Hong Kong’s sovereign wealth fund expanded its investment horizon into embodied artificial intelligence, aiming at transforming the city into a leading international research and talent hub for embodied AI technology.

On Friday, Hong Kong Investment Corp Chief Executive Officer Clara Chan Ka-chai opened the ecosystem augmentation ceremony with Wang He, assistant professor at Peking University and director at PKU-Galbot Lab of Embodied AI, witnessed by Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po.

“Our country is the world’s second largest economy with a complete supply chain, full coverage of largescale manufacturing production, and a super-large market. Together with policy support, continuous investment in science and technology, a huge database, high-quality scientific and technological talents and a wide range of application scenarios, these advantages jointly promote the rapid development of the AI industry,” Paul Chan said.

“The cooperation between HKIC and Galbot demonstrates our determination to promote the development of the AI industry. As long as we work together and forge ahead, Hong Kong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will surely become an important hub for global technological innovation, empowering the entire region's economy, accelerating high-quality development, and contributing to the scientific and technological development and social progress of the country and the world,” the finance chief highlighted.

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Galbot Co is the third partner enterprise announced by HKIC. Established in May 2023, it focuses on building robots with embodied AI, with research and development centers in Beijing, Shenzhen and Suzhou, and a joint laboratory with Peking University.

HKIC has already signed two strategic cooperation agreements with homegrown AI unicorn SmartMore Corp and biocomputing model generator BioMap last month, advancing the city’s innovation and technology ecosystem through strategic investments.

Galbot is committed to nurturing embodied AI talent in the city by jointly building the Hong Kong International Embodied Intelligence Talent Exchange Center and creating the Hong Kong-Galbot Embodied AI Lab through exploring cooperation with tertiary institutions in Hong Kong; training more than 500 teenagers to master basic knowledge and skills in related fields within five years; and launching an embodied intelligence design or application competition for young Hong Kong people with local organizations starting in 2025.

The startup will also cooperate with local ecological partners to explore the practical application of robots in business, tourism, and other servicing use cases in the city. In addition, the company will give priority to Hong Kong as a listing location.

“From the perspective of the country's development direction, embodied intelligence is one of the connotations of cultivating new productive forces and promoting high-quality development. Data shows that the global embodied intelligence market will soar from $1.8 billion in 2023 to $13.8 billion in 2028,” Clara Chan said.

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She added: “With the efforts of HKIC to drive industrial development through investment, a number of new businesses and new models can be developed in relevant fields, including medical health, home and elderly care, city management, and areas such as rescue and protective operations in extremely harsh and dangerous situations.

“We will foster the development of Hong Kong’s embodied AI by driving the application in different emerging sectors such as industry, logistics, retail, research and development, hospitality, office , family and elderly care. Developing toward generalist robots is an important direction for industry upgrade,” Wang said.

The Friday kick-off ceremony was accompanied by a dedicated student session, to which around 30 local secondary students were invited to interact with Galbot Co.

Galbot’s Co-founder Yao Tengzhou and other guest speakers gave their thoughts on how to explore more embodied AI applications. They unanimously emphasized the need for a cross-disciplinary and adaptable talent pool for fostering the development of innovative technology, and provided advice to students, present and future, on how to develop their academic performance and career path.

By combining the Hong Kong Growth Portfolio, the Greater Bay Area Investment Fund, the Strategic Tech Fund, and the Co-Investment Fund, the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced the establishment of the HKIC in 2022 with capital of no less than HK$62 billion ($7.94 billion), to further optimize the use of financial reserves for promoting the development of industries and the wider economy.