The Director-General of the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES), Mr Peter Yan, and his delegation visited Beijing from October 19 to 22. The visit marked a continuation of a series of engagements conducted earlier this year to further strengthen exchanges and collaboration with the city’s innovation and technology (I&T) sector.

     Mr Yan said that "The Chief Executive's 2025 Policy Address" set out a range of initiatives to drive I&T development, including the promotion of AI applications and the accelerated development of the Northern Metropolis to support smart city development. He noted that the work direction of OASES aligns closely with these policy priorities. The delegation focused on two strategic sectors, namely AI and data science, and advanced manufacturing and new energy, with a view to strengthening exchanges and collaboration with relevant enterprises, facilitating the application and commercialisation of cutting-edge technologies, and exploring the possibility of establishing regional headquarters or research and development (R&D) centres in Hong Kong. These efforts aim to reinforce the city’s position as a global I&T hub and further enhance its overall competitiveness in the innovation economy.

     Upon arriving in Beijing, Mr Yan visited a top-tier semiconductor enterprise with a market valuation exceeding RMB400 billion. The company is the first on the Chinese Mainland to achieve full domestic industrialisation across the entire "chip-server-cloud computing" industrial chain, and holds a leading position in advanced manufacturing, technological autonomy and industry integration. Mr Yan held comprehensive discussions with the company's representatives on the potential establishment of a regional R&D centre in Hong Kong. He highlighted Hong Kong's strengths as an international city, including its robust research infrastructure, sound legal system and diverse talent pool, which together offer a conducive environment for attracting top global researchers. Mr Yan added that enterprises setting up R&D centres in Hong Kong may benefit from enhanced tax deductions on R&D expenditure and apply for support under the Innovation and Technology Fund, thereby further reducing development costs and accelerating technology application and commercialisation. Both sides recognised Hong Kong's unique advantages in driving high-end technology research and fostering international collaboration, and expressed interest in pursuing further co-operation.
      
     During the visit, Mr Yan also met with several enterprises specialising in AI and data science. Mr Yan briefed the representatives of the enterprises on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government's policy support, research capabilities, and international platform advantages in these fields. Mr Yan was invited to visit an autonomous driving technology company that had previously engaged with OASES in Hong Kong. The company focuses on the development of high-level autonomous driving (Level 4) technologies and has delivered over 10 000 unmanned urban delivery vehicles across nine countries, serving approximately 300 cities worldwide. The company's founder shared plans for overseas market expansion, and Mr Yan invited the company to consider establishing its international headquarters in Hong Kong, leveraging the city's unique strengths as a global financial and R&D centre to accelerate international growth. Mr Yan also visited the company's deployment site at the Mentougou District Post Office in Beijing, where he observed the practical application of unmanned urban delivery vehicles in postal logistics. Representatives of the post office explained how the technology has helped enhance mail delivering efficiency and reduce infrastructure costs, demonstrating the potential of innovative technologies in public service delivery.
     
     Mr Yan also visited the technology innovation centre of one of the world's largest telecommunications tower infrastructure service providers. The company's representative showcased their self-developed "BeiDou + indoor distribution" technology for indoor positioning applications, and shared how their digital infrastructure solutions are supporting the development of the low-altitude economy across cities on the Chinese Mainland. Mr Yan encouraged the company to actively participate in Hong Kong's digital infrastructure initiatives, expressing hope that its technologies and experience could contribute to the accelerated development of the Northern Metropolis and promote the growth of the low-altitude economy in the city.
      
      Later, Mr Yan visited a local provider of AI infrastructure and intelligent computing cloud services. He was briefed on the company's technologies for allocating computing resources within AI data centres and its solutions for reducing user costs. Mr Yan held intensive discussions with the company's founder on the market prospects of an AI data centre and how such technologies could support the development of Hong Kong's AI industry. Both sides explored potential areas for future collaboration.   

     The OASES delegation concluded its visit in the afternoon of October 22. Mr Yan remained in Beijing to join the delegation led by the Financial Secretary in visiting the Beijing subsidiary administrative centre and the Xiong'an New Area in Hebei, gaining insights into the latest developments in smart city planning and spatial development on the Chinese Mainland, offering valuable reference for the advancement of relevant policies and projects in Hong Kong.

Ends/Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Issued at HKT 22:10

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