HK$5 billion needed to make new Hong Kong biomedical technology centre a ‘bright spot’, top scientist Tsui Lap-chee says

World-renowned expert in molecular genetics heads a preparatory panel for the project, to be built in planned technology park in Lok Ma Chau Loop border area

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Hong Kong has an edge in biomedical technology, an expert says. Photo: SCMP

Published: 8:52pm, 17 Jun 2018Updated: 9:12am, 18 Jun 2018

A leading Hong Kong scientist has proposed that the government inject HK$5 billion (US$641 million) into setting up a biomedical technology centre in a bid to develop the city as a world-class hub for the discipline.

The centre, which would be built in a technology park planned for a border area with mainland China, should seek to draw the brightest minds from across Hong Kong and Guangdong province to enhance cooperation, according to Professor Tsui Lap-chee, a world-renowned expert in molecular genetics who was tasked by the city’s leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to head a preparatory panel for the project.

Tsui said on Sunday his rough estimate was that HK$5 billion would be enough to cover the centre’s operating costs in the first eight years.

Professor Tsui Lap-chee. Photo: Nora Tam

Tsui, also president of the Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong, told Commercial Radio: “Hong Kong has an edge in biomedical technology. Our plan is to group together experts from different universities to work in the centre, like a joint laboratory, and make it a bright spot of Hong Kong.

“If needed, we can also cooperate with mainland experts in the Greater Bay Area.”

The “Greater Bay Area” is the Chinese government’s scheme to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities into an integrated economic and business hub.