"New Industrialisation Development Centre" Officially Launched in Hong Kong Fully Supporting Enterprises towards Sustainable Smart Manufacturing to Optimise and Upgrade Industrial Chains in Hong Kong and Greater Bay Area

(Hong Kong, 7 July 2023) The "New Industrialisation Development Centre" (NI Centre) has been officially established in Hong Kong. The NI Centre, operated by the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC), will address the pain points faced by enterprises in terms of technology, talent and resources during upgrading and transformation, to help enterprises embrace smart manufacturing while enhancing their sustainable development capabilities. This way, enterprises can respond proactively to the evolving global supply chain, which places more emphasis on digitalisation and sustainability. The NI Centre is committed to working closely with the HKSAR Government to achieve new industrialisation as envisioned in the "Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Development Blueprint" (Blueprint), support high-quality development of the Hong Kong economy, and promote the optimisation and upgrading of industrial chains in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

In recent years, Hong Kong has made vigorous efforts to promote Reindustrialisation by utilising technology to tackle problems such as high labour costs, difficulty in recruiting talent and high land-use costs. HKPC has been fully supportive of relevant policies, helping enterprises move towards smart production and improve their economic returns.

New industrialisation is an enhancement to what has been achieved through the Reindustrialisation initiatives. New industrialisation stands for sustainable smart manufacturing. By adopting advanced technologies such as industrial internet of things (IIoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and data analysis, new industrialisation drives enterprises and industrial chains to pursue smart production and green development, helping enterprises adjust to the market trend of more customised needs, shortening the factory-to-consumer time, reducing costs, expanding market demand, and reaping greater economic returns. Enhancing sustainable development capabilities is a key mission of the NI Centre, to support the country and the HKSAR to achieve the policy goals of peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality. From product design, manufacturing, sales, usage, to recycling and reuse, the full product life cycle emphasises reducing resource consumption and environmental pollution, creating a win-win situation.

Mr Edmond LAI, Chief Digital Officer of HKPC, said, “The establishment of the NI Centre is an important milestone in Hong Kong’s journey towards new industrialisation. New industrialisation is not limited to emerging industries only. Traditional industries can also embrace new industrialisation, by applying advanced technologies to make their production processes digitalised, smart and green. We believe that the NI Centre will be a 'facilitator’ and 'catalyst' for Hong Kong to achieve new industrialisation, leveraging our technological expertise and extensive experience in serving SMEs to enhance the 'Made-in-Hong Kong' brand appeal. Enterprises around the world have shown growing appreciation for Hong Kong's unique advantages under 'One Country, Two Systems', such as being an international city governed in a system that aligns with international standard, and convenient customs clearance of raw materials. Hong Kong has immense potential for developing new industrialisation; it can enhance its springboard role for enterprises in GBA and other places in Mainland to 'go global', and 'attract foreign investment' by bringing in overseas enterprises to explore the Mainland market.”

Mr Raymond SHAN, Head of NI Centre, said, “HKPC has successfully supported over 150 Hong Kong enterprises with operations across GBA to achieve smart manufacturing, covering 25 industries, including microelectronics, metals, plastics, toys, food, automotive, construction, biotechnology, and textiles. Going forward, the NI Centre will showcase and promote to the industry and the public the success stories of Hong Kong enterprises adopting new industrialisation practices and the latest technologies, to encourage more industry partners to join hands and promote new industrialisation. Hong Kong's manufacturing industry is an important link in the global supply chain and value chain, and the city prides itself as a world-leader in the production of watches, underwater, and high-end equipment. The NI Centre will conduct industry studies, to have a better understanding of the pain points and challenges faced by enterprises, and will provide suitable technology offerings and one-stop service to enterprises through advanced technology, FutureSkills training and government funding. The NI Centre will also help expand the talent pool which will be well-versed in new industrialisation requirements to meet the needs of the industry."

Achieving new industrialisation is one of the four broad development directions as set out in the Blueprint. Therefore, the objectives of the NI Centre are to support enterprises to set up more smart production lines in Hong Kong and enhance their sustainable development capabilities, and promote the upgrading of the manufacturing industry; promote the development of emerging industries such as new energy, life and health technology, and attract top-notch enterprises to set up operations in Hong Kong; provide new industrialisation certification training and expand the talent pool; strengthen innovative collaboration among industry, academia and research institutes in GBA, and promote the "from one to N" transformation of R&D outcomes; and serve as a bridge between the Government and the industry with enhanced support. Both the NI Centre and HKPC will continue providing full support to the HKSAR Government, to boost new industrialisation in Hong Kong and GBA, joining hands to develop the digital economy, bolstering Hong Kong to be an International Innovation and Technology Centre, promoting the optimisation and upgrading of the industrial chains in GBA, and helping to build China into an industrial giant and achieve high-quality development.

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Mr Edmond LAI, Chief Digital Officer of HKPC (left) said the NI Centre will be a 'facilitator’ and 'catalyst' for Hong Kong to achieve new industrialisation, help enterprises to embrace sustainable smart manufacturing and enhance the 'Made-in-Hong Kong' brand appeal. Mr Raymond SHAN, Head of the New Industrialisation Development Centre (right) said the NI Centre will showcase and promote to the industry and the public the success stories of Hong Kong enterprises adopting new industrialisation practices and latest technologies, to encourage more industry partners to join hands and promote new industrialisation.

Achieving new industrialisation is of the great importance for HKPC. New industrialisation stands for sustainable smart manufacturing. Through elements such as creativity, innovation, smartification & digitisation, high technology content, and FutureSkills, new industrialisation drives enterprises and industrial chains to pursue high-end, smart production and green development. It emphasises low consumption of resources and environmental pollution throughout the product life cycle. Ultimately, it can realise the industrial-added value and long-term economic development while also protecting the ecological environment, achieving a win-win situation.