Speech by the Chief Executive Officer at the Surgical Futures Forum 2026 (9 November 2026)
Financial Secretary, Samuel, Geoffrey, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning. It is my pleasure to join you all today at the 2026 Surgical Futures Forum organised by Cornerstone Robotics. Cornerstone Robotics is a portfolio company of the HKIC and is on good track to meet the HKIC’s dual mandate. In terms of financial performance, the company is showing decent progress, supported by continued international industry adoption and market expansion. It is also proactively joining hands with the HKIC to do good for Hong Kong with tangible outcomes, including hosting the Surgical Futures Forum today and bringing together global leaders from healthcare, medical technology, academia and clinical practice to explore how surgical innovation can reach more patients around the world.
Similar to the HKIC, Cornerstone Robotics was born and raised in Hong Kong. As a start-up originated from the university ecosystem in Hong Kong, the company is now amongst the top names in surgical robotics globally. If we look back, the company had a tough battle to fight right from the beginning. First, there was the perception issue. Some people might query why doctors would like to use surgical robots, given that doctors had to be trained to adopt them amidst very busy schedules, and that these robots did not work completely independent of doctors. In addition, noting the well-established incumbents in the market, some people might not have had confidence in whether a company originating from Hong Kong could be competitive in the field globally, noting the extremely high technological, manufacturing and regulatory standards applicable to the sector.
Salute to Sam and your team! The company answered all these questions with solid actions and flying colours. The team took a long-term view and chose probably the hardest but most pragmatic way to develop, namely to have its own proprietary in-house technology, supported by self-developed and self-manufactured core components. This full-chain, closed-loop strategy is full of wisdom. First, it strikes the right balance between development and security, noting the importance of achieving science and technology self-reliance and strength. In this case, this is shown by ensuring safe and steady quality and supply of robots and parts, which can be managed and adjusted within the company’s own ecosystem and according to its latest business plans and needs. Second, the company has built a well-recognised and irreplaceable brand internationally, showcasing the power of the Greater Bay Area in furthering innovation and technology by combining the cutting-edge research and development outcomes, deep capital market and talent of Hong Kong as well as the established supply chain in the Greater Bay Area. The company is able to deliver to users an unmatchably positive experience of surgical robots in terms of quality, cost and supply stability. We noted that doctors generally like these surgical robots because they are easy to use and helpful to the doctors' daily work, rather than seeking to replace the professionals.
The reason why the HKIC is here today is not only because we are an investor of the company. Most importantly, it is because we care about the future of surgical innovation and its application, and we hope to bring complementary value to our audience today on your respective journeys towards making surgical care more accessible, applicable and affordable. This is what resonates with the HKIC’s “3As framework” when we pick and choose investments. The HKIC is wholly owned by the HKSAR Government as a long-term capital investment arm with professional and market operations. Surgical innovation and application is an important theme for the HKIC. It falls under one of our core themes, namely biotech and health tech, which has real touchpoints with and helps patients. It also demonstrates the synergy of our cross-sectoral investment approach, noting that surgical robots are benefiting from tailwinds in biotech and health tech, as well as the increasing growth of and trust in physical AI. The HKIC inclines to invest early to handhold companies and accelerate their growth. The questions for us are what Hong Kong and the world need, say, 5 to 10 years from now, and how we can get there with a solid commercial trajectory and strategic footing, rather than whether a portfolio company could be exited and generate a return to us tomorrow, next quarter or next year. In that regard, more than 70% of our invested capital was put in early and growth stage companies. Despite the relatively short history of the HKIC, which was established in October 2022, we experienced no J-curve. As of the end of 2025, our investment portfolio achieved a net IRR of 14%. I believe our pragmatic investment mode and collaborative partnership mentality, focusing on creating long-term, mutual benefits between the HKIC and scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs is relevant to attendees today who are among the greatest minds in these sectors. We look forward to working with you.
Data shows that there is increasing adoption of Cornerstone Robotics’ robots. For example, in Hong Kong, their robotic solutions are already available in both public and private hospitals, such as the Prince of Wales Hospital and CUHK Medical Centre. In Chinese Mainland, the robots are used in cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Equally importantly, we are seeing them in other jurisdictions such as the UK, Chile and Singapore. For companies like Cornerstone Robotics, whose technology is disrupting the status quo for the better, the HKIC is an active and ongoing supporter.
An active supporter means that we bring with us more than our own capital. With our “Investment +” approach, we not only invest our own capital but also curate other long-term, market capital from around the world to invest. At the same time, we proactively connect our portfolio companies and partners to regional and global resources, such as supply chains, clientele and other companies in the HKIC ecosystem that could bring synergy. An ongoing supporter means that we take a long-term view and could back companies with multiple tranches. In this case, the HKIC made our first investment in the company in 2024. Through our “milestone” investment approach, we invested our second tranche of capital in 2025. The “milestone” approach means that we closely monitor the performance of portfolio companies and are ready to provide additional capital when we see that their key performance targets are met as agreed in terms of quantity, quality and time. The HKIC’s support to the company did not stop there. This September, the journey reached a defining moment with Medtronic’s US$700 million strategic investment in Cornerstone Robotics. This is one of the largest, single strategic investments in the Asia-Pacific surgical robotics sector, and a record moment for Hong Kong’s innovation story. In terms of the HKIC’s capital multiplier ratio, this case and other recent cases show that with the joint efforts of the HKIC, our partners and companies, and backed by the many differentiating advantages of Hong Kong, we might be able to bring in international capital even more than our usually quoted figure of more than 1 to 8. In this particular case, we have doubled this ratio so far to more than 1 to 16. In other words, for every 1 dollar that the HKIC put in, the market and industry validated it by bringing in more than 16 dollars.
All these bring me to my last point. The story I shared and data I quoted were outcomes of joint efforts and represented history. For the HKIC, and I am sure many of you would resonate with this, the focus is on the future, and where and how we should plant our seeds for the future today. On that note, we are very grateful for Cornerstone Robotics’ organisation of this forum so that we can benefit from each other’s pearls of wisdom on such topics. We look forward to the discussion at this forum, on the basis of which we can collectively map out more about the future trends and actions for surgical innovation and accessibility. Wishing you all a rewarding forum!