In this screengrab made from a video released by the HKSAR government, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu delivers a video speech on Nov 15, 2022, at the opening ceremony of X-Lake Forum held in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province.
The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will discuss with its Shenzhen counterpart a plan to launch a special cross-border policy in the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop on a trial basis to further promote the cross-border flow of innovation and technology resources, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday.
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“The HKSAR government and the Shenzhen municipal government have always stayed in close touch to jointly promote I&T cooperation, in particular the construction of HSITP to realize ‘one zone, two parks’ on both sides of the river,” Lee said in a video speech at the opening ceremony of X-Lake Forum held in Shenzhen. The forum was co-organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Shenzhen municipal government.
The HKSAR government is also working with the Chinese mainland authorities to study specific arrangements on facilitating the flow of data from the mainland to Hong Kong and the launch of a pilot program on cross-border data flow in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay area next year, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said
“In order to further promote the role of the international innovation and technology center as an engine, we will take a close look into how to speed up the Hong Kong park. On the basis of the ‘one zone, two parks’, we will discuss with Shenzhen a special cross-border policy in the zone on a trial basis to further facilitate the cross-border flow of people, logistics, capital, data and other factors of innovation and technology.”
The HKSAR government is also working with the Chinese mainland authorities to study specific arrangements on facilitating the flow of data from the mainland to Hong Kong and the launch of a pilot program on cross-border data flow in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay area next year, Lee said.
He said the HKSAR government will actively explore new development models and accelerate the development of San Tin Technopole in the Northern Metropolis to provide support for the city’s technology industry.
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“We will also create an economic zone at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen port to further drive the development of the twin cities.”
Wang Zhigang, the minister of science and technology, said that Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have made fruitful outcomes in integrated development, citing the World Intellectual Property Organization’s latest Global Innovation Index, in which Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou ranked second among the world’s leading science and technology clusters.
X-Lake Sciensity in Shenzhen is home to more than half of universities, over 60 percent of high-caliber talents and 70 percent of innovation and entrepreneurial platforms in the city, with the highest number of listed companies per square kilometer across the country.
Wang said the ministry along with other government departments will work more closely with Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and support X-Lake Sciensity in further pooling high-quality innovation resources, building a multi-level and interactive system to make technological breakthroughs, and cultivating talents as the primary resources in order to make it a major platform for international I&T cooperation.
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As the latest achievements in Shenzhen’s I&T development, several new innovation and technology platforms were set up on Tuesday at the forum, including X-Institute and Shenzhen innoX. The event also saw the launch of New Cornerstone Science Foundation in Shenzhen.
Also on the same day, Shenzhen’s data exchange was officially unveiled, which is expected to play an important role in fueling cross-border data flow and transactions.