Top German R&D institutes team up with Hong Kong Productivity Council to set up industrial technology centre

Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and RWTH Aachen Campus hope to create a springboard for more cooperation with China in IT development

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(From left): Hong Kong Productivity Council chairman Willy Lin Sun-mo, Nicholas Yang, Carrie Lam, German consul general Dieter Lamle and Toni Drescher. Photo: Roy Issa

Published: 8:22pm, 11 Oct 2018Updated: 11:14pm, 11 Oct 2018

Two top German research and development institutes are embarking on their first overseas venture by opening a new centre to help Hong Kong move up the technology ladder with smart manufacturing.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and RWTH Aachen Campus will team up with the government-backed Hong Kong Productivity Council in the venture, and they hope to create a springboard for more cooperation with mainland China in IT development.

Their new centre, The Hatch, at the council’s Kowloon Tong headquarters, aims to develop industrial technology and digital manufacturing, at a time when Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has decided to pump HK$4 billion (US$512 million) into re-industrialisation efforts.

The new centre will be based at Hong Kong Productivity Council’s headquarters in Kowloon Tong. Photo: SCMP

The director of Fraunhofer’s Invention Centre, Toni Drescher, said a second centre would be set up at the science park in Sha Tin.

“We want to set up more centres and bring in more people here,” he said. “As the next step, we will reach out to the ‘Greater Bay Area’, such as the Lok Ma Chau Loop IT park, which are great opportunities to connect us with mainland China.”