Hong Kong's Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) has urged the region to increase its investment in research and development to ensure it does not get left behind in the upcoming 5G era.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of EmTech Hong Kong, ASTRI chairman Wong Ming-yam said Hong Kong is lagging behind its peers in Asia in terms of R&D spending.
“Hong Kong is a vibrant city by all standards, but we still have a lot of catching up to do. In 2014, the city’s R&D expenditure accounted for only 0.74% of GDP, while the figure was 2.05% in China, 2% in Singapore, 3.58% in Japan, and 4.29% in South Korea,” he said.
“We need to invest more in R&D and attract more global technology talent.”
At EmTech Hong Kong, ASTRI experts discussed the potential applications of its R&D projects across different industries and for the future of Hong Kong.
ASTRI CTO Meikei Yung, Linda Ieong said the institute is working on a series of research projects, ranging from next generation networking, cyber security an intelligent manufacturing to machine learning technologies.
Another key research area for ASTRI is blockchain, the cryptography technology underpinning virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. The technology is expected to have major impacts on currency, payment systems, DRM, health records management and numerous other industries.
EmTech Hong Kong is a conference on emerging technologies hosted by MIT Technology Review.