Hong Kong Industrialist Aug Oct 2021

T he pandemic has led to new approaches for vaccines, antiviral drugs, diagnosis and anti-epidemic supplies; the investment into biotechnology from both private equity and IPO have reached new highs. Biotechnology research continues to make significant contributions. It not only creates therapeutics and treatments in combating diseases, but also injects innovative ideas into the material selection and new application scenarios in different industrial areas such as chemicals, food, environment, textiles, testing and information technology, leading breakthroughs and innovation-driven business transformation. Among all innovative technology sectors, Hong Kong enjoys a unique edge in biotechnology industry. The Central Government and the Hong Kong Government have all along been fostering biotechnology development on various fronts. Hong Kong is the “cradle” of world-class biotechnology research teams. Administered by the Innovation and Technology Commission, the Innovation and Technology Fund has supported more than 630 projects on biotechnology technologies over the years, including many of its first in the world, such as artificial “mini-hearts”, internally motorised minimally invasive robot surgeon, non-invasive prenatal diagnostic technique, etc. Some of them have been commercialised and entered the market successfully. On top of that, clinical trial data from Hong Kong is simultaneously recognised for drug registration purposes by the medicine administration units in the United States, the Europe and China. Since the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong has allowed the listings of pre-revenue biotech companies starting from 2018, Hong Kong is attractive to biotechnology issuers and it has become Asia's largest biotechnology fundraising centre. The sound regime of intellectual property rights protection and the cluster development in the Hong Kong Science Park have resulted in a more thriving local ecosystem in biotechnology. Through interviewing three representatives from the traditional industry, emerging industry, and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (“HKSTP”), this issue of Hong Kong Industrialist reviews how biotechnology cluster empowers the transformation of traditional industries and create new products and sectors, as well as their views on the future of the industry. 為 面對疫情，生物科技業爭分奪秒，研 發疫苗、藥物、檢測及防疫物資，行 業的私募投資及上市集資額更屢創新高。隨 著生物科技研究不斷突破，不但創造了嶄新 的醫療技術、設備和藥物，同時亦為化工、 食品、環保、紡織、檢測以至資訊科技等各 行各業，由新材料到新應用場景等，注入創 新轉型的養份。 在芸芸創新科技行業中，香港在生物科技上 的優勢可謂得天獨厚，更獲得香港及國家重 點政策支持。香港被喻為盛產世界級生物科 技研究團隊的「搖籃」，知名學者如雲；由創 新科技署管理的「創新及科技基金」多年來 已資助逾630個生物科技項目，其中包括多 個全球首創的科技，如迷你人造心臟、內置 馬達的微創手術機械人、無創產前診斷技術 等，部分已成功商品化及推出市場。香港的 臨床測試數據可同時獲美國、歐洲和中國藥 物管理局認可，而且在2018年港交所容許未 有收入的生物科技企業來到香港上市，吸引 了大批生物科技企業赴港融資，香港自此成 為了亞洲最大的生物科技集資中心。 加上本地健全的知識產權保護制度、政府透 過科學園建設產業群等，香港生物科技生態 日趨完善。是次專題訪問了三位分別於傳統 工業、新興工業以及科技園公司代表，分享 生物科技工業如何成為了香港傳統工業轉型 以及新興產業崛起的驅動力量，以及他們對 行業發展的看法。 The world has been shrouded in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic for the past two years. Nevertheless, the biotechnology cluster has flourished during the worst of times in recent history. 過去兩年，全球籠罩在新冠肺炎的陰影下， 但對生物科技領域而言，卻在最壞的時代突顯了產業最好的一面。 8-10/2021 | 19