Hong Kong will introduce various important measures to promote the development of new productive forces and help Hong Kong achieve high-quality development, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Monday.

“Technology is the primary productive force, talent is the primary resource, and innovation is the primary driving force. We will continue to use different channels and take a multipronged approach to strengthen Hong Kong’s innovation and technology talent pool,” the chief executive said during an awards ceremony organized by the Innovation and Technology Commission.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has attracted more than 320,000 applicants for its various talent admission programs since their launch, and has approved nearly 200,000 of them, including more than 130,000 who are already in Hong Kong, Lee said.

The government also has programs to subsidize research and development teams and enterprises for the hiring of scientific research talent to carry out R&D work.

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The SAR will set up a microelectronics research and development institute this year to promote R&D cooperation between universities, R&D centers and the industry in microelectronics, including third-generation semiconductors

Monday’s awards ceremony was held to recognize the scientific research performed, and the honors received, by 10 home-grown scholars and scientists in the past year, as well as the talented individuals from 25 institutions who won different awards for their part in 157 projects.

Hong Kong sent its largest delegation yet to the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva in April this year, with nearly 700 people and 40 institutions attending from the city and winning more than 350 awards, the highest number of awards to date.

Lee said that the award winners and award-winning organizations represent the different sectors of the government, including industry, academia and research, covering fields such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, medical science, green technology, polymer science, electronics, and construction engineering.

“We launched the HK$10 billion ($1.28 billion) Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme to promote the transformation of scientific research results and industrial development, with the participation of more than 20 R&D teams,” Lee said.

“In the coming two years, we will match the HK$10 billion funding of the New Industrialization Acceleration Scheme to more than 50 companies to set up new production facilities in Hong Kong,” he added.

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The SAR will set up a microelectronics research and development institute this year to promote R&D cooperation between universities, R&D centers and the industry in microelectronics, including third-generation semiconductors. It will also set up a pilot line to assist startups and small and medium-sized enterprises in trial production.