Hong Kong Industrialist Aug Oct 2021

NOVEL BIO-TESTING TECHNOLOGY 創新生物檢測 This year, the China government requires all cosmetic products with efficacy claims to provide scientific efficacy evaluation results to the authority. This regulation has brought enormous opportunities for Test-it™ and made the mainland China a major market of Vitargent now. Jimmy said that the extensive application of testing services advances the collection of bio-data for analysis and interpretation, laying foundation for a database of raw materials and ingredients to support the manufacturing industry in making informed decisions during material selection process. “Nowadays, the public are more knowledgeable and receptive towards biotechnology. Suppliers began enquiring about our testing technology. We can see that the market has a great demand for biological safety data on products and materials. For example, we used to have no form of knowing the toxicity of building and furnishing materials. But now we have more mature and proven testing technologies as well as big data analytics to reform existing scientific tests and help consumers make informed purchase choices based on objective scientific data.” On the other hand, Vitargent demonstrates the successful collaboration among the Government, industry, academia and the research sector locally. Their first-in-the-world bio-testing technology was originated from the City University of Hong Kong (“CityU”), and was also the first successful knowledge transfer project in the University. Jimmy appreciates CityU’s sustained efforts in promoting entrepreneurship. He also took part in the “HK Tech 300” of CityU this year to assist student teams to incubate innovative ideas into start-ups as an experienced entrepreneur. Jimmy looks forward to having more young talents joining the industry, “There are much more biotechnology companies and research centres than before, generating huge demand for talents. From my observation, today’s postgraduate students are very enthusiastic on achieving commercial success through their scientific research. They play a pivotal role in translating research achievements from university to the outside business world.” Jimmy said. Compared to other businesses, biotechnology usually takes a lengthy period of development with very high risk. Jimmy admitted that founding a biotechnology company is a very substantial investment and it may take eight to ten years to find the right business model and achieve outcomes. He believes that there is still a lot of room for the development of biotechnology in Hong Kong. “The innovation and technology culture in Hong Kong and the government funding enable more biotechnology to be discovered and commercialised. Public funds provide financial support to reduce R&D costs for enterprises. In the future, I believe that there will be more partnership opportunities between the industry and biotechnology field. The convergence of bioinformatics, big data and AI analytics continues to help consumers identify safe products and reduce their exposure to chemicals that may lead to health implications. By then, the community will have a better understanding of how biotechnology impacts our lives outside the laboratories. The future of biotechnology development is very promising as long as the public pays full support and recognise our contributions to the society.” 本的要求。生產商需要更完善的檢測驗證， 方可符合消費者的期望，讓自己的品牌突圍 而出。我們已經推出多款日常用品和食品的 『綠魚』安全榜單或功效榜單，讓消費者一目 了然。」 今年，內地政府要求所有化妝品描述的功效 要向當局提供科學實證，為「小魚親測」帶來 龐大機遇，現時內地已成為水中銀的最主要 市場。Jimmy指廣泛應用檢測科技能蒐集大 量生物數據作儲存及分析，成為原材料的成 份資料庫，為製造業挑選優質材料、改良產 品提供有用的資訊。「現在大眾對生物技術認 識和接受程度加深，供應商也開始向我們查 詢，證明市場對經得起生物檢測考驗的產品 和材料極有需求。比如說，以往沒有對建築 和裝修材料的毒性檢測，但現在技術成熟、 有大數據配合，我們可以檢測更多元化的產 品，助消費者做最好的選擇。」 另一方面，水中銀是本地「官產學研」合作 的成功例子。水中銀的全球獨家首創技術源 自香港城市大學，更是校內第一個成功知識 轉移的技術。Jimmy指近年城市大學在促進 初創企業發展方面頗為進取，他亦有參與今 年啟動的「HK Tech 300創業計劃」，以過來 人的經驗幫助學生發展創科事業，亦希望更 多畢業生入行。Jimmy表示：「現時生物科技 公司及研究中心比以前多，人才需求急增。 現在的年青研究生對科研成果商品化很有熱 誠，是推動創科走出大學的重要動力。」 與其他產業比較，生物科技開發期長，風險 較高。Jimmy 坦言開發新的生物科技是屬高 風險投資，可能花上十年八載才有回報，更 必須要找到對的商業模式才能夠成功。他認 為生物科技在香港仍有很大的發展空間，他 說：「現時社會風氣、政府基金資助等，讓生 物科技有更多被發現、被商品化的機會，更 降低了企業研發成本。我相信日後會有更多 產業與生物科技行業Crossover，應用人工智 能、大數據等發現新的生物資訊，助消費者 辨清產品質素，更可預防產品材料可能引起 的疾病。大眾會更理解生物科技並非天馬行 空，而是對生活有實實在在的好處，讓行業 得到大眾的認同，才能長遠發展。」 8-10/2021 | 21