Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto)

The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto) (HKETO) promoted Hong Kong as a premier destination for innovation, investment, and technology collaboration through a series of outreach initiatives in Ontario.

HKETO joined the visit by the Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), Mr Charles Ng, in Waterloo, Toronto and York Region from June 9 to 11to strengthen partnerships with Canadian academic institutions, technology centres, and the startup community.

The Acting Director of HKETO, Mr Gavin Yeung, joined Mr Ng to the University of Waterloo on June 9, where he visited the Velocity startup incubator and Communitech, one of Canada’s leading tech ecosystems. The delegation also met with Canadian entrepreneur Mr Kamyar Rouindej, founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Volta Technique Inc, to explore potential collaboration with Hong Kong.

On June 10, the delegation met with representatives of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Toronto, and visited York University to engage with representatives from its Innovation and Technology departments, as well as York-affiliated startups, and invited them to join the SEAM@InnoHK initiative.

SEAM@InnoHK is the third cluster under InnoHK, focusing on four research areas, namely sustainable development, energy, advanced manufacturing and materials.  InnoHK is a major initiative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to develop Hong Kong as the hub for global research collaboration. This involves the establishment of world-class research clusters at the Hong Kong Science Park with research laboratories set up by world-renowned universities and research institutes to conduct collaborative researches.

Speaking at the networking session co-organised by InvestHK Canada and Gowling WLG on June 11, Mr Yeung said that the HKETO and its Dedicated Team for Attracting Businesses and Talents are pleased to connect Hong Kong’s innovation ecosystem with Canadian universities, tech hubs and startups to strengthen bilateral ties and explore new partnership opportunities.

“With our world-class business environment, robust legal system, and direct links to Mainland China and Asia, Hong Kong remains a compelling destination for forward-looking Canadian ventures,” he said.

He added that HKETO will continue to advance economic cooperation between Hong Kong and Canada.