First of APAC Innovation Summit 2016 Series reveals the latest IoT trends

(Hong Kong, 29 March 2016) - The rise of Internet of Things (“IoT”) has laid a solid foundation for the rapid growth of innovation. IoT enabled technologies, in particular, smart manufacturing and smart homes have become the major development trend of many countries and regions nowadays. Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation ("HKSTP") will hold the first summit of its APAC Innovation Summit 2016 Series - Internet of Things at Hong Kong Science Park from 7 to 8 April. A number of prestigious speakers from around the world will share their insights on how IoT fosters intelligent manufacturing and enables re-industrialisation for Hong Kong, as well as discuss the current and future landscape of IoT development from both local and global perspectives.

International industry forerunners speak on the power of IoT

The summit will gather government officials, forerunners from international giant corporations in the industry, research institutes and academia to discuss IoT application trends as well as the opportunities and challenges in relation to Industry 4.0, Made in China 2025 and re-industralisation of Hong Kong.

Nicholas Yang, JP, Secretary for Innovation and Technology, will deliver an opening speech for the two-day flagship event. Also, thought leaders from the world's leading multinational corporations with rich experiences in IoT application will deliver influential keynote speeches -  Chris Ip, Director of McKinsey & Company’s Greater China office based in Hong Kong will share his view on the future development of IoT on manufacturing and innovation; Gardner Carrick, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives of The Manufacturing Institute in the US, will share the lessons and experiences from the US re-industralisation journey; Daniel Kalutkiewicz, Senior Solution Architect of IBM Watson Internet of Things at IBM Asia Pacific will share the latest innovation in IoT that is transforming industries in today’s cognitive era; whilst Ralf Schönherr, Project Leader of Innovative Robotic System for Production at BMW Group will talk about how factories can become smarter by applying innovative robotics systems in smart manufacturing.

Hong Kong is fully equipped to seize the opportunities of IoT to move forward to re-industrialisation

Allen Ma, Chief Executive Officer of HKSTP believes that under the implementation of “Made in China 2025”and Hong Kong Government’s initiatives in developing re-industrialisation, Hong Kong is fully ready to embark on the journey to realise intelligent manufacturing in Hong Kong. “Over the years, HKSTP has nurtured numerous technology talents and start-ups that are working on the research and development of IoT solutions and strived to facilitate the commercialisation of their technologies. Together with our re-development plan of our three Industrial Estates as well as the expansion of Science Park, I believe we are fully geared to stride towards an IoT enabled era and realise re-industrialisation for Hong Kong.” He is also confident to see the unique value chain in which “Innovated in Hong Kong”, “Designed in Hong Kong” and “Made in Hong Kong” will come true in the near future by riding on the opportunities brought by the IoT era.

Other key topics that will be discussed at the summit include how IoT-enabled innovative technologies realise smart living, Hong Kong’s advantages for intelligent manufacturing as well as disruptive IoT enabling technologies. A mini exhibition will also take place during the event. Universities, R&D centres and start-up companies from both local and overseas will present their new projects and their technological capabilities.

Smart Living@Science Park showcases integrated IoT-enabled products and solutions from local innovators

On the first day of the summit, HKSTP will also unveil the new face of its Smart Living@Science Park exhibition which underwent a thematic revamp centering on IoT technologies. The smart home, carrying a brand new look, will unveil a full suite of more than 50 IoT-enabled products and solutions all developed by innovators in Hong Kong. These inventions are set to raise people’s living quality, enhance household security, enrich one’s entertainment and social engagement experience at home, and enable health monitoring and home automation. Highlights of the exhibition included:

• Augmented Reality Wardrobe– an interactive virtual dressing closet that makes choosing what to wear each day fun and entertaining;
• FaceMust Access– an intelligent security system with high precision face recognition technology that doubles the identity authentication with both analog and digital video phone integration which altogether allows accurate remote security access control;
• Smart First Aid Box– a sleek transparent LCD display box with automatic notification and interactive monitoring function that proactively monitors and tracks the occupant’s health;
• ActivHearts™– a prize-winning patented technology that captures users’ biometric information through an earphone and relays the data to the smartphones’ app to provide users accurate and up-to-date information about their body during exercise.

For details of the summit, please visit the following website: http://www.apacinnosummit.net/programme.