Speech by the Chief Executive Officer at the 4th TERA-Award Ceremony (English version only) (19 July 2025)

I think people in this room are very familiar with what TERA-Award has achieved since its inception 4 years ago.  So I won't spend too much time on that.  Instead, let me perhaps share what the TERA-Award means for the Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited (“HKIC”) and why we are here. 

I know the name TERA-Award came from the power unit “terawatt”.  I particularly like the four letters “T”,“E”,“R” and “A”, which succinctly summarise what today is for and what this journey is about. 

• “T” for “Talents”. Talents are the origin of all sorts of innovation and technology (“I&T”) development.  This "T" defines how far and how fast we could go.

• “E” for “Ecosystem”.  Ecosystem means togetherness.  We are in it together.  The journey from "zero to one" could be long and challenging.  An open ecosystem could curate synergy among players in different parts of the value chain, and hopefully shorten the process between innovation and commercialisation.  

• “R” for “Resources”, which is what Full Vision, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, the HKIC and other supporting partners of TERA-Award are bringing to the table.  For the HKIC, we bring with us not only capital but also operational experience, and connections in and beyond Hong Kong such as different sources of investment capital, talents, clients and application scenarios, which we believe could substantially accelerate growth of start-ups.  For instance in May, we organised the International Forum for Patient Capital in Hong Kong, bringing together 80 long-term and patient capital institutions from around the world covering 15 jurisdictions such as the US, Europe, Australia, Japan and Global South including Southeast Asia and Middle East, with a total AUM of over US$ 20 trillion.  We also facilitated investments made in and after the event.
• “A” for Application.  I&T is meaningful to the economy and society only if it could be transformed into real-life application which people could see it, feel it and use it.

The above “T”, “E”, “R” and “A” framework is important for the HKIC because of our background and mandate.  The HKIC was set up by the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR Government”) in October 2022.  We have a dual mandate, which means that we invest not only for financial return but also long-term value to Hong Kong.  Currently we have 3 key investment themes, namely Hard & Core Technology, Biotech, and Green or New Energy Technology.  

We would not be able to discharge our dual mandate if we could not source good entrepreneurs, partners and projects.  This is why we are so supportive of the TERA-Award, which has evolved over the years from a competition to a powerful and dynamic platform where East meets West, innovation meets commercialisation, and dream meets capital.  It aligns well with the HKIC’s ongoing efforts to leverage Hong Kong’s role as a “super connector” and “super value-adder” for global I&T development, and facilitates Hong Kong’s contribution of wisdom to this meaningful journey of smart energy and green transition for global benefits.

As I mentioned, the HKIC believes in partnership.  On that note, let me convey our special appreciation to Full Vision, with whom we have maintained a trusted and strong partnership.  We have jointly invested in impactful and meaningful ventures, like EcoCeres which is a sustainable aviation fuel producer incubated in Hong Kong and already becoming a global leader in the conversion of waste into renewable fuels and materials; and also StarFive which is focused on the design and production of RISC-V chips.  Currently, StarFive's high-performance, energy-efficient chips have been already used in many local energy infrastructures.

We will continue to work closely with Full Vision.  We will also further our efforts to broaden and deepen our ecosystem, locally and internationally, because we believe that openness, fairness and collaboration are the winning elements to unlock the best value in I&T development to benefit the whole world. 

Closing