{
  "id": 15399771,
  "title": "Hong Kong excels at medical research. So what is holding it back?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/18/hong-kong-excels-at-medical-research-so-what-is-holding-it-back",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-18T11:00:08.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3371262/hong-kong-excels-medical-research-so-what-holding-it-back"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In a four-part Health Matters wellness series, Elizabeth Cheung explores how Hong Kong can transform world-class medical research into practical treatments and become a global biomedical innovation hub. Raymond Tong Kai-yu's decade-long journey to develop a robotic hand called \"Hand of Hope\" demonstrates the challenges faced in turning scientific research into real-life applications. Despite being used in hospitals across 15 countries, the device's development required overcoming hurdles such as cost, manufacturing, regulatory approval, and market acceptance. Tong, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, attributes his success to moving production to mainland China, reducing costs, and redesigning the hand with lighter, elastic materials. However, achieving market approval demanded years of collecting clinical data and securing regulatory certification.\n\nExperts highlight Hong Kong's strong basic and clinical research capabilities, but a lack of industry support for funding and production. To become a true biomedical innovation hub, the city needs to invest more in early-stage research projects, expand research capacity, and attract talent by offering opportunities for overseas projects. Tong's success story underscores the importance of industry support in translating groundbreaking research into market-ready products. The Hong Kong government has been actively working to attract more firms through initiatives such as the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises, which aims to create research and development jobs in the city. If Hong Kong can foster a stronger ecosystem that combines academic researchers, start-ups, and industry backing, it could become an attractive destination for investors, leading to more successful biomedical innovations.",
  "summary": "Financial Secretary Paul Chan stated on Sunday that Hong Kong can facilitate the development of other economies and enterprises while elevating itself. According to RTHK English and RTHK News, Chan noted that developing economies require capital and technologies, while mainland firms need professional services and international markets. He suggested that Hong Kong can channel global capital while connecting to mainland technologies and industries, such as supporting artificial intelligence infrastructure for developing economies and assisting mainland enterprises in going global.\n\nWhile Chan noted that global conflicts and the AI boom are driving persistently high energy prices and reshaping the global economy, he expressed optimism regarding the economic growth of the SAR.\n\nSeparately, the South China Morning Post reported that Hong Kong is examining how to transform world-class research into real-world treatments to become a global biomedical innovation hub. This includes looking at challenges in cost and production, such as those faced by Raymond Tong Kai-yu during the development of a robotic hand.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "South China Morning Post - Hong Kong",
        "title": "Hong Kong excels at medical research. So what is holding it back?",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/18/hong-kong-excels-at-medical-research-so-what-is-holding-it-back-15401888",
        "published": "2026-10-18T11:00:08.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}