Advancing Analysis Commercialization and Constructing a Vibrant I&T Ecosystem
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 2 June 2026 – The Hong Kong College of Science and Know-how (HKUST) right now efficiently hosted its annual “Unicorn Day,” one among Hong Kong’s flagship innovation and entrepreneurship occasions. The occasion introduced collectively over 1,800 individuals, together with college students, school, and alumni, in addition to worldwide and native authorities representatives, {industry} companions, traders, innovation and know-how entrepreneurs, and researchers. Members exchanged insights on methods to strengthen collaboration throughout the innovation ecosystem, foster cross-disciplinary partnerships, and speed up the interpretation of analysis outcomes into real-world impression.
The occasion was officiated by Prof. SUN Dong, Secretary for Innovation, Know-how and Trade of the HKSAR Authorities, alongside consuls-generals and senior officers from international locations together with Australia, Chile, France, Hungary, India, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Vietnam, and the United Arab Emirates. They had been joined by Prof. Nancy IP, HKUST President; Prof. Lionel NI, HKUST (Guangzhou) President; and Prof. Tim CHENG, HKUST Vice-President for Analysis and Growth; in touring over 100 HKUST-nurtured startups, showcasing improvements and purposes spanning areas comparable to healthcare, electronics, and synthetic intelligence methods, in addition to new supplies, inexperienced power, and sustainability.
Prof. Solar Dong remarked, “Innovation and know-how (I&T) has at all times been on the high of the Hong Kong SAR Authorities’s agenda. We absolutely recognise the essential position of native universities — not solely as key companions, however because the bedrock of Hong Kong’s I&T ecosystem. In simply three and a half a long time, HKUST has risen to change into a worldwide powerhouse in deep tech, entrepreneurship, and innovation as demonstrated by its capacity to nurture unicorns and deep-tech ventures. Hong Kong is getting into a golden period of I&T improvement. We’re constructing new engines to drive Hong Kong’s high-quality improvement, specializing in analysis and improvement in key fields and main {industry} purposes. I’m assured that Hong Kong will rise as a number one worldwide I&T heart and contribute meaningfully to our nation’s high-quality improvement, and that HKUST will proceed to be a driving pressure on this superb journey.”
President Ip stated, “As we mark the thirty fifth anniversary of HKUST this yr, we additionally have a good time the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that has lengthy been embedded in our DNA. Each the Know-how Switch Middle and the Entrepreneurship Middle had been established within the College’s early years to help school and college students in realizing their entrepreneurial aspirations and to advertise the interpretation of analysis outcomes into sensible options. Over the previous 35 years, the College has cast forward with dedication, sowing the seeds of innovation and yielding outstanding achievements throughout a number of frontier fields. At this time, HKUST continues to broaden its horizons, strategically positioning itself in key domains. One instance is medical schooling. The institution of the HKUST Medical College will combine the life sciences with cutting-edge applied sciences to nurture a brand new era of interdisciplinary medical professionals.
Concurrently, HKUST has been actively concerned in nationwide initiatives such because the Chang’E 8 lunar exploration mission and analysis initiatives for the Tiangong Area Station, and the launch of the primary commercially viable aerospace challenge below the RAISe+ Scheme. These achievements exemplify HKUST’s enduring ‘can do’ spirit over the previous a long time and echo the theme of right now’s occasion—’From Concepts to Miracles—35 Years of Impression and Past’. Wanting forward, HKUST will proceed to nurture daring concepts and motion, working hand in hand with companions throughout totally different sectors to domesticate a vibrant innovation ecosystem, guaranteeing that analysis achievements profit society and create lasting world impression.”
To help startups in increasing into world markets and to advertise cross-border collaboration, HKUST launched an “Worldwide Pavilion,” that includes startups and innovation organizations from numerous international locations and areas. Members from Thailand, Singapore and Korea had been amongst these represented, strengthening connections between Hong Kong, and international locations and areas alongside the Belt and Street in know-how utility and {industry} improvement.
The occasion additionally noticed the signing of a number of partnership agreements, together with six strategic collaborations with:
- GPTX Funding Administration Restricted
- China Everbright Water Restricted
- Jiangsu Daotop Environmental Know-how
- Samsung R&D Institute China – Guangzhou
- CalmCar Bodily AI Innovation Middle
- InnoAngel
to advance expertise improvement and {industry}–academia integration, and foster innovation-driven analysis and real-world know-how translation.
HKUST’s I&T Power Driving Financial Development
As well as, HKUST additionally launched the report Driving Socioeconomic Impression Via Analysis and Innovation: Insights from HKUST, commissioned by the College and ready by the worldwide analysis data analytics group Elsevier. The report highlights HKUST’s excellent efficiency in innovation and entrepreneurship. Over the previous 5 years, analysis output has recorded a median development of 10%, roughly 9% greater than that of different native establishments. Greater than 65% of the analysis is concentrated in engineering and laptop science, whereas 6.2% entails academia-industry collaboration, considerably greater than the worldwide common of two.7%. These collaborations have translated into impactful mental property, with roughly 1,670 patent purposes and 700 grants over the identical interval, and a excessive IP utilization charge of above 30%.
Prof. Tim Cheng famous that the findings show HKUST’s steadily strengthening capabilities in analysis translation and academia-industry collaboration. HKUST’s publications achieved a Area-Weighted Quotation Impression of 4.40, indicating that their quotation impression is 4.4 occasions the worldwide common. This underscores HKUST’s important contributions to advancing Hong Kong’s socioeconomic improvement and enhancing its competitiveness in innovation and know-how.
As well as, a “Market” was additionally featured, showcasing merchandise already launched by startups, together with AI analytics instruments, healthcare applied sciences, and good metropolis options, demonstrating the progress of translating analysis into sensible purposes.
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