Chief Executive John Lee

I am delighted to welcome you to Hong Kong, and the World Internet Conference Asia-Pacific Summit.

And I am honoured to say that the Asia-Pacific Summit, taking place over these next two days in Hong Kong, marks the first time the World Internet Conference has held an international summit outside Mainland China.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a testament to Hong Kong’s rising role as an international innovation and technology (I&T) hub. It also reflects our deepening integration with our country’s national development.  

That will become abundantly clear over these next two days. Like the World Internet Conference itself, this summit offers high-level dialogue for the global internet community - for you - the nearly 1,000 professionals here from 30 countries and regions.

You are senior government officials and business leaders, industry association heads, academics and researchers and professionals from different disciplines. And you are here to expand your international connections, create business opportunities and help build the interconnected digital future.

Hong Kong’s rise as an I&T hub has been fast-tracked by our vibrant economy, which is powered by free trade and boasts the world’s third-largest financial centre. It helps, too, that Hong Kong has long been a key business conduit between the Mainland and the rest of the world.

And it all comes together under our unique “one country, two systems” framework.

This cardinal governing principle gives Hong Kong the best of both worlds: access to the vast opportunities of the Mainland market, while maintaining the advantages of our unmatched connectivity of our common law system, free flow of information, capital, goods and people. This unmatched connectivity has brought you here.

There are many good examples. A shining example is the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou science and technology cluster, which ranks second, globally, in the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index. It shows how, with the development of the Greater Bay Area, we can converge Hong Kong’s excellent research and development and world-class, international business environment, with the innovative prowess of the Mainland’s technology industry.

We are building Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science & Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone, which straddles the small river that separates Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The Hong Kong park within this co-operation zone smartly embodies the virtues of the “one country, two systems” principle and cross-boundary co-operation.

Last month, I attended the topping-out ceremony for the park’s first three buildings - two wet laboratories and a talent accommodation complex. The park will enter its operational phase this year, with the first tenants - from life and health technology, artificial intelligence (AI), to data science and other pillar industries - moving in.

The development of another five buildings is in full swing. We have earmarked some US$500 million to expedite the park’s two-phase development.

We need, of course, strategic companies and talent to take full advantage of the park’s opportunities - and other of Hong Kong’s far-reaching prospects. And we are getting them. Under the enhanced talent admission regime we rolled out in 2022, we have already approved more than 300,000 talent admission applications. Over 200,000 of them, ie two-thirds, have already arrived here.

Meanwhile, over 80 strategic enterprises from around the world in the booming industries of life and health technology, AI and data science, fintech and more, have joined us. They will invest over US$6 million and create over 20,000 jobs here in the coming years.

The park is situated in the Northern Metropolis, an entirely new economic engine for Hong Kong. The Northern Metropolis, which makes up one-third of Hong Kong’s area, straddles our land boundary with Shenzhen.

I am confident that our collaborative efforts with Shenzhen, and throughout the Greater Bay Area, will see the rise of Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science & Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone as a world-class I&T hub, creating a critical source of new quality productive forces for the country.

AI is central to the Hong Kong park’s research and development. It is no less central to Hong Kong’s future.

In December last year, the first phase of Cyberport’s AI Supercomputing Centre became operational. Hong Kong’s digital technology flagship, Cyberport is home to more than 330 startups specialising in AI and big data.

Hong Kong is determined to maximise AI’s immense potential for new industrialisation, and to further society’s digital transformation.

We have, for example, set up funding schemes to help local manufacturers switch to smart manufacturing and strategic industries to establish smart production facilities here in Hong Kong.

And our HK$10 billion I&T Industry-Oriented Fund, amounting to nearly US$1.3 billion, channels market capital to invest in industries of strategic importance, including AI and robotics.

There is more. We aim to establish, by the next financial year, the Hong Kong AI R&D Institute, having reserved nearly US$130 million to get it up and running. The institute will spearhead Hong Kong’s research and development, and drive AI-based industrial applications.

AI will also promote smart government. Not only driving document digitalisation and automation, and payments and business processes, but, more important, how we go about making policy and delivering public services.

All that, and much more, will fuel discussion and debate at today’s main forum and the three sub-forums taking place tomorrow.

This summit matters. Co-operation matters. Especially during these challenging times to geopolitics and trade relations. Hong Kong champions free trade and multilateralism. We believe in teamwork and offer a range of welcoming programmes for investors, companies, researchers and other strategic talent. Hong Kong welcomes all business interests from those who are keen to pursue development with us. In this global city, we will make a decided difference for you, and your future.

I am grateful to the World Internet Conference for hosting the Asia-Pacific Summit here in Hong Kong. Grateful, too, to our Innovation, Technology& Industry Bureau and other government offices for organising this high-profile global event.

I wish you all an inspiring summit, and the best of business, and health, through this endlessly challenging, but promising, year.

Chief Executive John Lee gave these remarks at the World Internet Conference Asia-Pacific Summit on April 14.