Venture capital forum commences to seek innovation breakthroughs

The Cyberport Venture Capital Forum 2022, which gathered over 100 global venture experts and entrepreneurial leaders to discuss the global venture capital market, financing strategies, new opportunities, as well as the development of smart living,  commenced Thursday at Cyberport.

In the opening speech for the two-day forum, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong said the government is promulgating the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Development Blueprint, which will lay out the future directions and major strategies for the I&T development. 

“The government will also establish the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises to be led by the Financial Secretary for attracting strategic enterprises around the world,” Sun added. 

He said the authorities would work closely with the Office to attract IT enterprises and talents to strengthen the local IT ecosystem and power up the tech industry’s development.

In his welcoming remarks, Simon Chan Sai-ming, Chairman of Cyberport, said that technological innovation was one of the key focuses at the recent 20th Party Congress. The latest Policy Address also aims to boost IT advancement and expand the tech talent pipeline. 

“With these new blueprints in place, we are encouraged by the promising outlook for I&T entrepreneurship,” Chan said.

The fundraising of Cyberport community companies has performed well over the past year. From October 2021 to September 2022, the community companies raised more than HK$15.5 billion, a significant increase of 176% compared to the same period last year, with a cumulative fund of HK$34.4 billion.