The Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Alfred Sit, together with the Commissioner for Innovation and Technology, Ms Rebecca Pun, visited the Multi-Scale Medical Robotics Center (MRC) today (June 14) to learn about how it works together with the industry to promote the collaboration of transdisciplinary medical robotics research under the support of the InnoHK research clusters. The MRC focuses on technological innovation with a strong emphasis on clinical translation and facilitates the commercialisation of novel surgical robots to benefit the community.

     The visit was conducted in the company of the directors of the MRC, Professor Philip Chiu from the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and Professor Samuel Au from the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering of CUHK. Mr Sit watched robotic-assisted surgery performed in a human cadaver and exchanged views with the research team. He said he was glad to see the MRC commercialised its technology, and together with its industry partner, foster the development of surgical robots in Hong Kong and translate research innovations into medical practices, enabling diagnostic and therapeutic procedures that bring benefits to all human. He added that it is also encouraging to have the MRC as an incubation hub to foster medical technology start-ups and provide training in surgical robotic technologies, providing ample opportunities for young people.

     Spearheaded by CUHK in collaboration with ETH Zurich, Imperial College London and Johns Hopkins University, the MRC is a member of the InnoHK research clusters, the flagship innovation and technology (I&T) project of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. Promoting global research collaboration, the InnoHK research clusters have already attracted over 30 world-renowned universities and research institutes around the world to set up 28 research laboratories in the Hong Kong Science Park. The first two research clusters are Health@InnoHK, focusing on healthcare technologies, and AIR@InnoHK, focusing on artificial intelligence and robotics technologies.

     Mr Sit said that encouraging research and development (R&D) is key to I&T development and an important part in the promotion of re-industrialisation. The establishment of the flagship project of InnoHK research clusters demonstrates Hong Kong's strong capabilities in R&D and advantage of internationalisation. The InnoHK research clusters have attracted 33 world-renowned universities and research institutes from 11 economies, pooling around 2 000 researchers locally and from all over the world, which helps drive R&D, nurture scientific research talents and facilitate the development of Hong Kong into an international I&T hub.

Ends/Tuesday, June 14, 2022
Issued at HKT 18:50

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