economies to conduct cutting-edge research in Hong Kong, pooling together more than 3 000 research talents from all over the world. A total of 38 research centres have been established recently, with 16 dedicated to health technologies. Their research spans precision medicine, AI-assisted diagnostics, regenerative medicine, neurodegenerative disease research, infectious disease modelling, biomedical robotics, and advanced therapeutics. These laboratories have already produced high-impact scientific publications and developed start-ups or created commercial spin-offs. This demonstrates Hong Kong's ability not only to conduct world-class research, but also to convert it into solutions that benefit patients and society.
To ensure that innovation can move efficiently from lab to market, Hong Kong is rapidly expanding its I&T infrastructure. The Hong Kong Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone (Hong Kong Park) is a major cross-border innovation hub located at the boundary between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. It enables the seamless cross-boundary flow of talent, capital, data and critical materials like biological samples. This unique advantage has attracted more than 80 I&T enterprises so far to establish a presence there since the Park's official opening in December last year.
To further accelerate the development, the Hong Kong SAR Government is establishing the Life and Health Technology Research Institute. Using a "One plus Three" model, the Institute's headquarters focused on "AI+ life sciences/ medicine" will be set up at the Hong Kong Park, while three branches led by local universities will each specialise in their own strengths, such as medical diagnosis, advance treatments, elderly neurodegenerative diseases. This cluster will create one of the most important health-tech ecosystems in Asia by linking up Hong Kong's research strengths and the plenty of application scenarios and market of the Chinese Mainland, in particular the Greater Bay Area which has a population of 87 million and a GDP of RMB 15 trillion, that is approximately 1.87 trillion euros.
As a natural extension of the Hong Kong Park, we are building the San Tin Technopole to provide the industrial capacity needed for biomedical engineering, medical-device manufacturing, and AI-driven health solutions. This will serve as a comprehensive platform that supports the entire innovation journey — from basic research to commercialisation, to large-scale production, and ultimately to market and customers.
The Hong Kong SAR Government is making unprecedented investments in life and health technology. To attract international top-notch talent, we launched a HK$3 billion (EUR326 million) Frontier Technology Research Support Scheme to accelerate breakthrough research. Matching funds are provided to universities to attract leading overseas talents to Hong Kong. A new HK$10 billion (EUR 1.1 billion) I&T Industry-Oriented Fund will channel market capital into strategic industries, including life and health technology. These initiatives complement two other HK$10 billion schemes — one is the Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme to commercialise university research outcomes, another is the New Industrialisation Acceleration Scheme to support new industrialisation and smart manufacturing in strategic sectors. Together, they demonstrate Hong Kong's long term commitment to building a globally competitive health-tech ecosystem.
With strong research capabilities, robust clinical excellence, significant government investment, unparalleled access to the Greater Bay Area and a highly reliable environment in data governance, clinical standards and the integrity of research, we are building Hong Kong as one of Asia's most dynamic healthtech ecosystems. By combining Finnish innovation with Hong Kong's strengths, together we can develop next-generation medical technologies, accelerate clinical trials, and bring impactful solutions to patients around the world. We deeply value the expertise and creativity of Finnish and Nordic enterprises and talents, and we warmly welcome you to explore Hong Kong as your trusted base for research, commercialisation, and expansion into the Asian market. I look forward to the collaborations that will grow from today's dialogue. Thank you.
The Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, attended a forum organised by Healthtech Finland and Finland Chamber of Commerce in Helsinki, Finland on May 13 (Helsinki time). Photo shows Professor Sun speaking at the forum. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
