Unit of Hong Kong’s MTR launches start-up incubator with aim of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050
- MTR Lab hopes to create an ecosystem for experimentation, not only in Hong Kong, but all around the globe within MTR’s business scope, executive says
- The Co+Lab Initiative platform will seek out early-stage companies with technology that can help the railway operator develop a ‘carbon-neutral smart community’
Co+Lab Initiative, the investment platform, will seek out early-stage companies with technology that can help the railway operator develop a “carbon-neutral smart community”, Michael Chan Ting-bond, MTR Lab’s managing director, said in an interview.
“With this initiative, MTR Lab hopes to create an ecosystem for experimentation – not only in Hong Kong, but all around the globe within MTR Corporation’s business scope,” he said. Co+Lab will focus on six key sectors relevant to MTR’s operations, including mobility, retail, property, financial and data services, smart city technology and sustainability.
The intention is for start-ups’ technologies to be trialled and tested across the railway operator’s ecosystem, which includes its businesses in Stockholm in Sweden, Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, as well as London in the United Kingdom, Chan said.
“What we have is a huge ecosystem that we can trial [technology in]. And by doing this trial, and by attracting a lot of like-minded partners, it would definitely help us in reaching our [carbon-neutral] goal much faster.”
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Under sustainability, the platform would be looking for start-ups with innovative solutions in green technology or environmentally-friendly building materials, according to its website.
“We will also look at prop-tech, retail-tech … anything that is smart city related,” Chan said. “And obviously, we love anything that has sustainable and carbon-neutral elements in it,” he said, adding that start-ups with a sustainability focus would definitely have that “extra green tick” on them.
Investments in these start-ups will help the railway operator source new and innovative technological solutions to reach its own carbon-neutral goals, Chan said. MTR Corporation has set itself a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. It will set science-based carbon-reduction targets for its railway and property businesses in Hong Kong by 2030 to reach this milestone, according to its 2021 sustainability report.
Carbon Wallet, another company in MTR Lab’s portfolio, is playing a critical role in MTR Lab’s plan to create a carbon-neutral community, said Chan. It is a green lifestyle platform that records, verifies and rewards actions with a lower carbon footprint. It was founded by a group of graduate trainees from MTR Corporation and launched in March 2021.
As of January this year, the mobile application has been installed 70,000 times with 26,000 registered users. More than 309,700 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents – equal to 1,147 one-way flights from Hong Kong to Tokyo – have been saved by the community, which chose to take actions with a lower carbon footprint, Chan said.
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MTR Lab will be looking at potential exchanges with the Greater Bay Area to solidify its ecosystem and to work with more like-minded partners. “Our core focus will be in the Greater Bay Area. Yet, our programme is open globally,” Chan said.
MTR Lab, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MTR Corporation, aims to create strategic value through investments in technology and innovative solutions. It was set up two years ago and was officially launched in October last year.
