Some suggestions for Hong Kong innovation and technology (Part 2) (Dr. Yip Shing Fai)

[ad_1]

Contents

3. High-quality development and new productivity 4. Driving the Northern Metropolitan Area to Become an International Innovation and Technology Hub More articles by Dr. Ye Chenghui:Support EJ Tech

go through Yijie Technology August 9, 2024

AuthorYe ChenghuiHe is the CEO of the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute and writes a column for EJ Tech.

In the last issue, we discussed that autonomous driving and low-altitude economy are two future development priorities for Hong Kong’s innovation and technology. This time, we will talk about two other development areas. We hope that this will help the Hong Kong SAR government plan for the future, drive smart innovation with digital policies, and consolidate Hong Kong’s position as an international innovation and technology center.

3. High-quality development and new productivity

Artificial intelligence is the core element for developing new productivity and realizing new industrialization, and computing power, data, and algorithms are indispensable for AI to empower the development of new productivity. Therefore, we recommend:

Artificial intelligence is a core element in developing new productivity and realizing new industrialization. (Reuters file photo)

The government must plan ahead and build more supercomputing centers as early as possible, including reserving land in the San Tin Science City, Lau Fau Shan New Development Area, and the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Loop District, and drawing up a timetable for the construction and expansion of the “artificial intelligence supercomputing cluster” in phases to attract more artificial intelligence-related industries from home and abroad to settle in Hong Kong and build a “computing power industry ecosystem.”

Building and operating an AI supercomputing center requires huge investments, so it is understandable that the government takes the lead in planning it in the initial stage. However, it is recommended that in the next stage of development, the introduction of the “Public-Private Partnership” (PPP) model be explored to encourage more private funds to invest in or fund specific research areas, build exclusive supercomputing centers, promote the virtuous interaction of “government, industry, academia, research and investment”, and accelerate the development of the computing power industry chain ecosystem.
After the establishment of the “Digital Policy Office”, which was formed by the merger of the original “Office of the Government Chief Information Officer” and the “Efficiency Office”, it is recommended to integrate the government’s internal data resources as soon as possible, strengthen the data open sharing platform, and promote the efficient use of data resources. The government can also establish a number of high-quality “public training databases” for specific scenarios, open to local universities, research and development institutions and scientific research enterprises, lower the threshold for training artificial intelligence models, and promote the industry to widely use data to develop new quality productivity.

4. Driving the Northern Metropolitan Area to Become an International Innovation and Technology Hub

The “2024-25 Budget” announced that HK$2 billion would be allocated to support the “InnoHK Innovation Hong Kong R&D Platform” to move into the Hetao Loop, suggesting that this opportunity could be used to integrate InnoHK resources to help the development of an international innovation and technology new city.

I hope that when planning the development of the “Northern Metropolitan Area”, the government will reserve land for universities, R&D centers, and enterprises in the upstream, midstream, and downstream industrial chains to enhance synergy. At the same time, we will consider setting up a “Northern Metropolitan Innovation and R&D Platform” to focus on strategic technology industries (life science and health technology, artificial intelligence and data science, financial technology, advanced manufacturing and new energy technology), establish a public R&D platform for universities, R&D centers, enterprises, and government departments to use together, and promote all parties to participate in the development process from “zero to one and then to N”.

Ye Chenghui hopes that the government will reserve land for universities, research and development centers, enterprises and other upstream, midstream and downstream industrial chains when planning the development of the northern metropolis to enhance synergy. (Photo of the Northern Metropolitan Area Development Strategy)

In fact, Hong Kong’s R&D centers have been committed to promoting technology transfer for many years. For example, ASTRI has transferred more than 1,500 technologies to the industry since its establishment, and has rich experience in technology transformation. The platform can encourage R&D centers to work closely with universities and the industry to promote cross-innovation in different fields.
In addition, it is recommended that the platform set up a dedicated office to integrate the scientific research resources of various university research teams and R&D centers, match innovation and technology cooperation for domestic and foreign companies that intend to settle in Hong Kong, and promote the industrialization of R&D results. The office can also set up a “Northern Metropolitan Area Scientific Research Cooperation Special Fund” to provide funding for scientific research cooperation projects of enterprises in the area, attract enterprises to settle in the northern metropolis, and cooperate with local universities and R&D centers to accelerate the overall development of the industry.