​The Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas W Yang, began his three-day visit to Sydney today (September 7), meeting senior officials and start-up representatives and paying a visit to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

     Mr Yang started the day by calling on the Minister for Finance, Services and Property of New South Wales, Mr Victor Dominello. The meeting provided Mr Yang with updates on Australia's digital government strategy and the opening up of government data efforts.

     The next stop was the ASX, where Mr Yang held a meeting with the ASX Chief Operating Officer, Mr Timothy Hogben, to learn more about Australia's measures to promote listing of technology companies. Mr Yang noted that the ASX tech sector performed well in 2016 with 27 initial public offerings (IPOs), raising a total of A$650 million and ranking the ASX third among exchanges in the world in terms of the number of tech IPOs.

     He also held a meeting with the Chair of the Innovation and Science Australia (ISA) Board, Mr Bill Ferris, at which they discussed ISA's 2030 Strategic Plan on driving innovation investment and moving the Government and more sectors closer to the innovation frontier. ISA provides advice to the Government, through the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, to the Innovation and Science Committee of the Australian Government Cabinet, which is chaired by the Prime Minister.

     At a lunch reception with the Hong Kong community in Sydney, Mr Yang gave an overview of latest developments in Hong Kong's innovation and technology arena. He encouraged the younger generation of the Hong Kong community to return to Hong Kong and explore the business opportunities for innovation and technology.

     Later in the afternoon, Mr Yang paid a courtesy call on the Chinese Consul General in Sydney, Mr Gu Xiaojie.

     Before concluding the day, Mr Yang attended a tea gathering with the Chief Executive Officer of the Studio, Ms Chantal Abouchar, and representatives of start-ups to get a better grasp of the latest start-up culture and developments in Australia. Mr Yang also received presentations by 11 incubatees specialising in the technologies of virtual, mixed and augmented reality as well as blockchain, clinical and health solutions and cloud-based platforms. Focusing on fostering and supporting media-tech and creative-tech start-ups, the Studio will be one of the tenants in the Sydney Startup Hub funded by the New South Wales Government alongside other key incubators in Australia later this year.

     Tomorrow (September 8), Mr Yang will speak at a business forum organised by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Sydney and visit financial technologies incubator Stone & Chalk and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation entity Data61.

Ends/Thursday, September 7, 2017
Issued at HKT 18:03

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