Hitachi Innovation Center Aims to Drive Co-Creation and Develop Innovative Solutions in the Heart of Hong Kong Science Park

(From fourth left) Charles Ng, Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion, Invest Hong Kong; Albert Wong, Chief Executive Officer, HKSTP; Dr. Sunny Chai, Chairman, HKSTP; Brian Householder, Chief Executive Officer, Hitachi Vantara; Kuninori Matsuda, The Japanese Ambassador and Consulate-General to Hong Kong; and Andrew Sampson, Vice President and General Manager Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, Hitachi Vantara, jointly hosted the launch ceremony of the new Hitachi Innovation Center in the heart of Hong Kong Science Park.

Brian Householder, Chief Executive Officer, Hitachi Vantara discussing how Hitachi combine 100 years of operational technology with 60 years of information technology experience, to create IoT solutions that can contribute to a smarter, healthier and safer society.

Andrew Sampson, Vice President and General Manager Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, Hitachi Vantara describes how the company is striving to build a smarter city in Hong Kong following the launch of the Hitachi Innovation Center.

Albert Wong, Chief Executive Officer, HKSTP, said the Hitachi Innovation Center will provide park companies and start-ups with easy access to Hitachi’s digital tools, supporting the collaboration and co-creation in the ecosystem at Hong Kong Science Park and thus the creation of a digital and smart future for Hong Kong.

The launch of the Hitachi Innovation Center featured four innovations: Smart Health, Smart Spaces, Smart Data Center and Smart Logistics, that are built under Hitachi Vantara’s Smart Data framework, providing insight to corporations as well as a technical foundation for the co-creation between Hitachi Vantara and the companies at Hong Kong Science Park.

Hong Kong, 24th October 2018 – Hitachi Vantara and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) today announced the inauguration of the Hitachi Innovation Center, based at Hong Kong Science Park in Sha Tin, Hong Kong’s largest R&D base.

The Hitachi Innovation Center is designed to foster collaborations and strengthen the ecosystem that supports smart city initiatives in Hong Kong and beyond. By bringing together the latest technologies and ideas, the Hitachi Group of companies and HKSTP provide an open platform for the Science Park community to link up with stakeholders in the government, industry, academia and research sectors to power Smart City innovations.

“We are pleased to launch the Hitachi Innovation Center at Hong Kong Science Park, which will play a strategic and significant role for Hitachi Social Innovation development in Hong Kong. It will facilitate the co-creation of new smart city solutions amongst an ecosystem of government bodies, technology companies and startups, our business partners, and Hitachi group companies as we strive to build a smarter city in Hong Kong.,” said Mr. Andrew Sampson, Vice President & General Manager Hong Kong, Macau & Taiwan, Hitachi Vantara. “The new innovation center will enable us to bring together the skills and capabilities of the many Hitachi group companies operating in Hong Kong under one roof, to allow more effective collaboration, increase co-creation opportunities and truly deliver our Hitachi vision.”

“As a world’s leading corporation, Hitachi has been a great partner to the Science Park’s ecosystem. Hitachi brings invaluable support to Hong Kong in our build-up to a society of innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. With the launch of Hitachi Innovation Centre, start-ups and partner companies in the Science Park would benefit from the access to their digital tools,” said Mr. Albert Wong, Chief Executive Officer of HKSTP. “Hitachi Vantara has been an important partner to the Data Studio in Science Park which has been building an open data platform. While co-creation and collaboration are the key to innovation, we will work closely with Hitachi Vantara in our continuous endeavour to build a digital and smart future of Hong Kong.”

Hitachi combines 100 years of operational technology with 60 years of information technology experience, connecting business, human and machine data to create IoT solutions that can contribute to a smarter, healthier and safer society. Hitachi Vantara has been collaborating closely with HKSTP to provide training sessions at the Park on its Data Analytics and Intelligence technology platform that can help store, enrich, activate and monetize data streams. These training sessions aim to engage the HKSTP community to drive the development of solutions for smart mobility, smart living, smart environment and smart people, based on data.

Associate Director-General at InvestHK, Mr Charles Ng, lauded the opening of the centre, saying, “With profound experience in innovation, Hitachi is a brand name of technology and a trendsetter that guarantees quality in the industry. The fact that it is choosing our city as one of its strategic overseas locations shows Hong Kong’s attraction for big tech companies. We look forward to its success.”

Hitachi Vantara aims to unleash the power of IoT, big data, analytics and video intelligence to fuel innovation, solve local challenges and improve lives. Its open lab environment is designed to support the exploration of ideas and is fully accessible to the wider HKSTP community. The new innovation center will showcase and develop different elements of smart city technology. Currently it is showcasing Smart Health, Smart Spaces, Smart Data Center and Smart Logistics. All of these are built under Hitachi Vantara’s Smart Data framework to provide more insight to support business decisions. Its fluid and open design allows the Center to keep evolving as co-creation gives birth to new ideas and innovations that can achieve various business outcomes for customers and partners.

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