Speech by CS at announcement ceremony for establishment of Centre for Clinical Innovation and Discovery and Institute of Cancer Care (English only) (with photos/video)
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     Following is the speech by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, today (June 28) at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) at the announcement ceremony for the establishment of the Centre for Clinical Innovation and Discovery and Institute of Cancer Care.

Professor Arthur Li (Council Chairman of HKU), Professor Peter Mathieson (President and Vice-Chancellor of HKU), Professor Gabriel Leung (Dean of Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of HKU), Dr Simon Ip (Chairman of the Hong Kong Jockey Club), Mr Steve Lan (Chairman of the Hong Kong Tuberculosis, Chest and Heart Diseases Association), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

     It gives me great pleasure to join you today at this donation ceremony to applaud the generosity of the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) Charities Trust for supporting the HKU Medical Faculty in setting up the Centre for Clinical Innovation and Discovery and the Institute of Cancer Care at Grantham Hospital.

     The Centre and the Institute will act as a brand new platform for the translation of innovation and discovery in science and in model of care for the treatment of patients. The generous donation of HK$1.24 billion by the Charities Trust echoes the Government's commitment to enhance our healthcare services and helps promote cross-sectoral collaboration amongst the Government, the community and academia in serving the people of Hong Kong.

     Established back in 1957 by the then Hong Kong Anti-Tuberculosis Association (currently known as the Hong Kong Tuberculosis, Chest and Heart Diseases Association), Grantham Hospital has been providing a wide range of services in medicine, geriatrics, palliative care and cataract surgeries.

     The re-development of Grantham Hospital forms part of the Government's HK$200 billion Ten-year Hospital Development Plan. The Hospital will be positioned as an academic ambulatory centre with a strong focus on cancer services by integrating clinical services, teaching and research activities. The Centre for Clinical Innovation and Discovery and the Institute of Cancer Care to be set up in the Grantham Hospital will reinforce the new role of the hospital by providing seamless cancer services from prevention, diagnosis and treatment to rehabilitation and survivor care. It will also serve as a training ground for clinicians and scientists to propel the development of an innovation and technology-driven health care model for Hong Kong.

     I am most pleased to learn that the Centre and the Institute will also make available vast learning and training opportunities for research postgraduate students as well as undergraduate students in various disciplines. These new opportunities will certainly create broader career paths for our next generation. Indeed, this is in line with our policy to foster a culture of multi-faceted excellence and to provide diversified learning, training and development opportunities to younger people with different aspirations.

     It is our vision to develop Hong Kong into an innovation and technology hub. To this end, we have attached great importance to supporting the research work conducted by the higher education sector. In 2015-16, the reported aggregate expenditure on research of the UGC (the University Grants Committee)-funded universities reached HK$9.55 billion and the majority of the amount came from the Government, including those through the UGC , the Research Grants Council and other government sources.

     We are also putting more resources into our world-class universities and research and development institutions to encourage midstream and applied research projects. We have injected HK$2 billion to launch a Midstream Research Programme for Universities to provide funding support for universities to carry out more midstream and applied research projects in key technology areas. Since 2013-14, the Innovation and Technology Fund has been providing annual funding of up to HK$4 million for each of the technology transfer offices of the six local universities to enhance their technology transfer capabilities. We will continue the Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities to assist technology start-ups established by university teams in commercialising research results.

     Apart from the above funding schemes, we are also liaising with top research and development institutions from all over the world to promote Hong Kong as their gateway to Asia. The response has been encouraging so far. Last year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened its MIT Innovation Node in Hong Kong. It is set up to connect MIT's celebrated technology researchers, academics and students with opportunities available in Hong Kong and the neighbouring Pearl River Delta. Sweden's Karolinska Institutet, one of the world's leading medical universities, opened its first overseas research centre in October last year at Hong Kong Science Park. The Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine will target such areas as genome editing, biomedical engineering and 3D tissue imaging.

     Ladies and gentlemen, what I have mentioned are just some of the highlights of the HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) Government's dedicated efforts to promote innovation and technology in Hong Kong. We will continue to introduce and enhance policy measures to encourage both the public and private sectors to invest in research and development. The announcement in this year's government budget that HK$10 billion will be reserved to add further impetus to local innovation and technology development is a case in point.

     On this note, I would like to thank the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust very warmly once again for supporting the HKU Medical Faculty for the development of a holistic cancer care paradigm for Hong Kong, which marks a very important milestone for medical advancement in Hong Kong's long-term future. I wish this unique project every success.

     Thank you.

Ends/Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Issued at HKT 16:19

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