Hong Kong’s talent pool can help turn Greater Bay Area into biomedical hub, experts say
To advance innovation, however, the GBA needs to better integrate its medical data, panellists say
The Greater Bay Area (GBA) has potential as a hub for biomedical innovation, thanks in part to Hong Kong’s basic research capabilities and status as a financial centre, but the region needs closer integration in areas including medical data, according to experts.
Basic research is “very important” for China’s pharmaceutical industry, which had developed a lot of drugs but most were not new, said Zhang Peiyu, chief scientific officer at Shenzhen-based AI drug discovery firm XtalPi Holdings, on Wednesday during a panel at the Post’s China Conference Greater Bay Area 2025.
“I think with Hong Kong’s talent pool, we may have great opportunities to do first-in-class drugs,” Zhang said.
For the high-risk and high-return drug discovery process, Hong Kong is also “a great place to find the investors” to support innovations, Zhang added.
Hong Kong allows foreign investors to come in and also allows them to exit, said Tu Fuquan, research and development (R&D) vice-president at Guangzhou-based biotechnology firm MingMed.
China’s southern Guangdong province has stepped up its efforts in the biomedical industry, which is one of the key areas the GBA aims to boost. The provincial government in October published an action plan to build a 1 trillion yuan (US$136.4 billion) industry cluster, boasting that the province has more than 58,000 biomedical R&D personnel.
