Press Release

HKBU holds international symposium and announces establishment of alliance and incubation programme on green technology

Friday, 10 October 2025

To address pressing environmental challenges and advance Hong Kong’s carbon-neutrality objectives, Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) organised the International GreenTech Symposium 2025 yesterday (9 October). The event marked the launch of the Global Circularity Incubator to attract and nurture global talents and start-ups on green technology, and the establishment of International GreenTech Alliance which connects local and international bodies to advance green technologies research.

Supported by the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) and the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park (HSITP), the event received strong endorsement from academia and research institutes, industry players, government officials, and investors across the green technology sector. It cultivated a community to drive collaboration and tackle challenges in translating technology to sustainable, real-world solutions. It focused on technological advancements in the two pioneering areas of transforming waste into valuable resources, and advancing the complete hydrogen production-to-utilisation spectrum.

The Symposium’s opening ceremony was officiated by Ms Lillian Cheong, Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China; Mr Arthur Lee Hok-yin, Commissioner for Climate Change, Environment and Ecology Bureau of the Government of the HKSAR; Ms Xu Jian, Director of the Department of Educational, Scientific and Technology Affairs from the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Professor Alex Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU; and Professor Terence Lau, Interim Chief Innovation Officer of HKBU.

In her video remarks, Ms Lillian Cheong pointed out that the HKSAR is committed to achieving carbon neutrality before 2050, with the new energy industry serving as a pivotal catalyst. The Government is establishing the third InnoHK research cluster, SEAM@InnoHK, which focuses on four research areas: sustainable development, energy, advanced manufacturing, and materials to facilitate the city’s transition toward a sustainable and carbon-neutral future. Hong Kong will actively promote the commercialisation of these green I&T outcomes to accelerate green industrialisation. She was confident that the announcement of the International GreenTech Alliance and the establishment of the Global Circular Incubator Programme will propel cutting-edge research, facilitate technology transfer and create substantial commercialisation opportunities in sustainability development.

Mr Arthur Lee Hok-yin said: “The focuses of today’s Symposium—converting waste into valuable resources and advancing hydrogen production and utilisation—are particularly timely and relevant. With our distinctive advantage of enjoying strong support of the Motherland and being closely connected to the world, Hong Kong is well-positioned to serve as a demonstration platform for various new energy technologies to facilitate the commercialisation and marketing of such technologies both locally and globally.”

Professor Alex Wai highlighted that the key challenge in the green technology sector remains bridging the gap between transforming groundbreaking ideas from prototypes to scalable, real-world applications. “This Symposium brings together distinguished experts and industry leaders to address this critical challenge through meaningful dialogues and shared insights, exploring the journey of sustaining innovations from inception, or ‘zero to one’, through successful commercialisation and scale-up, or ‘one to ten’,” he said.  

The Symposium featured six panel discussions on trending topics in the field, such as clean hydrogen production, energy storage, and waste valorisation. Visionary leaders from around the globe shared their insights and engaged in discussions about emerging opportunities and strategies for pushing forward green technologies. Speakers included Mr Norman Chan, General Manager for Projects from The Hong Kong Electric Company Limited; Dr-Ing. Timo Hardiman, Head of Innovation Field Industrial Biotechnology from Fraunhofer IGB; Dr Giuseppe Indelicato, Researcher from Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC); Mr Thomas Lui, Director of Decarbonisation and Integrated System Planning from CLP Power Hong Kong Limited; and Professor Xu Rong, Research Director for Engineering and Physical Sciences from Nanyang Technological University.

On this special occasion, HKBU announced the launch of the Global Circularity Incubator in partnership with HKSTP. The programme aims to leverage HKBU’s strengths in green and sustainability technologies to attract and nurture global talents and start-ups to join the innovation ecosystem. It is expected to facilitate research translation and commercialisation through collaboration across academia, knowledge- and technology-transfer bodies as well as HKSTP, and to cultivate world-class deep tech start-ups that turn circular economy principles into tangible solutions.

The event also marked the establishment of International GreenTech Alliance (iGreenTech), uniting 12 globally renowned institutions, including the Technical University of Munich; five Fraunhofer institutes from Germany; Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore; A*STAR from Singapore; the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis; the Barcelona Supercomputing Center; and NAREE International Limited. The Alliance will showcase researchers’ innovations, connect local and international bodies, and advance research on hydrogen value chains and waste valorisation to address urgent challenges related to climate change and carbon neutrality.

In the closing session, Professor Terence Lau urged all stakeholders to carry the Symposium’s momentum forward, strengthen collaboration, and drive the transformational change that our planet urgently needs.

Furthermore, with the sponsorship from HSITP, HKBU leads an immersive experience day for the symposium participants to the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone today (10 October) to showcase Hong Kong’s vibrant innovation and technology ecosystem, and explore the cutting-edge technologies, strategic partnerships, and investment potential in the Greater Bay Area.