(Hong Kong, 13 March 2026) – Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) led a delegation of five high-potential park companies to the 5th "2026 BioCentury-BayHelix East-West Summit" in Seoul, Korea, from 9-11 March, showcasing Hong Kong's unique strengths in life and health tech, and R&D translation capabilities, collaboration and investment opportunities to the global audience.
The Summit is widely recognized as a flagship event bridging East-West biopharma innovation, capital and business development & licensing (BD&L). It serves as a "super accelerator" for investment collaboration and co-development, and a core platform for sharing industry insights on Asian drug R&D, translation, manufacturing, investment, and global commercialization. The annual event attracts global industry leaders from top-tier biopharma companies, investment institutions, also business development and licensing decision-makers from multinational pharmaceutical corporations.
HKSTP’s Breakfast Session and Startup Pitching
HKSTP hosted a themed breakfast session titled "From Innovation to Venture Capital: Making Asia's Biotech Investible" on 11 March. The session featured a fireside chat with scholars, industry leaders, HKSTP representatives, and experts from global investment institutions and legal consultancies, delving into topics such as collaboration and development strategies within Asia's innovation landscape, the ecosystem for biomedical innovation in Hong Kong, clinical evidence and translation pathways, and capital markets. Five Hong Kong startups also delivered pitching presentations at the breakfast session, showcasing cutting-edge solutions to international investors and industry leaders, accelerating global investment and collaboration opportunities.
Delegation Successfully Deepens Hong Kong-Korea-International Biopharma Collaboration
The delegation successfully reached multiple collaboration interest with prominent Korean and international biopharma companies across areas on co-development and technology licensing. The delegation also held in-depth meetings with leading biopharma companies and investment firms, with park companies receiving active follow-ups from investors and corporates, laying a solid foundation for subsequent fundraising and business development. In addition, the delegation engaged in strategic exchanges with a number of prominent international investment institutions and corporate venture capital (CVC) firms, holding in-depth discussions on the increasingly rich pool of investable assets and deal flow in Hong Kong's biopharma sector, while actively exploring co-development partnership models to drive cross-border biopharma innovation investment and collaboration. From ecosystem perspective, the delegation explored directions on potential framework collaborations with the stakeholders from BioCentury, BayHelix, the Summit insight partner McKinsey & Company as well as the Korea regional host representatives.
Mr Derek Chim, Head of Startup Ecosystem and Development at HKSTP, said: "Our participation in this Summit fully demonstrates HKSTP's commitment to connecting Hong Kong's life and health tech innovation with international capital and collaboration opportunities. The positive cooperation and investment interest generated by this delegation mark a new chapter in Hong Kong-Korea-International biopharma collaboration, showcasing the city's role as a bridge between capital and innovation across borders. Our themed breakfast session featured insights from experts across industry, academia, investment and professional services including legal consultancy, highlighting Hong Kong's advantages as a 'super-connector.' It also provided an invaluable platform for our five park companies to demonstrate the competitiveness of local startups on the world stage."
HKSTP: Comprehensive Support for Startup Growth
As one of the world's top three IPO fundraising hubs in 2026 and Asia's leading biotech financing hub, Hong Kong continues to strengthen its role in connecting global capital with innovation. HKSTP is home to over 300 health tech companies and offers Incu-Bio, Asia's most unique incubation programme tailored for life and health tech ventures. Positioned as an "end-to-end journey partner," the programme focuses on tangible business outcomes through its four core FUEL pillars - Follow (continuous guidance), Upskill (capability building), Expose (market exposure), and Link (resource connection). The programme provides end-to-end support from laboratory research to regulatory activities, supported by a network of over 300 expert mentors across startup ecosystems, accelerating the entire process from concept to development, trials, fundraising, and commercialisation.
The Five Participating Startups
AilsynBio – Leverages proprietary AI models and human multi-omics scientific data to discover novel disease targets and craft exceptionally innovative molecules, reducing drug development timelines.
GenEditBio – Specializes in developing in vivo genome editing therapies (also known as "DNA surgery") by discovering novel Cas nucleases and creating fundamentally safe, efficient and affordable in vivo delivery technologies to treat genetic mutation-related diseases.
Immuno Cure – Focusing on DNA medicines and antibody immunotherapies for infectious diseases, inflammation, and cancers. First-in-class HIV therapeutic DNA vaccine, ICVAX, completed Phase I clinical trial with promising results, and soon enters Phase II clinical trial. Pipeline products also include DNA vaccines and antibody against various cancers are underway in preclinical stage.
OBpharm Limited – An innovative healthcare company focused on obesity, cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic health. The company utilises advanced biomolecular engineering techniques and AI to develop targeted, biomarker-guided precision therapies.
SPH Biotherapeutics (HK) Limited – Focuses on developing autologous CAR-T, TCR-T, and allogeneic iNKT-based cell therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases.
