Hong Kong reinventing a financial hub for the startup generation

Global Business

Hong Kong reinventing a financial hub for the startup generation

Asia’s financial center Hong Kong is working to transform itself into a regional hub for innovation and technology. The Chinese Special Administrative Region is promoting the growth of small and micro businesses. Innovation is also being encouraged in Hong Kong’s long-established Science Park.

CCTV’s Mao Dan reports.

A paper stick, together with a mobile app, enables diabetes patients, as well as anyone, to keep track of their health data at home. It’s only a test of your glucose level.

“It’s easy to use and suitable to patients of all ages, in terms of consumer safety, that’s not a problem say if they don’t want to use finger pricking because of the pain the blood or the wound, we give them an alternative so that they can use it to monitor how their lifestyle is affecting their glucose level,” Enano Health CEO and Founder, Winnie Lun said.

The Hong Kong-based technology is already in market after five years of research and development. More health-related inventions are on the way. This device by Sonikure delivers medication using ultrasound instead of needles.

“I worked closely with my PhD supervisor in developing new applications in the eye care space, first I tested the idea by joining a university competition to see whether it is feasible way to bring this system into the health system,” CEO and Founder of Sonikure, Wai Leung Langston Suen said.

It’s not only feasible, but also appealing. All these ideas need is a good place to flourish.

“Since last year December, we joined the Science Park. We have got a lot of support from Science park as well because we are in the incubation program, where we are given a very good financial aid package that can help us to support our business activities,” Suen said.

Like other start-ups at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, Sonickure also gets support for clinical research and market connections. The company expects to launch their finished product in two to three years.

The Park now hosts more than 600 companies. Half of them are small and micro businesses enjoying research and development support as well as other resources from the Park. Most of them are sure to grow, as the Park told me its start-up survival rate is over 75 percent.

Since its establishment 15 years ago, the Park has seen over 400 incubation firms graduate. That’s an average of 2 to 3 new companies each month.

Innovation and technology is a very important tool for the Hong Kong’s growth, economy, job creation, the city’s future, and the younger generation. For the past 15 years, the Science Park has built a very good foundation. Actually, Hong Kong Science Park is becoming an attractive place for a lot of Chinese mainland graduate students to try their technology in Hong Kong,” HK Science and Technology Parks Corp CEO, Albert Wong said.

And the Park is ready to help more companies translate their technology into products, which is the key to its mission to turn Hong Kong into a hub for innovation.