en.Wedoany.com Reported - In 2026, the Hong Kong Park of the Lok Ma Chau Loop Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone plans to designate shared CDMO and clinical trial-related directions as priority funding focuses. This arrangement targets two key links in the transformation chain of life and health technology achievements: one end is oriented towards process scale-up, pilot verification, and production transformation of R&D outcomes, while the other end is oriented towards innovative drugs and devices entering clinical research, data accumulation, and registration transformation.
The life and health layout of the Hong Kong Park is shifting from the construction of scientific research carriers to a continuous support system of "R&D—pilot—clinical—industrialization." The Hong Kong SAR Government's 2026-27 Budget has proposed promoting the coordinated development of the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of life and health technology. The upstream is centered on the Life and Health R&D Institute in the Hong Kong Park and three branch institutes established by universities; the midstream supports the transformation of achievements through the "Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme"; and the downstream relies on three major innovation and technology parks to form clusters of enterprises and institutions. For biomedical enterprises, whether early-stage scientific research achievements can truly enter the industrial stage often gets stuck in two high-cost links: one is the transition from laboratory samples to verifiable and scalable production processes, and the other is the transition from preclinical research to standardized clinical trials. A shared CDMO platform can reduce the cost for startups to build their own production facilities by providing shared workshops, process development, quality systems, testing and validation, and batch trial production capabilities. A clinical trial platform can integrate researchers, ethical review, patient resources, databases, and cross-border collaboration mechanisms, helping projects for innovative drugs, vaccines, medical devices, and cell and gene therapies to enter real medical verification processes faster. If the Hong Kong Park prioritizes these two directions for funding, it is essentially filling the intermediate layer of infrastructure for life and health technology to move from "scientific discovery" to "clinical application" and "industrial implementation."
Currently, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area International Clinical Trial Institute in the Hong Kong Park has established a collaboration platform with the Shenzhen Park, providing one-stop clinical trial support and serving biomedical and vaccine R&D through the aggregation of researchers and database integration.
This funding direction also aligns with the functional positioning of the Hong Kong Park. Located within the Northern Metropolis of Hong Kong, the park covers an area of approximately 0.87 square kilometers. The first three buildings of Phase 1 have been completed, including two wet laboratory buildings and one talent apartment, equipped with shared facilities such as a biobank and data center. The remaining five buildings of Phase 1 are planned to be completed successively from 2027 onwards, with the total floor area of the park's two phases reaching 2 million square meters. Life and health technology, artificial intelligence and data science, and new technology and advanced manufacturing are important directions in the park's future functional zoning. For the life and health industry, wet laboratories, biobanks, and data centers can only address part of the needs for R&D and data processing. Enterprises also require public platforms capable of undertaking process scale-up, quality control, clinical collaboration, real-world data, and registration pathway integration. Shared CDMO and clinical trials are at the core of this chain: the former pushes laboratory achievements towards a producible, verifiable, and deliverable state, while the latter pushes technical solutions towards patients, doctors, and regulatory systems. Hong Kong possesses advantages in its international medical system, university medical research resources, and capital market, while Shenzhen has a more complete manufacturing support, engineering capabilities, and industrial chain responsiveness. The institutional scenario of "one river, two banks" and "one zone, two parks" in the Loop makes it easier for such cross-border life and health platforms to achieve synergy.
The focus of subsequent policy implementation will be on the scope of funding recipients, application conditions, funding amounts, the opening mechanism of service platforms, and the regulatory connection between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. If shared CDMO and clinical trial platforms can establish stable service capabilities, the Hong Kong Park will be better positioned to attract innovative drug and device enterprises, university research teams, multinational pharmaceutical companies, and medical transformation institutions to settle in, transforming Hong Kong's life and health research advantages into an innovation chain in the Greater Bay Area with stronger industrial carrying capacity.
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