401. I would like to first thank the United States for coordinating the paper which Hong Kong, China is pleased to co-sponsor. As the paper has rightly pointed out, scientific research benefits immensely from international cooperation, especially in sectors such as technology and life sciences. Such cooperation can take place in different forms and among different institutions, such as universities and research institutes.
402. For Hong Kong, China, our government released last December the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Development Blueprint outlining a clear path and strategy as we press full steam ahead towards becoming an international innovation and technology hub. Indeed, Hong Kong, China has worldclass capability in scientific research: we are home to five of the world's top-70 universities. We thrive on an international business environment, which is underpinned by the rule of law and a robust intellectual property rights protection system.
403. To develop Hong Kong, China into a hub for global research collaboration, we launched last year the "InnoHK research clusters" in the Hong Kong Science Park. This is a flagship project that pools together 33 top-notch universities and research institutes from 11 economies in setting up 28 research laboratories. These universities and research institutes include, for example, ETH Zurich, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Imperial College London, Institut Pasteur, Karolinska Institutet, the University of Melbourne, Stanford University, Tohoku University, University of Waterloo.
404. So far, we have established two research clusters. The first cluster, Health@InnoHK, focuses on all types of healthcare-related technologies (including drug discovery, personalized medicine, molecular diagnostics). The second cluster, AIR@InnoHK, focuses on the development of artificial intelligence and robotics as applied in areas such as financial services, smart city and advanced manufacturing. Together, local and non-local researchers can come together to conduct impactful scientific researches.
405. The paper today has thus raised some pertinent issues in relation to such cross-border research collaboration. We very much look forward to hearing from other Members their experiences on this front.
