Co-chaired by the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas Yang, and the Vice Minister of Science and Technology, Prof Huang Wei, the 12th meeting of the Mainland/Hong Kong Science and Technology Co-operation Committee was held in Hong Kong on November 3.

The new innovation and technology (I&T) initiatives in the recently announced Policy Address demonstrate the Government's determination to actively strive for breakthroughs in I&T. At the meeting, Mr Yang indicated that Hong Kong looked forward to strengthening its co-operation with the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and members of the Committee to seize the opportunities brought by the National 13th Five-Year Plan and the Development Plan for a City Cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area, so as to take Hong Kong's I&T development to another new height.

The Committee agreed to launch an application exercise for recommending Hong Kong experts to be admitted to the National Science and Technology Programmes Expert Database, and to consider taking forward the selection exercise for Hong Kong laboratories to be approved as Partner State Key Laboratories next year.

In addition, the two sides witnessed the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTPC) being awarded as a State-level Scientific and Technological Enterprise Incubator by the MOST. This is a recognition of the efforts the HKSTPC has made in providing incubation and support services to Hong Kong's I&T start-up enterprises.

Mainland members attending the meeting included representatives from the MOST, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the China Association for Science and Technology, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology, and the Science and Technology Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality.

The Hong Kong delegation comprised representatives from the Innovation and Technology Bureau, the Innovation and Technology Commission, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, the City University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Baptist University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the University of Hong Kong, the HKSTPC, the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, the Hong Kong Productivity Council, the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute, the Hong Kong Automotive Parts and Accessory Systems R&D Centre, the Hong Kong R&D Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management Enabling Technologies, the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel, and Nano and Advanced Materials Institute Limited.