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Following is the speech by the Chief Executive, Mr C Y Leung, at the establishment of Karolinska Institutet China-Hong Kong Center announcement ceremony this afternoon (February 2):
President Hamsten, Dr Lau, Your Excellencies, government colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon.
It is my pleasure - my great pleasure - to join you today, to celebrate an auspicious beginning. This is the beginning of a bold and exciting new venture between Hong Kong and Karolinska Institutet (KI), and by extension, between China and Sweden.
Founded in 1810, the Karolinska Institutet has long been recognised as one of the world's foremost medical universities. It's responsible for more than 40 per cent of Sweden's academic research in the medical field. Adding to this, Karolinska's Nobel Assembly chooses the Nobel laureates in medicine or physiology each year.
So it is with pride and anticipation that we welcome the establishment of the Karolinska Institutet's overseas research branch, right here in Hong Kong.
That this is a Hong Kong-Swedish partnership is not surprising. After all, we've long been good friends and good partners. Our co-operation flourishes in many areas, including design, trade, environmental protection and innovation.
Hong Kong and Sweden work well together, I believe, because we share important similarities - winter weather aside, of course. Our respective populations are small, our people blessed with an abundance of vitality, ambition, enterprise and creativity. And our governments both believe in, and support, innovation and technology.
That's why, last August, Hong Kong and Sweden's Skåne Regional Council together with universities in Southern Sweden, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Fields of Innovation Policies and Innovative Solutions. The MOU covers six significant areas: smart sustainable cities, personal health, smart materials, life science, the food sciences and design.
It's also why, when I visited Sweden last May, I made sure that I met with some of the country's pre-eminent scientists - Professor Hamsten, President of the Karolinska Institutet, among them.
During our meeting, Professor Hamsten and I talked about the complementary strengths that KI and Hong Kong universities enjoy in regenerative medicine. That led to an agreement to deepen our research collaboration in this promising area.
During the visit, I was delighted to learn from the Chinese Ambassador to Sweden that the Chinese Ministry of Education and the Swedish Institute had already signed just over a year ago the "Swedish-Chinese Co-operation in the field of Education and Science".
Then, in October last year, President Hamsten led a Karolinska Institutet delegation to Beijing, where they were received by Vice-Premier Liu Yandong of China.
Today, I am very happy to see our vision, and hard work, in the national, local and scientific contexts, become reality - the launching of a centre dedicated to regenerative medicine, to research co-operation that brings together KI, Hong Kong and the Mainland of China.
We should thank Dr Ming-wai Lau, Chairman and CEO of Chinese Estates Holdings, for his foresight and generosity. Dr Lau's US$50 million donation calls to mind the words of Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine: "Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity."
Hong Kong will certainly benefit from the Ming Wai Lau Center in the years to come. Our health-care system faces an ageing population. That reality will bring about a long-term escalation in chronic diseases. Regenerative medicine can help us. Stem-cell research can accelerate the development of effective pharmaceutical products. Already, it's inspiring innovation, bringing us advances to fight debilitating diseases that have long remained unchecked by conventional medicine.
As for the Ming Wai Lau Center for Regenerative Medicine, as Professor Hamsten has just introduced, it will develop heart therapy by using RNA technologies, establish the first molecular encyclopaedia of the liver, and devise a cure for Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury. These laudable goals will bring together stem cell and regenerative medicine scientists from Sweden, Hong Kong and the Mainland of China. Their unique strengths and expertise will, I'm confident, help accelerate the research and development of novel stem-cell therapies.
The launching of the centre reaffirms Hong Kong's unique and unrivalled role as a super-connector between the Mainland of China and the rest of the world. When one is in Hong Kong, one is in China - but Hong Kong is a special part of China that offers advantages not found elsewhere. While we practise "the other system", we also provide first-rate connectivity to the Mainland. Hong Kong has long-established research partnerships with Mainland tertiary institutions and strong networks with the Mainland's biotechnology sector. These, and other ties, will help the KI-Hong Kong centre find resources and application opportunities throughout China.
The research centre's establishment also reflects Hong Kong's growing status in innovation and technology generally. Indeed, the latest Global Innovation Index, by Cornell University and other organisations, ranked Hong Kong among the world's 10 most innovative economies.
My government will continue to champion innovation. For example, our Innovation and Technology Fund has, to date, supported more than 4,200 projects with funding totalling nearly HK$9 billion. And, in my Policy Address last month, I announced that the Government would inject an additional HK$5 billion into the Fund.
Innovation and technology are key drivers for social and economic developments. They help improve our productivity and competitiveness, contribute to the sustainable growth of the economy and provide a greater variety of job opportunities for our talented young people. We are taking a further step in our pursuit of this goal, in establishing the Innovation and Technology Bureau, ITB. The new bureau will be the focal point of opportunities to facilitate advancements in technology and the commercial potentials they offer. It will provide dedicated strategic leadership in the formulation of holistic policies, oversee execution and monitor the outcome. We are now taking the last step in the process. The Finance Committee of the Legislative Council is now considering our funding proposal for the new ITB.
Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Hong Kong SAR Government, and the people of Hong Kong, my thanks to Dr Lau, to the Karolinska Institutet, and to its President, Professor Anders Hamsten. We will all reap the benefits of your vision, wisdom and dedication. Of that, I am sure.
Thank you.
Ends/Monday, February 2, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:59
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