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The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mrs Rita Lau, today (June 5, San Francisco time) encouraged scientists and IT companies in San Francisco to come to Hong Kong for collaboration in research work and business partnerships.
Mrs Lau continued her programmes in San Francisco by visiting the Mission Bay Campus of the University of California, San Francisco this morning. Opened in 2003 with a 57.5-acre campus and still being expanded, it is the largest biomedical university expansion in the US providing an environment for interdisciplinary collaboration among basic scientists, clinical researchers and physicians to make new biomedical discoveries.
Mrs Lau heard with interest how the campus could be developed as a world-class biotechnology cluster under a public-private partnership project. She toured the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) on the campus and received a briefing by the institute﷿s director, Dr Regis Kelly, on how he forged co-operative ventures between university campuses and private industry. She said QB3 was a useful reference for Hong Kong in reinforcing the biotechnology cluster in the Hong Kong Science Park and hoped that more R&D collaborative opportunities could be explored with the institute.
Later in the day, Mrs Lau officiated at the 䩕Hong Kong ﷿ Smart City, Smart Life蒅 reception organised by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (San Francisco) to promote Hong Kong﷿s participation in the Expo 2010 in Shanghai to showcase how technology and innovation have enriched life in Hong Kong.
Speaking at the reception, Mrs Lau cited the Octopus card system to illustrate Hong Kong﷿s achievements in turning technology into a commercial success. With a penetration rate of almost three times Hong Kong﷿s 7 million population, the Octopus has been recognised as the world﷿s most successful smart card payment system.
Noting that the IT software and services market in Mainland China was one of the world﷿s fastest growing, she said that small and medium-sized IT firms around the world wishing to serve this market could team up with Hong Kong companies.
䩕There is no better place to find a partner to help address the huge Mainland market. I invite you to explore the opportunities to partner with our innovative and capable IT companies,蒅 Mrs Lau concluded.
During the day, Mrs Lau also called on the Acting Chinese Consul General in San Francisco, Mr Lu Wen Xiang, to update him on Hong Kong﷿s economic situation and to exchange views on the business opportunities presented by Hong Kong and the Mainland﷿s innovation and technology industries.
She will be back in Hong Kong on the morning of June 7.
Ends/Saturday, June 6, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:52
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