Mann (Mr Mann YIM, Chairman of NEXX Innovation Alliance and President of Hong Kong Society of Artificial Intelligence and Innovation (HKSAII)), Cecilia (Ms Cecilia YAU, Vice President of HKSAII), Allan (Dr Allan ZEMAN, Chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Group), Nick (Mr Nick CHAN, Senior Advisor of HKSAII and Digital Security and Data Protection Alliance of Hong Kong (DSDPA HK)), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon! It is my great pleasure to join you all here today at the NEXX AI and Innovation Forum 2025 cum Award Ceremony. First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the organiser for gathering us here for a fruitful exchange of ideas and visions on artificial intelligence (AI) and innovation.

AI is undoubtedly among the most talked-about tech topics in the world and in town now. When AI is coupled with innovation, it unlocks boundless potential and opportunities for boosting the digital economy and smart city initiatives in Hong Kong. In fact, innovation and technology (I&T) has become one of the twin engines for high-quality development in Hong Kong, as recently highlighted by the Financial Secretary. With the goal of developing Hong Kong into an international I&T centre, the Government has made tremendous investment in the I&T sector. These efforts include fostering the adoption of AI to drive growth and enhance competitiveness.

The Government has introduced a series of strategic initiatives to support and drive the development of the local AI ecosystem. For example, the AI Supercomputing Centre at Cyberport has come into operation since last December to enhance the local supply of high-performance computing power, which will gradually ramp up to 3 000 petaFLOPS within this year, among the largest in the region. To leverage Cyberport’s supercomputing centre, we also provide subsidies to eligible users of the facilities, such as local institutions, research institutes, enterprises and start-ups through the $3 billion AI Subsidy Scheme to encourage the research and development (R&D) of potential groundbreaking AI. To all the start-ups and tech friends here, I appeal to you to grasp the opportunity provided by the subsidy scheme.

Another initiative spearheaded by the Government is the AIR@InnoHK Research Cluster, which supports the R&D of AI and robotics. The cluster is a collaboration with leading R&D institutions locally and globally. Among the many R&D labs set up under the cluster, the Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Center (HKGAI in short) launched its homegrown AI large language model, named “HKGAI V1”, in February this year. It is based on DeepSeek technology with optimisation for Hong Kong’s cultural and linguistic environment. HKGAI has integrated this model into a generative AI document processing copilot application (“HKPilot”), which has already been put into pilot use in all government bureaux and departments.

In addition, the Digital Policy Office is making great efforts to formulate the establishment arrangements of the Hong Kong AI R&D Institute, a new initiative announced by the Financial Secretary in his Budget Speech early this year. With an earmarked investment of $1 billion for its establishment, the new institute will be tasked to spearhead AI development and industry application in Hong Kong, facilitating upstream R&D, midstream and downstream transformation of R&D outcomes, and expanding application scenarios. It is our goal that the new institute will also help pool talents in AI-related fields, promote R&D and extensive application of AI, and facilitate exchanges on AI between Hong Kong and the Mainland, as well as overseas countries and regions.

It is a privilege to witness today's award ceremony, recognising the outstanding commitment and achievements of start-ups, corporates and organisations in driving digital transformation through the application of AI and innovative strategies. To all the awardees, congratulations and do keep up the good work and your innovative minds. While the Government will continue to promote digital transformation and AI development in Hong Kong, we look forward to the participation of the industry and young talents like the awardees today for a joint effort to achieve innovation breakthroughs for the betterment of Hong Kong. In closing, I wish the Forum a great success, and all of you an inspiring and rewarding experience today. Thank you very much.

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