Why Hong Kong

Market Connections with Mainland China

According to the Global Innovation Index 2023, the Shenzhen‑Hong Kong‑Guangzhou S&T (Science and Technology) clusters ranked second globally in terms of the number of patents and scientific publications.

To further facilitate R&D and the flow of I&T talent within the GBA, Hong Kong and Shenzhen plan to jointly develop the HSITP, and one of its priority development areas will be healthcare technologies. The park will be strategically located at the Lok Ma Chau Loop area (the Loop) near the Hong Kong‑Shenzhen border. Upon completion, the park will be the largest ever I&T platform in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is an important gateway for foreign manufacturers of proprietary Chinese medicine products, medical devices or drugs to tap into the GBA market. Hong Kong‑registered drugs with urgent clinical use and medical devices used in Hong Kong public hospitals are permitted in designated healthcare institutions operating in the nine Mainland cities of the GBA. The first batch of the five approved medical institutions includes the University of Hong Kong‑Shenzhen Hospital, C‑MER (Shenzhen) Dennis Lam Eye Hospital, Modern Hospital Guangzhou, Guangzhou United Family Hospital and Zhongshan Chenxinghai Hospital; for the second batch of the approved medical institutions released on 20 February 2023, additional 14 medical institutions were included under the scheme. As of January 2024, 28 imported drugs and 28 medical devices have been approved for urgent clinical use. Meanwhile, traditional proprietary Chinese medicine products for external use registered in Hong Kong can be registered and sold in the GBA through a streamlined approval process.

In terms of clinical applications, clinical trial data from Hong Kong is simultaneously recognised for drug registration purposes by various drug regulatory bodies such as the FDA, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). A total of 32 specialties from Queen Mary Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong Eye Hospital and Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital have gained accreditation of the clinical trial sites from the National Medical Products Administration; clinical trial data generated from these sites will be for the purpose of drug registration in the Mainland, enabling Hong Kong to serve as an important platform for local and multinational pharmaceutical companies to venture into the vast Chinese market.

Hong Kong strong research capabilities have all along been well recognised both nationally and internationally. Hong Kong has 16 State Key Laboratories, 6 Hong Kong Branches of Chinese National Engineering Research Centres and 22 Joint Laboratories with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Talent is the key to knowledge creation and innovation. According to the QS World University Rankings 2024, five of them ranked in the top 100. In 2024, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong also ranked in the top 50 in the medicine category.

These universities are amongst the world’s leading research universities, and they are increasingly converting their research into commercially successful products.

Hong Kong is equipped with a world‑class technology infrastructure for healthcare R&D. As a flagship technology centre in Hong Kong, HKSTP provides a wide range of facilities and services to support healthcare and biotechnology R&D. Relevant facilities include the Biomedical Technology Support Centre, the Healthcare Devices Innovation Hub, the Chemical Co‑Working Centre, the Biobank and GMP Facilities (Cell Processing).

With a strong research capability, Hong Kong has attracted many top‑notch universities and scientific research institutions from around the world. To give a few examples, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) opened an MIT Innovation Node in Hong Kong, a collaborative space aiming to connect MIT with the Hong Kong academic, commercial and social community through education and public engagement programmes. The Dr Li Dak‑Sum Research Centre, a collaboration in regenerative medicine between HKU and the Karolinska Institute, provides a cutting‑edge research environment for research on stem cell and regenerative medicine in Hong Kong.

In 2019, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) signed an agreement with the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Stanford University School of Medicine, and University College London to facilitate advanced translational neuroscience research. The partnership intends to set up the Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Hong Kong.

The Government provides financial support for health and medical research. Related funding includes Health and Medical Research Fund, Chinese Medicine Applied Studies and Research Funding Scheme and Partnership Research Programme etc.

To further consolidate Hong Kong’s position as a global research collaboration hub, the flagship project, InnoHK research clusters have already attracted world‑class universities and research institutes to collaborate with local universities in setting up 28 research laboratories. The 2021 Policy Address further proposes the setting up of an InnoLife Healthtech Hub in the HSITP in the Loop, with the 16 life and health‑related laboratories in the InnoHK research clusters and the 8 State Key Laboratories in life and health disciplines as the basis, to focus on related research work.

In addition, the Government launched of a five‑year Global STEM Professorship Scheme to attract outstanding overseas scientific researchers and their teams to set up laboratories and carry out research projects in Hong Kong.

Being the key financial and capital market in Asia, Hong Kong is a popular IPO destination in the region. In addition, Hong Kong is one of the world’s leading fundraising hubs for biotechnology. As of 2023, 126 healthcare and biotech companies have listed in Hong Kong, raising HK$277 billion through IPOs.¹

In April 2018, HKEX launched a new listing regime (Chapter 18A)² to allow pre-revenue biotech companies and new economy companies with non-standard share structures to raise capital in Hong Kong. This policy facilitates financing for biotech companies and strengthens Hong Kong’s position as a leading funding hub for biotechnology. As of February 2024, 63 companies were pre-revenue or pre-profit biotechnology companies listed under the new listing regime, raising about HK$120 billion.³

From December 2020 onwards, pre‑profit biotech companies listed in Hong Kong and stocks listed on the Mainland Sci‑Tech Innovation Board meeting certain prescribed criteria have been included into the stock universe of the mutual market access programmes between the mainland and Hong Kong financial markets, providing enormous funding opportunities to healthcare and biotech companies operating in the region.

The Government provides financial support to research projects in biotechnology through the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF). As of January 2024, a total of 847 biotechnology‑related projects were approved by the ITF, with grants of HK$1.76 billion (US$226 million). Projects funded cover research areas from stem cell therapy and molecular diagnostics to biopharmaceutical manufacturing and the modernisation of traditional Chinese medicine.