HKUST and SIIC Launch Hong Kong Biotechnology Fund for HKUST and Hong Kong Life Science Ventures

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Shanghai Industrial Investment (Holdings) Co., Ltd. (SIIC) together announced the establishment of the Hong Kong Biotechnology Fund (HKBF) today, underscoring a significant milestone dedicated to fostering innovation in the life sciences sector.

In alignment with the Government’s vision in developing Hong Kong as an International Health and Medical Innovation Hub, the HKBF is designed to nurture healthcare technology starts-ups from HKUST and the broader industry. As the inaugural venture investment fund (VIF) under the Redbird Innovation Fund (RIF) framework, HKBF aims to create a synergistic ecosystem that converts cutting-edge innovations in life sciences into impactful biomedical and healthcare breakthroughs, ultimately benefiting global health. With HKUST and SIIC committed as the anchor investors with a target fund size of HK$600 million, at least half of the fund is dedicated for ventures associated with HKUST, including start-ups founded by HKUST members, those utilizing HKUST technologies, or incubated within HKUST’s state-of-the-art facilities.

At the signing and launch ceremony of the collaboration between HKUST and HKBF, Ms. Edith SHIH, HKUST Council Vice-Chairperson and RIF Chairperson, expressed her sincere appreciation to Shanghai Industrial Investment (Holdings) Co., Ltd.  for its unwavering trust and support in HKUST. She stated, “As the first partner of RIF, SIIC Capital has a proven track record of early-stage biomedical start-ups investment, incubation, and commercialization of cutting-edge medical technologies. We believe that our partnership with SIIC Capital will drive advancements in biotechnology, life science and healthcare industries. By bridging academia and industry, we aim to make life-saving technologies more accessible and affordable —a commitment to our responsibility to society.”

HKUST Acting President Prof. TAM Kar-Yan said in his opening remarks that, “At HKUST, excellence in research fuels innovation. Our ecosystem has spawned over 1,800 active start-ups, including 10 unicorns and 11 IPOs, providing that world-class research directly catalyzes economic and technological progress. This fund addresses the pressing challenge of an aging population by accelerating the commercialization of biomedical breakthroughs, from AI-driven diagnostics to sustainable therapies. Together with partners like SIIC and Shanghai Healthcare Capital (SHC), we are building an ecosystem where research transcends laboratories to heal communities and transform lives.”

The Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Ms. Lillian CHEONG Man-Lei recognized HKUST’s effort in encouraging innovation activities, she said that “The launch of the Hong Kong Biotechnology Fund aligns much with the Government’s calls to foster closer collaboration among industry, academia, research and investment sectors, and to channel more market capital to support the development of specified emerging and future industries.” She believed that the fund would help strengthen the connections between HKUST start-ups, industry partners, medical practitioners, and healthcare investors, levering the resources and maximizing the value of Hong Kong’s healthcare ecosystems. The Government greatly supports the development of technology industries with an edge and of strategic importance, and life and health technology is one of the key focuses. The Government will further capitalise on Hong Kong’s strengths in basic research and foster more global I&T collaboration, with measures such as the HK$6 billion subsidy programme to support setting up of cross-institutional and multidisciplinary life and health technology research institutes in Hong Kong, the allocation of HK$2 billion to support the InnoHK research clusters to establish presence in the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park (HSITP), etc. to help cultivate in Hong Kong a robust life and health technology ecosystem.

Management of the HKBF will be entrusted to SIIC Capital, which will implement proactive investment strategies and oversee application procedures. SIIC Capital has already identified a robust pipeline of diversified opportunities across various biomedical sectors, such as neurodegeneration, ophthalmic drug delivery system, and gene therapy. As the fund progresses, SIIC Capital anticipates discovering even more promising ventures and actively seeking potential investors to amplify the total fund size.

Shanghai Industrial Investment (Holding) Co., Ltd President Mr. ZHANG Qian said, “The HKBF accelerates Shanghai-Hong Kong collaboration by translating academic breakthroughs from local universities into industrial applications. Through aligning R&D, production and capital resources globally, we empower pioneering innovations to reshape healthcare ecosystems.”

Hong Kong Biotechnology Fund President Dr. May LIANG said, “With the launch of the HKBF, SIIC Capital will leverage its industrial ecosystem capabilities and Shanghai-Hong Kong synergies to target early-stage biotech R&D translation. Guided by the dual engines of ‘Science + Industry,’ we prioritize HKUST-led disciplines to accelerate commercialization of breakthrough innovations. Leveraging SIIC Capital integrated ecosystem spanning industry, academia, and healthcare, the Fund will drive strategic partnerships to advance Hong Kong’s global innovation hub vision and fuel transformative healthcare advancements."

HKUST offers a comprehensive suite of strategically designed funding programs to support start-ups across various stages of development. Notably, the RIF, a HK$500 million endeavor launched in April 2024 aims at creating multiple VIFs worth HK$2 billion in collaboration with investment partners. This fund focuses on nurturing companies ranging from nascent stage to scaling phase within key deep tech domains such as biomedical and healthcare, artificial intelligence, semiconductors and robotics, new materials, energy and sustainability. The University also established the Entrepreneurship Fund (E-Fund) in 2019 which has invested in 22 portfolio companies, attracting over HK$400 million in subsequent rounds and a total aggregate valuation of over HK$2 billion.