Mr WOLF (Mr Gérard WOLF, Special Advisor to the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs for Sustainable Cities), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon. It is my great pleasure to join you all again in this year’s “So French So Innovative” Forum. A warm welcome to our speakers and guests, especially those who come afar from France, “Bienvenue à Hong Kong” (“Welcome to Hong Kong”)!

Innovation and technology (I&T) is the driver for economic growth and the key to enhance competitiveness of our industries. With the theme “France - Hong Kong Shaping Green Efficiency, Smart Mobility and Digital Transformation”, today’s forum provides a good opportunity for French corporates and start-ups to interact and explore collaboration with Hong Kong enterprises, especially in the fields of construction, energy, healthcare and transportation. Apart from joining this forum, I would like to encourage you to take this opportunity to visit the many exhibits and events at InnoEX 2025. This year’s InnoEX showcases cutting-edge technology solutions across five key areas namely low-altitude economy, artificial intelligence, robotics, cybersecurity and smart mobility. With more than 500 exhibitors from 17 countries and regions around the world, it would be an excellent platform for exploring business opportunities as well as collaboration with enterprises from both Hong Kong and the Mainland.

To press ahead with I&T development and digital transformation in Hong Kong, the Government has implemented various digital infrastructures in the past few years to support the delivery and to provide better public services. For example, we have launched the iAM Smart platform to provide all Hong Kong citizens with a single digital identity and a one-stop personalized tool, for performing online transactions with the Government and commercial sectors securely and conveniently. We also implemented the Shared Blockchain Platform to facilitate government departments in implementing blockchain applications; commissioned the Consented Data Exchange Gateway to further promote the interflow of data within the Government as well as with the general public, to name just a few.

In addition, we are developing the digital corporate identity, CorpID, to facilitate the use and provision of e-services and the conduct of electronic commercial activities by corporations. Besides, we have completed a government-wide e-Government Audit exercise, and are moving at full speed to roll out over 100 new digital government and smart city initiatives before the end of this year.

AI is a new quality productive force and a key driver for digital economy. To enhance Hong Kong’s R&D capabilities and drive industry development, Cyberport’s AI Supercomputing Centre has commenced operation last year, and its computing power will ramp up to 3 000 petaFLOPS this year. We are also subsidising users of the Supercomputing Centre through the $3-billion AI Subsidy Scheme to make the computing power more accessible. We further announced in this year’s Budget to set aside $1 billion to establish the Hong Kong AI Research and Development Institute to spearhead AI development in Hong Kong and promote cross-sectoral collaboration.

France ranked 5th in the Global AI Index (2024) and 3rd in the Stanford Global AI Vibrancy Ranking (2023), with over 1 000 AI start-ups and the third most AI researchers in the world. There are indeed numerous opportunities for collaboration between Hong Kong and France in the field of AI, as well as other I&T areas such as smart mobility, smart living, green and waste management, etc. I look forward to welcoming more French companies to explore opportunities in the I&T sector in Hong Kong.

Lastly, my heartfelt thanks to the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau as well as the French Trade Commission - Business France for organising this remarkable forum. I wish a big success to the event and all of you a very fruitful experience in InnoEX. Thank you.

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