HKSTP leads five high-potential biotech startups to explore global collaboration and financing at premier biopharma summit in Seoul

As life and health technologies gain attention around the world, cross-regional R&D collaboration and capital matching have become core engines to drive innovation. Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) recently led a delegation of five high-potential park companies to the 5th “2026 BioCentury-BayHelix East-West Summit” in Seoul, South Korea. This summit serves not only as a “super accelerator” for investment collaboration and co-development, but also a core platform for sharing industry insights on Asian drug R&D, translation, manufacturing, investment and global commercialization. Through this strategic “go global” initiative, Hong Kong’s innovation and technology ecosystem once again showcased its unique advantages and investment potential in life and health tech to the international community.

Facilitating dialogue between industry, academia, research and investment experts

One of the flagship events during the summit was a breakfast session hosted by HKSTP, titled “From Innovation to Venture Capital: Making Asia’s Biotech Investible”. The event brought together leaders from the industry, academia, research, and investment to discuss how to transform cutting-edge science into investable biotech companies.

During the event, Prof Joshua Ho, Director of Master of Biomedical Innovation, The University of Hong Kong, pointed out that Hong Kong boasts not only an extremely high density of talent, but also five universities ranked among the world’s top 100, as well as an edge in conducting clinical trials. “Hong Kong has four hospitals to choose from. When you conduct clinical trials here, you gain fast track access to the free market, the US FDA, Europe and China’s NMPA.”

Moving on from research to entrepreneurship

One of the challenges that startups face is the change of mindset from research to entrepreneurship. Derek Chim, Head of Startup Ecosystem and Development of HKSTP, highlighted three areas which startup founders, despite their strong technical capabilities, need to work on: innovative solutions, clear development strategies and global execution capabilities.

Hong Kong’s legal system to support cross-border transactions
Hong Kong’s robust legal system is key to attracting international capital. Yiming Liu, Partner in Charge, Shanghai, Cooley LLP, said that in cross-border transactions, many investors prefer Hong Kong as the jurisdiction for contracts, reflecting market trust in Hong Kong’s judicial system.

As for exit mechanisms, MJ Kim, Senior Investment Manager, Bio-Investment Team, Mirae Asset Capital, explained that although IPOs remain the primary path, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are becoming a new trend. Agreeing with this trend, Dr. Mia Hu, Investment Senior Director, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund of Boehringer Ingelheim, said that according to the funds that her company have invested, over 90% of the exits were through M&A, revealing that large pharmaceutical companies strongly demand assets with clinical potential.

Comprehensive support to help startups accelerate commercialization

HKSTP plays a crucial supporting role to biotech startups as they navigate through challenges. Derek Chim emphasized that HKSTP offers comprehensive support not only in funding but also as an ecosystem builder. Currently, HKSTP has amassed over 300 life and health tech companies, providing end-to-end support from laboratory R&D to clinical application through its Incu-Bio programme – the incubation programme tailored for biotech startups.

Startups showcased strong capabilities and unlocked global collaboration opportunities

Another highlight was the roadshow session, during which five local life and health tech firms—AilsynBio, GenEditBio, Immuno Cure, OBpharm, and SPH Biotherapeutics (HK) Limited—presented cutting-edge solutions covering AI drug development, immunotherapy and more, demonstrating Hong Kong’s strong research capabilities.

The delegation gained fruitful results with cooperation intent on co-development and technology licensing with several Korean and international pharmaceutical companies.

In his concluding remarks, Derek Chim said that participating in this event fully demonstrated HKSTP’s commitment to connecting Hong Kong companies with global capital and cooperation opportunities, marking a new stage in cooperation between Hong Kong and international stakeholders in the biomedical field.