Blog

Innovation and technology development in Israel

A gist of the blog:

Last week, I led a four-day business mission to Israel. The delegation was comprised of more than 30 business leaders representing companies in the fields of biotechnology, Fintech, artificial intelligence, smart city development, financial services and venture capital investment. Quite a number of these companies were based in the Hong Kong Science Park and Cyberport. Also joining the delegation were representatives of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Invest Hong Kong, Science and Technology Park and Cyberport.

While in Israel, the delegation visited a number of innovation and technology (I&T) institutions, research and development facilities of local universities, incubation platforms for I&T companies, and participated in several rounds of business matching meetings. The objective of the visit is to attract more Israeli companies to start their operation in Hong Kong and in turn further promote the development of I&T industry in Hong Kong.

I also hosted several seminars for the Israeli I&T companies and start-ups and highlighted to them the many advantages of doing business in Hong Kong, which a lot of local companies found attractive. As the international financial centre in Asia, Hong Kong’s financial market could provide the funding these companies need to support their fast development. These companies were also particularly interested in our recent listing regime reform, under which new-economy companies with weighted voting right structures and pre-revenue biotech companies could be list on the Main Board of Hong Kong Stock Exchange. While the Israeli companies boast strong research capabilities and advanced technologies, they lack the scenarios for large-scale application of their new technologies. Hong Kong can act as the “guide” to help them find suitable and reliable business partners and tap the massive markets in the Mainland of China and Asia.

September 9, 2018