The 30^th China Adolescents Science and Technology Innovation Contest

This morning, I attended the opening ceremony of the 30^th China Adolescents Science and Technology Innovation Contest. This is the second time that Hong Kong has hosted this national event, which was previously held here in 1998. The Executive Vice President of the China Association for Science and Technology, Dr Shang Yong, also attended the ceremony.

This large-scale contest draws the participation of about 1 000 people, including judges, teachers and students from around the world. Among them are students from 18 local secondary schools and teachers from three local secondary schools who have entered the contest. Apart from the Hong Kong contestants, 34 teams consisting of over 400 students and 100 science instructors from 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities all over the country and the Macau Special Administrative Region have also joined the contest to showcase their scientific research projects and exchange experience with each other. In addition, 58 representatives from 12 European and Asian countries are participating in the event to demonstrate and share with the contestants the results of their endeavours in science and technology innovation. This is a valuable opportunity for Hong Kong students and teachers and the talent from China and the rest of the world to exchange knowledge and ideas and appreciate the results of each other’s scientific research efforts.

Hosting this year’s contest has great significance for Hong Kong. We have the core elements for the promotion of innovation and technology, including a sound legal framework and intellectual property protection regime, world-class infrastructure, close connections with the international community, a good international reputation, well-established financial services and strong fund-raising capabilities. All these create highly favourable conditions for the development of innovation and technology, as well as the commercialisation and industrialisation of new technologies.

The contest will last four days. There will be an innovation forum, exhibitions of scientific projects, scientific talks, a project award presentation ceremony, an expert forum and scientific seminar, a scientific education forum, and an award presentation ceremony and sharing session with Chinese astronauts. All these activities should not be missed by anyone interested in science, innovation and technology.

Last but not least, I wish all Hong Kong contestants great success in the competition.

August 20, 2015