Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Monday urged the city’s universities to promote the commercialization of research outcomes to dovetail with the development of new quality productive forces.

The move is also expected to give momentum to Hong Kong’s high-quality development, Lee said at a meeting on Monday with members of the University Grants Committee, which is responsible for counseling the government on the financing and expansion needs of the city’s eight subsidized higher education institutions.

The chief executive said he hopes that the committee will continue to support universities in teaching and research, in nurturing talent, and in transforming and commercializing research outcomes to dovetail with the development of new quality productive forces in the country

Lee thanked the committee for providing valuable insights into the development of Hong Kong’s tertiary education as well as for driving internationalization and innovation in teaching and research.

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The chief executive said he hopes that the committee will continue to support universities in teaching and research, in nurturing talent, and in transforming and commercializing research outcomes to dovetail with the development of new quality productive forces in the country, thereby injecting impetus into Hong Kong’s high-quality development.

Committee Chairman Tim Lui Tim-Leung briefed Lee on the initiatives that the committee has taken, including helping Hong Kong universities attract more students from around the world to study in the city under the “Study in Hong Kong” initiative, and expanding cooperation between local higher education institutions and Chinese mainland and overseas universities in student exchange and research collaboration.  

Lui also said that the committee is actively guiding universities in how to cultivate talent in a diverse range of knowledge areas, with special focus on the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) disciplines, previously identified by the government as a priority, and on courses related to Hong Kong’s positioning of eight centers under the nation’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).

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The eight centers are the international financial center, the international innovation and technology center, the East-meets-West center for international cultural exchange, the international trade center, the international shipping center, the international aviation hub, the center for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region as well as the regional intellectual property trading center.

Intern Chen Xiyun also contributed to the story.