Innovation and technology are the key drivers of a knowledge-based economy, Commissioner for Innovation & Technology Janet Wong says, adding the Government will enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness and develop the city into a regional hub for innovation and technology.

Speaking at the Hong Kong R&D Centre for Logistics & Supply Chain Management Enabling Technologies Annual Conference & Exhibition 2010, Miss Wong said research and development is a key impetus for technological advancement.

She said the centre for logistics and supply chain management had managed and developed 26 research and development  projects with a total funding of about $170 million from the Innovation &Technology Fund.

The applied research projects were market-oriented, focusing on the needs of industry during the past four years, she noted.

"Some of these projects have already been completed and the technologies developed have been transferred to industry. They are benefiting industry in different respects.

"The centre's most crucial role is to transfer cost effective, market compatible and innovative technology to the industry for commercialisation. I am confident that the centre will be able to deliver more R&D results for the benefit of local industry in the coming years.

"It is their ultimate goal to see R&D results translated into products or applications that enhance industry's competitiveness."