Professor Freddy Boey Yin Chiang, President of City University of Hong Kong (CityU), shared his insights on the topic “Universities and Deep Technology Start Ups – An Evolving Perspective” at a keynote speech at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Forum 2023 on 25 August.

President Boey said building a world-class research ecosystem took a long time and was costly with no guarantee of success. But the process was necessary for a city like Hong Kong because it would create wealth and a virtuous cycle of attracting talents and creating opportunities for investment.

Based on his experience developing deep technology start-ups at universities in Singapore, President Boey shared his thoughts on what role universities should play in the ecosystem. “Universities have two assets critical to venture creation: intellectual property and talent,” he said.

He said while universities’ intellectual property didn’t always make a profit, money should not be seen as the best measure of the outcome of promoting innovation and technology for universities. Instead the emphasise should be on the societal impact that start-ups render, for example start-ups that create jobs.

“I told the board members of the university in the past that university is not a bank but instead that it is a place for nurturing talents and training. Do not measure the outcome by how much money these start-ups can convert from research to commercialisation. Measure it by how many entrepreneurs we can produce,” he said.

 

In addition, he advised those who want to start a business that moving fast is very important because the market is impatient. Without speed or agility, a company might fail even it has a lot of money or the best plan among other start-ups.

President Boey said he was confident a successful research ecosystem could be built in Hong Kong, even better than the one in Singapore, adding that he was optimistic about the future development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong as the city has many enterprising and daring young people.

The Forum was organised by the Hong Kong Alliance of Technology and Innovation and focused on the exploration of transforming technological achievements into practical applications from the perspective of universities, enterprises, researchers and social support. Professor Sun Dong, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry of the HKSAR Government, and Professor Wang Weiming, Head of the Department of Educational, Scientific and Technological Affairs, Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR, attended as officiating guests.