Smart City
Overview
Hong Kong’s capacity to innovate
is supported by excellent connectivity
with the Mainland of China and the rest
of the world, world-class universities,
and robust intellectual property protection.
The Government strives to create a vibrant
ecosystem with excellent software and
hardware support for the stakeholders to
collaborate on research, development and
innovation activities.
The Innovation and Technology Bureau,
established on 20 November 2015,
is responsible for formulating holistic
policies relating to innovation and
technology; strengthening co-ordination
among the Government, industry,
academia and research sectors;
and expediting the development of
innovation, technology and related
industries in Hong Kong.
According to the latest Global Innovation
Index co-published by Cornell University
and other organisations, Hong Kong
was one of the top 11 innovative places
out of some 140 economies surveyed.
Innovation and technology as well as
testing and certification are two sectors
with great potential for Hong Kong,
which has a comprehensive IP protection
regime to effectively protect the fruits
of innovation.
Innovation and Technology
Hong Kong has become a major information,
communication and technology hub
in the region, with international rankings
consistently putting Hong Kong at
the forefront.
The Government’s Innovation and
Technology Fund has funded more than
4 800 projects with about US$1.2 billion
over the past 15 years.
Key innovation and technology
infrastructure includes Cyberport and
the Hong Kong Science Park.
Tech start-up hub
Hong Kong is fast becoming a start-up hub
for technology firms. The Government
is making efforts to create a better
environment for technology start-ups in
collaboration with local R&D institutions
and universities.
Phase 3 of the Park is underway and
is expected to be completed in 2016.
The Innovation and Technology Commission
launched a Technology Start-up Support
Scheme for Universities, initially for
three years from 2014-15, to provide
annual funding of up to US$3 million
to encourage the teams of six local
universities to start technology
businesses, bring R&D results
from the campus to the real world,
and facilitate the realisation of R&D results.
At present, there are more than 570
companies operating in the Science Park.
The Park is focusing on five technology
clusters, namely, biomedical technology,
electronics, green technology,
information and communications
technology, and material and precision
engineering. On top of the five technology
clusters, the Park is pursuing three
over-arching cross-disciplinary platforms
in healthy ageing, robotics and smart city
to facilitate integration of technologies
in innovative products. The Park is
also designated as National High-tech
Industrialisation (Partner) Base for Green
Technology, National Modern Services
Industrialisation (Partner) Base and
National High-tech Industrialisation
(Partner) Base for Integrated Circuits.
Technology Links with
the Mainland
Hong Kong is strengthening its intermediary
role to promote technological cooperation
between the Mainland of China and
the rest of the world. Hong Kong is
the base for 16 Partner State Key
Laboratories and six Hong Kong Branches
of the Chinese National Engineering
Research Centres, covering a broad range
of scientific areas.
The Park also runs incubation programmes
for start-ups, providing rental, marketing,
financial and technical support in their
critical initial years.
ASTRI
The Hong Kong Applied Science and
Technology Research Institute (ASTRI)
is a Government-funded institute that
delivers world-class technologies and
customer-focused R&D for industry.
It is designated as the R&D centre
for information and communications
technologies. Its core R&D competences
are organised under seven technology
divisions, namely, integrated circuit
design (analog), integrated circuit
design (digital), opto-electronics,
electronics components, software and
systems, security and data sciences,
and communications technologies.
The institute, which has won major awards
at home and abroad, has been granted
over 600 patents.
The first Hong Kong Branch of
the Chinese National Engineering
Research Centre operates under ASTRI.
Science Park
The Hong Kong Science Park comprises
26 state-of-the-art buildings offering
330 000 square metres of R&D office
and ancillary space. Construction of
Cyberport
Cyberport occupies a 24-hectare site
at Telegraph Bay on Hong Kong Island.
The creative digital community comprises
over 338 companies engaged in
information and communications
technology, digital content creation and
mobile apps development.
Cyberport has five inter-dependent
centres – Entrepreneurship Centre,
Technology Centre, Collaboration Centre,
Knowledge Centre and Campus
Development Centre.
Culture of Innovation
Hong Kong promotes a culture of
innovation through different channels
and various activities, including science
competitions, roadshows, exhibitions,
carnivals, industry seminars and forums.
The Hong Kong Information and
Communications Technology (ICT)
Awards recognise the achievements
of our information and communications
technology sector. The 2015 edition
attracted over 970 entries in 10 categories.
International IT Fest
• Altai’s powerful outdoor Wi-Fi antenna.
The International IT Fest 2015 featured
ICT events on cloud computing, start-ups,
cyber security, mobile technology,
the Internet of Things, digital entertainment,
e-learning, digital inclusion and more.
• Picturesque barcode PiCode developed
by the Hong Kong University of Science
and Technology.
This mega event crystallises the joint
efforts of the HKSAR Government,
technology partners and Hong Kong’s
thriving ICT industry.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) has chosen Hong Kong as a key
partner for its global innovation.
E-platform
Hong Kong has earned a world reputation
for extensive and highly efficient use
of smart card technology in daily life.
The multi-purpose Octopus card,
smart identity card and the Autotoll
System are widely used for shopping,
public transport, rapid immigration
clearance and e-business transactions.
There are more than 40 000 public Wi-Fi
hotspots in the city and the number
continues to grow.
Local inventions
Here is a sample of recent inventions
by local start-ups.
• Scoutbots designs and makes low cost
sailing robots to explore and protect
the oceans, clean oil spills and collect
scientific data.
• Coachbase, a cloud-based app that
can turn game plans into clear,
precise moving diagrams has won over
sports coaches around the world.
• Sensbeat is a social networking app
people can use to share their musical
mood – a Twitter for music lovers.
• Aivvy makes a smart combo music
player/headphone that learns listeners’
music tastes and intelligently
generates playlists.
• The Hand of Hope, made by
Rehab-Robotics, is a therapeutic
device that could help patients regain
hand mobility.
• Insight Robotics has invented probably
the world’s most advanced wildfire
detection system, the Computer
Vision Wildfire Detection System,
which combines thermal imaging
sensors and advanced artificial
intelligence vision technology.
• Event search engine Timeable
makes it easy to find events in
a massive database.
MIT in Hong Kong
The MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node
will deepen the existing links between
Hong Kong universities and MIT
by bringing together students,
academics and entrepreneurs from
Boston and Hong Kong, co-creating value
for both communities.
MIT’s cutting-edge technologies
will stimulate innovation in Hong Kong.
The institute’s renowned commercialisation
programme and capability will also benefit
Hong Kong.
High Ranking
Hong Kong ranks highly in global standings
for IT infrastructure including:
• Hong Kong ranks 11th in
the Global Innovation Index 2015,
jointly published by INSEAD,
Cornell University and the World
Intellectual Property Organization.
• The Cloud Readiness Index 2014 ranks
Hong Kong among the region’s top five.
• In the World Economic Forum’s Global
Information Technology Report 2015,
Hong Kong ranks second in International
Internet Bandwidth and fourth in Asia
in the Networked Readiness Index.
In the State of LTE 3rd Quarter
2015 Report, Hong Kong’s 4G LTE
mobile network coverage ranks third
in the world.
Testing and Certification
Hong Kong’s testing and certification
industry is highly acclaimed for
its integrity and high standards.
There are some 250 laboratories,
inspection bodies and certification
bodies accredited by the Hong Kong
Accreditation Service. They provide
a wide range of testing, certification and
inspection services, covering an array of
products and services, such as textiles,
clothing, electronics, toys, and children’s
products etc. The services comply with
international standards and assure
overseas buyers of the quality and safety
of products sourced in the region.
Endorsed reports and accredited
certificates issued by service providers
accredited by the Hong Kong
Accreditation Service are recognised by
over 90 accreditation bodies in about
70 economies in the world.
The Hong Kong Council for Testing and
Certification advises the Government on
the overall development strategy and
initiatives to propel the industry’s growth,
strengthen its competitiveness and
explore new business opportunities
in selected trades.
CEPA Opportunities
The Mainland and Hong Kong Closer
Economic Partnership Arrangement
(CEPA) enables accredited testing
laboratories in Hong Kong to undertake
testing of products processed in
Hong Kong for the China Compulsory
Certification (CCC) System.
Under the framework of CEPA,
the Agreement between the Mainland
and Hong Kong on Achieving Basic
Liberalization of Trade in Services
in Guangdong (the Agreement) includes
measures allowing testing organisations
in Hong Kong to cooperate with designated
Mainland organisations to undertake
testing of products in the “audio and
visual apparatus” category of the CCC
system that are designed and prototyped
in Hong Kong, as well as processed or
manufactured in Guangdong Province.
The scope of testing services that can be
provided by Hong Kong testing organisations
in the area of voluntary certification
has been expanded to products
manufactured or processed in Hong Kong
or Mainland. Moreover, with respect
to the mode of commercial presence,
except for those inconsistent/inapplicable
measures reserved as well as the measures
on standards management, the Agreement
offers local testing and certification
industry same treatment as the Mainland
enterprises in terms of market access
requirement in Guangdong Province.
For more information, please visit
www.itb.gov.hk
www.itc.gov.hk
(December 2015)