Mrs Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive, and Mr Wang Zhigang, the Minister of Science and Technology, witnessed the signing of the "Arrangement on Enhancing Innovation and Technology (I&T) Cooperation between the Mainland and Hong Kong" and the "Agreement on Commencing Jointly Funded Projects between the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the Innovation and Technology Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government" on September 20.

Mr Nicholas Yang, the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, and Mr Zhang Jianguo, the Vice Minister of Science and Technology, represented Hong Kong and the Mainland to sign the Arrangement, whereas Mr Cheuk Wing-hing, the Permanent Secretary for Innovation and Technology, and Mr Ye Dongbai, the Director-General of the Office of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of MOST, represented the two places respectively to sign the Agreement.

This was followed by a plaque presentation ceremony by Mr Wang Zhigang, the Minister of Science and Technology. Since then, the 16 Partner State Key Laboratories (PSKLs) in Hong Kong has been renamed as State Key Laboratories (SKL). This allowed them more flexibility to collaborate with different research and development institutions.

At the ceremony, MOST announced that it would entrust SenseTime Group Limited to establish the "National Open Innovation Platform for Next Generation Artificial Intelligence on Intelligent Vision".

The Chief Executive expressed her heartfelt thanks to MOST for its support for I&T development in Hong Kong. She said the newly signed Arrangement and Agreement marked a new chapter in scientific and technological collaboration between the Mainland and Hong Kong. She added that the renaming of PSKLs would provide more flexibility for collaboration between SKLs in Hong Kong and research institutes in the Mainland, and that the recognition given to Sensetime Group meant solid support for our home-grown unicorns.”

Under the Arrangement, the two sides will enhance co-operation in six essential areas, namely scientific research, development of platforms, nurturing of talents, transfer of results and incubation of the I&T industry, integration into national development strategies, and cultivation of an I&T atmosphere.

With a view to encouraging scientific collaboration between Hong Kong and the Mainland, the Government has been exploring with MOST the feasibility of setting up the Mainland-Hong Kong Joint Funding Scheme to support such cooperation. The Agreement sets out the framework of the funding and the modus operandi of the Scheme, details of which will be announced in due course.