HONG KONG, June 6, 2025 – The International Science, Technology and Innovation Forum of Boao Forum for Asia 2025 Hong Kong Conference commenced today at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
With a dense agenda, the Conference brought together policymakers, business leaders, academics, and tech pioneers from around the world to share insights and visions for the future across “Youth Leadership for an Intelligent, Green and Inclusive Future,” “The Arrival of the Quantum Age,” “Innovation Clusters: Promoting the Integration of Innovation Chain and Industrial Chain” and “The Reshaping and Disruption of Life Sciences”. These key themes aimed to chart pathways for global tech collaboration and sustainable development.
Strengthening Technology Governance and Shaping Youth Leadership in the Innovation Era
Innovation is the driving force of social progress, and young people. Young people, with their curiosity, adaptability, enterprising spirit and creativity, are naturally poised to lead technological innovation. The “Youth Leadership for an Intelligent, Green and Inclusive Future” Roundtable Forum gathered young scholars, officials, and entrepreneurs from China, Hong Kong SAR, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Turkmenistan, and beyond. They explored the current state, challenges, future trends, and potential risks of technological innovation across nations. From the youth perspective, they proposed actionable recommendations and solutions on strengthening global technology governance, guiding the formulation of new technology regulations, supporting the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, bridging the digital divide, and enhancing international cooperation.
The participating guests unanimously agreed that young people, as the most dynamic and creative demographic, are not only a crucial force driving social transformation today but also the future of nations and the world. It is essential to focus on the development of the youth by strengthening policy support and cross-sector, cross-border collaboration in areas such as talent education, technological innovation, equitable access to technology, infrastructure development, and the establishment of mechanisms that tolerate failure. These efforts will help cultivate a green and sustainable mindset among young people, enhance their capacity for innovative practice, and foster an inclusive future.
Hong Kong, a hub for young talent, exemplifies this: founders of its 20–30 unicorn startups in the past decade are predominantly youth. Initiatives like the “RAISe+ Scheme”—providing matching grants to promising university spin-offs—and AI-focused vocational training underscore the city’s commitment to youth-driven innovation.
From Quantum Revolution to AI Pharmaceutical Technology: Disruptive Technologies Are Reshaping Humanity Future
As science pushes boundaries from the cosmic to the subatomic, transformative technologies like AI, quantum technology, and biotech are reshaping humanity’s future. ISTIF 2025 Hong Kong Conference focus on quantum technology, with “The Arrival of the Quantum Age” masterclass gathering leading academics from China and Hong Kong to chart the technology’s evolution and real-world applications. The Another frontier forum— “The Reshaping and Disruption of Life Sciences”—invited renowned experts, scholars, and political leaders including those from Hong Kong SAR to discuss “AI Plus Life Sciences”, exploring challenges in data security, ethics, and law during technology application to contribute wisdom for ensuring technology develops beneficially, controllably, and usably. As an international innovation and technology hub, Hong Kong’s I&T development is advancing steadily and rapidly from layout refinement and a strong start toward breakthrough. It has launched three HK$10 billion initiatives to support key industries including artificial intelligence, quantum information, integrated circuits, and genetic and biotechnology, driving clustered breakthroughs and further improving the I&T ecosystem.
Innovation Chain and Industrial Chain Chains in Synergy: Building New Engines for Future Industrial Development
The 2024 Global Innovation Index Report shows that 7 of the world’s top 10 science and technology clusters are in Asia, with 3 in the United States. Regarding innovation center distribution, China has formed a rising force with 26 top-100 global science and technology innovation clusters, ranking first worldwide. Among these, the “Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong” cluster has ranked second globally for five consecutive years.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’s advantageous position in global I&T is prominent. As a core city of the Greater Bay Area and the “Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong” technology cluster, Hong Kong is strengthening I&T collaboration with Greater Bay Area cities in industry-academia-research by leveraging its strengths in internal-external connectivity and factor aggregation, jointly building a more complete and globally competitive I&T industrial chain, and strengthening innovation clusters.
At the “Innovation Clusters: Promoting the Integration of Innovation Chain and Industrial Chain” forum, renowned political leaders and university scholars including those from Hong Kong SAR explored global technology frontier trends and future industrial development directions. From the perspective of international cooperation and promoting deep integration of industrial and innovation chains, they proposed countermeasures against the severe impacts of unilateralism, protectionism, tariff wars, and trade wars on the global economy and trade order.
The International Science, Technology & Innovation Forum of Boao Forum for Asia 2025 Hong Kong Conference, themed “Transitioning Towards the Future: Powered by Science, Technology and Innovation”, is co-organized by the Boao Forum for Asia and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council as Strategy Partner. The two-day conference held an opening plenary, the Hong Kong special session “Leveraging the Advantages of Connecting with Both the Mainland and the World to Foster Global Innovation and Technology (I&T) Collaboration”, and multiple thematic sessions including “Technological Innovation in Financial Services: The Role of Patient Capital” on June 7, 2025.