HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 17 December 2021 - Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) is forming a series of strategic partnerships with global leaders such as leading technology distributor and solutions provider Avnet and diversified financial services group ORIX to foster a new wave of engineering talent and fast-rising startups in the advanced hardware and digital technologies sectors. The combination of technology, manufacturing market know-how and investment financier will propel promising startups on their growth journey and establish the Greater Bay Area (GBA) as a leading innovation hub for advanced hardware and digital technologies.

Photo 1: Mr. Peter Mok, Head of Greater Bay Area, HKSTP (right), and Mr. Alan Chui, Supplier Business Management President, Avnet Asia, officiate at the strategic co-incubation agreement signing ceremony to drive innovation and build a thriving hardware and electronics eco-system across the GBA.

Located at the centre of the world's leading manufacturing powerhouse with Shenzhen and the huge market potential of China at its doorstep, Hong Kong and the broader GBA region is a haven for hardware and digital technologies startups. But challenges remain in accessing funding, market support, talent and manufacturing R&D expertise, especially for niche and emerging technology areas. Aviation is one new area among many in which HKSTP is collaborating with sector leaders on to develop Hong Kong and the GBA into an innovation and technology hub.

Photo 2: Mr. Peter Mok, Head of Greater Bay Area, HKSTP (middle), Mr. Alan Chui, Supplier Business Management President, Avnet Asia (3^rd from left), and Mr Adrian Pang, Managing Director, ORIX Asia Limited (4^th from right), join fellow industry leaders and ecosystem participants in the official activation ceremony at the Hardware Journey Eco-System – GBA Expansion Kickoff Event.

HKSTP and Avnet have formally signed a co-incubation agreement to combine Avnet's design and technical expertise with HKSTP's extensive startup development experience to propel technical talent and startups on their journey of growth. Selected startups can leverage Avnet's global ecosystem and network to capture new partnerships and market opportunity in the GBA region. For a start, Avnet will also partner microelectronics leaders AMD, TE Connectivity and Xilinx to provide startups with expertise in aviation and next-generation Hybrid CPU-FPGA technology and significant support in accelerating their innovation from research to testing and high-quality manufacturing.

To drive momentum in this emerging ecosystem, HKSTP is also partnering Japanese financial services group ORIX to tap its financial and investment expertise to help startups go global and to engage the high-potential Japanese market. ORIX is a strategic partner in HKSTP's GBA expansion and focus on new digital solution innovation, with its continued investments into high quality startups. The formation of such partnerships will be a further catalyst to accelerate innovation in the ecosystem, with aviation as a high-potential starting point.

Albert Wong, CEO, HKSTP said: "Our partnerships with multiple sector leaders highlight the enormous market potential in the GBA and provide the ideal platform for startups to tap into the world-class talent, resources and market opportunities in this region. This combined ecosystem of hardware and electronics expertise will help young pioneers and engineers realise their innovation dreams and elevate the GBA as a global innovation powerhouse."

Alan Chui, Supplier Business Management President of Avnet Asia said, "Avnet is a long-term partner of HKSTP and has jointly supported many startup companies. Through this agreement, we will be able to equip startups and aspiring technologists with the necessary knowledge and resources to accelerate technological innovation in the GBA and facilitate the commercialisation of real-world applications."

Adrian Pang, Managing Director, ORIX Asia Limited said: "We, ORIX, believe digital technologies are the key future driver and trend. With our diversified expertise, global network and wealthy experience in supporting SMEs and startups, ORIX is well positioned to incubate young companies through our partnership with HKSTP, which we will bring synergy to our dynamic future unicorn in Hong Kong and lead our economy to a new decade."

This diverse hardware eco-system will see prominent developments like Avnet setting up solutions centre at Hong Kong Science Park Shenzhen Branch that will provide local and international startups easy access to state-of-the-art engineering facilities offered by Avnet and its partners. There will also be on-site application engineers to offer technical solutions, reference designs and consultancy services to enable these startups to get their products to market faster. Fast-rising HKSTP startup Aerosim, who specialises in aviation training technology, will leverage the centre for aviation simulation technology adoption support. Avnet and its partners will also contribute their hardware components knowledge and work with Aerosim to develop civil aviation technology.

Talent is a critical factor for successful innovation and HKSTP is providing a technology knowledge exchange platform in the GBA to nurture entrepreneurs in high quality hardware components. The HKSTP GBA InnoAcademy will serve as a talent training platform for the best entrepreneurs and engineers to fuel a new wave of technical talent from Hong Kong and the GBA.