Good morning. It is a pleasure to join you, once again, for the opening of the Asia Summit on Global Health, the sixth edition.
You represent the full spectrum of the global health community. That includes medical professionals and government officials, also representatives of multinational pharmaceutical and health-tech enterprises, investors and entrepreneurs.
Your presence here in Hong Kong underscores a simple but powerful truth: in an age of complex health challenges, progress is powered by collaboration.
This summit makes collaboration easy, with more than 90 high-profile speakers from 15 countries and regions. They include Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry Prof Michael Levitt, who will speak at the Dialogue with Global Pioneer in Health session. And count on the latest medical developments and research, together with wide-ranging opportunities for networking and creative partnerships that make all the difference.
Your expertise and contributions are desperately needed. Today’s world grapples with profound health challenges, with new threats continually emerging. We also face the pressing realities of ageing populations. There is the silent crisis of antimicrobial resistance. And there are persistent inequities in healthcare access – both regional and global.
That makes the theme of this year’s summit, “Fuelling Healthcare Breakthroughs”, particularly relevant. The two-day programme highlights three key areas:
First, China opportunities in aligning with the 15th Five-Year Plan’s health priorities. This includes innovative drug access, modernisation of traditional Chinese medicine, silver health, and the outbound expansion of Chinese pharmaceutical companies.
Second, frontier technologies. The programme covers global healthcare trends, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) and digital health, medical robotics and devices, and gene and cell therapies.
Third, health innovation and investment trends. You will see pitching sessions for startups. You will also find deal-making sessions that connect projects with capital.
Clinical collaboration with the Mainland
Let me now outline how Hong Kong, under the “one country, two systems” principle, is investing in healthcare and, in doing so, investing in the future of our people and our economy.
Our status as a leading hub for scientific innovation is unrivalled in Asia. And our strengths are magnified by our core position in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. That is the cluster city development integrating 11 dynamic cities in southern China. It boasts a collective economy that rivals that of the world’s 10th-largest nation.
In pursuit of medical innovation, Hong Kong complements the strategies set out in the National 15th Five-Year Plan. The plan optimises an evaluation and approval mechanism for innovative drugs and supports their clinical application. The goal is to develop Hong Kong into a health and medical innovation hub.
Central to this ambition is the rapid expansion of our clinical trial capabilities, the vital engine that drives biomedical research and development (R&D) from the laboratory to the bedside.
That is anchored by the Greater Bay Area International Clinical Trial Institute. It is wholly government-owned and operated by the University of Hong Kong’s medical faculty. It is located in the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science & Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone.
The institute operates alongside its Shenzhen counterpart under an integrated “one institute, one centre” model. Together, they draw on the Greater Bay Area’s combined population of more than 87 million, co-ordinating multi-centre, cross-boundary clinical trials. These trials meet both national and international standards.
By streamlining cross-boundary trials, the institute serves as a one-stop agency for medical R&D institutions worldwide. It accelerates the delivery of life-changing medical technologies to patients.
Last December, we launched the Greater Bay Area Clinical Trial Collaboration Platform. We also set up the Real-World Study & Application Centre. Both deepen our co-operation with Mainland partners.
The collaboration platform offers expert consultation on medicine, statistics, regulatory affairs and ethics. The application centre uses Hong Kong’s medical data advantages to generate real-world evidence. This supports drug and device registration in Hong Kong and on the Mainland.
Drug and medical device regulation
We are also enhancing our drug and medical device regulatory regime. Our “1+” mechanism for new drugs’ registration expedites patient access to life-saving therapies.
It allows new drugs to be registered in Hong Kong after approval from just one recognised reference authority – instead of the traditional two. Supporting local clinical data is required, of course.
This year is transformative for our regulatory landscape. In March, we began the phased implementation of “primary evaluation” for new drugs registration. That marks a milestone in our transition to a fully independent drug evaluation framework. We aim for full implementation by 2030.
I am also pleased to announce that the Hong Kong Centre for Medical Products Regulation will be established by year’s end. That will put Hong Kong on the map as a trusted hub for regulatory excellence.
Innovation research
InnoHK, our flagship innovation and technology initiative, was launched to develop Hong Kong into a global research collaboration hub. And to date, two InnoHK research clusters have collaborated with more than 30 world-renowned universities and research institutes from 12 economies.
They pool more than 3,000 researchers worldwide. Sixteen of the research centres focus on healthcare-related technologies – biomedicine, chemistry, engineering and AI.
We are also establishing the Life & Health Technology Research Institute. It will be located at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park, with three branches to be established by local universities. We expect to complete the preparatory work this year.
We are strengthening the bridge between laboratories and the market through the Research, Academic & Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme, with funding of HK$10 billion, which is US$1.3 billion, allowing money to channel more support to local university research teams. We are focused on those with good potential to become successful startups, commercialising their R&D outcomes.
Health tech downstream industry
Downstream industry is central to supporting a thriving life and health technology sector. That is why we have launched the New Industrialisation Acceleration Scheme, also with funding of HK$10 billion; that is US$1.3 billion.
It helps companies in life and health technology and other strategic fields to establish high-end smart production facilities in Hong Kong. To date, we have supported two enterprises focusing on pharmaceuticals and medical devices, with a total project cost of over US$120 million.
Another HK$10 billion, or US$1.3 billion, the Innovation & Technology Industry-Oriented Fund, will also be launched this year. It will encourage market capital to invest in five thematic areas, life and health technology among them.
We have long supported the University Grants Committee’s eight funded universities. They carry out academic research in wide-ranging disciplines, including health and medicine. In the 2025-26 academic year, more than 200 research projects in medicine and biology received government support. Total funding exceeded US$32 million.
We are also nurturing PhD and postdoctoral talent. Publicly funded research postgraduate places grew from about 5,600 to 7,200 in two years, up to 2024-25; the increase is 28%. Places under the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme also rose by a third.
Ladies and gentlemen, Hong Kong is committed to medical innovation. We have established vital infrastructure and productive policies. We have also created a dynamic network that turns research into tangible solutions.
True innovation requires deep collaboration and strategic partnerships that span the world and every sector of our industry. Through your interactions over the next two days, we may begin to unlock the next great breakthroughs in medicine and biotechnology.
Chief Executive John Lee gave these remarks at the Asia Summit on Global Health on May 11.
