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Sammy Heung

Hongkongers will be able to receive free medical tests and access internships under a deal between the government’s investment arm and a major healthcare service provider in the Greater Bay Area.
The Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC) and the New Frontier Group, a company co-founded by former finance minister Antony Leung Kam-chung, announced the partnership on Wednesday.
The tie-up is aimed at accelerating the city’s development into an international healthcare and medical innovation hub.
Clara Chan Ka-chai, CEO of the HKIC, said the investment would help the New Frontier Group provide support for testing services, medical research and the development of clinical applications.
“Based on the need for scientific research, a certain number of free testing services will be provided to Hong Kong residents for specific research projects,” she said, adding that further details would be released later.
New Frontier also owns and runs private healthcare service provider United Family Healthcare in mainland China.
Chan said residents who had activated and authorised their eHealth accounts, a government-run electronic records platform, would be able to access their test results directly.
But the corporation did not reveal the scale of the investment under the new partnership.
Chan said New Frontier would also collaborate with local universities to launch a talent training programme in the coming five years, with a strong focus on drug development, innovative diagnostic and treatment technologies, and the translation of medical research.
“From 2025 onwards, the group will offer at least 30 internship places to undergraduate and postgraduate students in Hong Kong each year, allowing them to engage with real-life clinical application scenarios as early as possible,” she said.
The group would also promote the establishment of cooperation mechanisms between education and medical institutions in Hong Kong and the mainland, such as through building joint laboratories and cross-border medical consultation platforms.
Chan said the company had also vowed to set up a corporate venture capital division in Hong Kong and prioritise the city as the location for an initial public offering.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced the establishment of the HKIC in his 2022 policy address with the aim of using the government’s reserves to boost the economy and industries. Its initial capital for deployment was HK$62 billion, covering four funds.
The group acquired United Family Healthcare, one of the largest privately held hospital organisations on the mainland, in 2019.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the HKIC had chosen to partner with a healthcare service provider with major operations in the bay area, which is Beijing’s scheme to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province into an integrated economic and business hub.
“With a population of 87 million, huge demand for healthcare services, abundant healthcare resources, a relatively complete medical technology industry chain and a large number of high-quality professionals in the area, it can be said in this environment, medical innovation will find new possibilities and scenarios,” he said at the ceremony.
He said New Frontier had established medical and clinical service platforms, as well as research infrastructure. It also connected various medical research institutions for cutting-edge clinical experiments and applications.
“I believe that with our joint efforts, Hong Kong’s medical technology industry will experience more vigorous development,” Chan said.
“The bay area, including Hong Kong, will become a world-class hub for medical technology innovation, making greater contributions to human health.”
New Frontier CEO and co-founder Carl Wu said that with the HKIC’s support, the company wished to create an ecosystem that enabled the growth of Hong Kong as a life science hub.
“You need scientists, you need patients, you need payers, you need management, administrators, entrepreneurs to make this successful,” he said.
“New Frontier by itself, it is a healthcare ecosystem. We have hospitals, we have clinics, we have health insurance companies, we deliver care at home, we also do clinical trial work.
“What we’re hoping to do is to create this end-to-end, from research labs all the way to clinics, i.e. from research to market ecosystem.”
Wu said one of the innovations they would bring forward was a diagnostic tool that used artificial intelligence to screen early-stage Alzheimer’s disease and depression, which was less invasive than traditional methods.
“It’s founded in the labs our neurologist is part of. We help [the developer] with our clinical trial services … licensing, registration … and then all the way to the market where our patients, our insurance company will support this technology,” he said.
“By creating this ecosystem, we massively reduce the cost of innovation itself. And we also shorten the time from research to the clinic.”


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