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Following is the speech by the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas W Yang, at the opening ceremony of the 2016 City University Discovery Festival today (February 1):
Professor (Way) Kuo, Professor (Arthur B) Ellis, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon to you all. It is my pleasure to be invited to the opening ceremony of the 2016 City University Discovery Festival. It is always good to be back at the university.
The Discovery-enriched curriculum has become a unique brand for the City University of Hong Kong, with growing importance and influence. All students are given the chance to make an original discovery in their fields of study. This festival is a showcase of the accomplishments from the discoveries of the students.
Professor Ellis asked me to say something about "innovation and discovery" today. I shall try. Simply put, "innovation" means taking a new idea from conception to impact. This usually leads to a better way of doing things. "Discovery" on the other hand means finding something which was unnoticed or unknown before. This usually leads to a new increment of knowledge. Both "discovery" and "innovation" are typically driven by a passion for knowledge and improvement, the courage to step out of one's comfort zone, perseverance, and sometimes a little bit of luck. Young people, like many of you here today, are often good at discovering and innovating. More importantly, you have that passion from your youthful mind-set and thinking. I encourage all of you to make innovation and discovery a lifelong commitment and experience for yourselves.
We have all seen the evolution of the Internet bringing significant changes to many industries and to our way of living. New platforms and business models have replaced traditional ones. We have all witnessed the rise of e-commerce, e-banking and social media. The popularity of social media has changed our behaviour. Many of us today have become dependent on WhatsApp, emails and Facebook. As Professor Kuo said, we became slaves to these new media.
The fast-changing world brings lots of challenges, but at the same time opportunities. We have seen many prominent successes - Apple, Google, Facebook, Alibaba, Tencent - you name it. Each has brought disruptive changes to the world. And they also have one thing in common - they never stop innovating and discovering.
What does all this mean to Hong Kong and the young people?
To prepare ourselves for the challenges from rapid advancement in technology, the Government has been consistently investing and building world class infrastructure conducive to the development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong. However, infrastructure alone is not enough; a vibrant sustainable ecosystem is also needed. Despite the fact that Hong Kong's total R&D expenditure has been growing at an annual average rate of about 7 per cent for the past 15 years, and the fact that the number of R&D personnel in Hong Kong has also increased from around 11 000 to more than 27 000 during the same 15-year period, our total R&D expenditure today is only about 0.73 per cent of our total GDP, which is low for developed countries or regions. More significantly, our private sector's R&D expenditure as a percentage of our total R&D expenditure lags way behind other developed regions. Simply put, most of our private sector businesses do not invest in R&D. We must work together to reverse this imbalance.
It is true that Hong Kong is a relatively late comer or late starter in the development of innovation and technology. Hong Kong's people are known for their agility and resilience. Over the past 50 years, Hong Kong faced many daunting challenges but always managed to overcome them with great flare and colour. My team and I have been pressing on full steam since the establishment of the Innovation and Technology Bureau on November 20. One of our key priorities is to unleash the power of innovation and technology talent in Hong Kong, and inspire the younger generation to pursue a career in innovation and technology, so that we can diversify our economy toward more high-value-added industries and improve our social development at the same time.
Hong Kong is blessed to have an abundant supply of creative and innovative young talent. One-third of our university students enrolled in UGC-funded programmes are in the science, engineering and technology disciplines. Over the past year, I have met with many bright and young local technology entrepreneurs who are passionate about innovation. Some are also making good progress in their businesses. As the "super-connector" between the Mainland and the rest of the world, we are also able to attract top-tier research institutions and companies from all over the world, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Karolinska Institutet of Sweden. With these institutions come other great talents who can help us to become greater drivers of innovation.
Over the years, Science Park and Cyberport's incubation programmes have nurtured many local technology entrepreneurs, providing them with affordable working space with an inspiring, dynamic and user-friendly environment. I am happy to say that an increasingly dynamic start-up community in Hong Kong is emerging - the number of incubation centres, co-working spaces and accelerators in Hong Kong has increased from just a few six years ago to over 40 (and I believe the latest number has just reached 50). And the vast majority of them are run by the private sector. According to an international study last year, the growth of Hong Kong's start-up ecosystem ranked No. 5 globally. There are now about 1 600 start-ups in Hong Kong and most are in innovation or technology areas. These start-ups can turn inspiration and innovation into real life applications for the benefits of our economy and society.
In his 2016 Policy Address, the Chief Executive has pledged to give full support to start-ups at different stages of development. For instance, Cyberport will launch a HK$200 million Cyberport Macro Fund for investment in its ICT start-ups. It will also increase the quota of its incubation scheme, establish new clusters in areas such as financial technology and e-commerce, and significantly increase the provision of Smart-Space small offices and workstations.
In addition, the Government will set aside HK$2 billion to set up an Innovation and Technology Venture Fund for co-investing with private venture capital funds on a matching basis. We hope this will attract what I call "smart money" to create a sustainable venture-funding ecosystem here in Hong Kong, particularly to fill the funding gap between the seed and the Series A rounds. This will also enhance the total deal flow of local innovation start-ups, which in turn will attract more international investors to Hong Kong.
In a recent study, Professor Richard Wong of the University of Hong Kong stated, "Start-ups are an important component of the disruptive innovation process that is redefining the global economic, social and political order. Historically, Hong Kong has always been very successful in capturing business opportunities by integrating and harnessing the talents and resources in the region and around the world, especially in manufacturing, trading and services. We have now arrived at a stage when Hong Kong will perform this role in innovation."
I cannot agree more with Professor Wong. I do believe Hong Kong will transform itself successfully again, this time from a service economy to a knowledge-based economy. For our young talents here today, now is a time full of great opportunities for you to realise your imaginations and creative ideas. I encourage you to discover and to innovate. I also encourage you to step out of the box, and make good use of the available resources and support from your university - and make your dreams come true.
Together, we can help shape the future of Hong Kong.
Thank you very much.
Ends/Monday, February 1, 2016
Issued at HKT 19:57
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