With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, large models and other technologies, how can Beijing and Hong Kong further deepen cooperation with the help of talent and policy advantages? On April 26, the 2024 Zhongguancun Forum "Beijing-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Forum" and the 7th "Beijing-Hong Kong Youth Innovation Cup" Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Selection Competition were held at the Zhongguancun Exhibition Center. At the meeting, a number of guests from Beijing and Hong Kong exchanged views on topics such as science and technology innovation cooperation and talent development between the two places. A reporter from Beijing Business Daily learned at the scene that in the past two years, the cooperation between Beijing and Hong Kong in the fields of life science and technology and artificial intelligence has achieved initial results. Focusing on the development of artificial intelligence, the two places have also introduced a number of policies. In order to encourage more graduates to start their own businesses, Beijing and Hong Kong have also launched relevant schemes to support talent employment and entrepreneurship.
Explore new scenarios for the application of innovative technologies
Hong Kong's mature capital market, international business environment, perfect legal system, and world-class universities and scientific research institutions have attracted global capital and top professionals to escort enterprises to enter the international market.
In Chan's view, Beijing is rich in scientific research resources, with a concentration of higher education institutions and scientific research institutions, and there is huge room for development in cutting-edge scientific and technological cooperation such as talent exchange, maker financing, and achievement transformation. The two places can strengthen co-operation to jointly promote industrial upgrading and transformation, accelerate the transformation and pace of scientific research achievements, and promote the development of new productive forces.
It is understood that in the past two years, the Beijing-Hong Kong co-operation has achieved initial results, covering areas such as life sciences, artificial intelligence and robotics, which have laid the foundation for the two places to jointly explore new application scenarios of innovative technologies. According to the data, since 2019, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Zhongguancun Management Committee have launched joint research and development projects in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, focusing on the fields of biomedicine, artificial intelligence, new materials and medical and health care, and preferentially supported universities and institutes and science and technology enterprises in the two places to apply for 20 joint research and development projects, and carried out joint research on key technical links, with a total of nearly 30 million yuan in support funds.
In addition, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission (STC) jointly launched the Beijing-Hong Kong Technology Collaborative Innovation Platform at the end of 2021. The platform is built to meet the needs of science and technology enterprises in the two places and promote the docking and cooperation between enterprises. Relying on this platform, Beijing and Hong Kong have organized 55 science and technology innovation exchange activities, organized a number of overseas exhibitions and forum exchange activities, and participated in nearly 200 institutions throughout the year, covering 5,000 innovative subjects. At the 2022 Beijing-Hong Kong Fair Summit, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Zhongguancun Administrative Committee also signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on Deepening Beijing-Hong Kong Science and Technology Collaborative Innovation Cooperation" with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council to promote the in-depth development of cooperation in the field of science and technology innovation.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reinvigorating collaboration
In the view of Zeng Dajun, deputy director of the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, artificial intelligence is a "panacea", and more value can be extracted wherever it goes. China's industrial landscape is best suited to the development of technologies represented by artificial intelligence, so that these technologies can create value in a wide range of industries. Judging from the policies that have been introduced in Beijing and Hong Kong, both Beijing and Hong Kong attach great importance to the development and application of artificial intelligence technology.
It is understood that in 2023, Beijing will successively introduce special policies such as the "Implementation Plan for Beijing to Accelerate the Construction of an Artificial Intelligence Innovation Source with Global Influence (2023-2025)" and "Several Measures for Beijing to Promote the Innovation and Development of General Artificial Intelligence" to promote artificial intelligence technology innovation and industrial development.
In addition, focusing on the development of artificial intelligence, Hong Kong has clearly proposed in the Budget of the HKSAR Government for the 2024-2025 financial year to allocate HK$3 billion to subsidise local universities, research institutes and enterprises to use computing power. At the same time, Hong Kong has also launched the "Technology Talent Admission Scheme" and the "Research Talent Pool Scheme" to attract talents.
Zeng Dajun said that Beijing and Hong Kong have good prospects for cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence. The two places have their own advantages and complement each other strongly. On the one hand, Beijing is a political center, a cultural center, a center of international exchanges, and an international center of science and technology innovation, and on the other hand, Hong Kong also has a good policy soil and international advantages to promote the development of science and technology.
In Zeng Dajun's view, the enhancement of the strategic position of artificial intelligence will add new vitality to Beijing-Hong Kong cooperation. At present, Beijing and Hong Kong have set up a number of funds in the field of science and technology cooperation, and in the next stage, Beijing and Hong Kong can further develop through international cooperation and data sharing, so as to form a situation in which mainland enterprises go overseas through Hong Kong and Hong Kong enterprises enter the mainland market through Beijing, so as to promote the two-way cooperation between the two places.
Innovation and entrepreneurship exchanges have become closer
A reporter from Beijing Business Daily found that in recent years, Beijing and Hong Kong have had close exchanges in talent exchanges. In April 2018, the Beijing-Hong Kong University Alliance was established in Hong Kong. The consortium includes 12 universities in Beijing and 8 universities in Hong Kong. Since the establishment of the BJUU Alliance, by the end of 2023, more than 30,000 teachers and students have participated in online and offline activities, including 12,500 students from Hong Kong and 18,000 students from Beijing.
Commenting on the development of Hong Kong's talents, Tse Chi-kong, Associate Vice-President of City University of Hong Kong and Dean of CityU's School of Innovation, said that the number of start-ups in Hong Kong increased from 1,500 to 3,300 in the five years from 2015 to 2020. Among them, 97% of the founders of startups are between the ages of 29 and 39, 80% of the founders are college graduates, and 97% have a master's degree or above.
In order to support more graduates to start their own businesses, City University of Hong Kong has launched the HK Tech 300 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program to provide support and help to entrepreneurs in terms of capital, technology and other pain points. In addition, CityU has established the CityU Innovation Institute (OFS) under the HK Tech 300 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programme, which aims to further expand the University's innovation and entrepreneurship platform.
On the day of the forum, the 7th "Beijing-Hong Kong Youth Innovation Cup" Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Selection Competition was also officially launched. According to reports, the 7th competition will continue to focus on the field of a new generation of information technology, focusing on artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, smart transportation, big data, metaverse, unmanned driving, intelligent robots and other technologies in smart city application scenarios.
After the selection of the competition, four projects, including "Synthetic Data and Embodied Intelligent Simulation Platform", "High-performance Autonomous and Controllable Analog Chip in Aerospace and High Reliability Field", "Digital Earth Data Platform" and "Solar Vehicle", successfully advanced to the finals. These projects will have the opportunity to participate in the year-end finals together with the outstanding projects selected by the Hong Kong Selection Competition, showcasing the technological innovation achievements and strengths of Beijing and Hong Kong.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Zhao Boyu