According to Paul Chan, Hong Kong’s financial secretary, the government of Hong Kong has chosen to provide $3 billion Hong Kong dollars ($383 million) to its Cyberport business park as part of a three-year artificial intelligence (AI) subsidy program.
At the budget announcement for 2024 on Wednesday, February 28, someone made the statement. The program aims to make use of the new AI Supercomputing Center’s computational capabilities for local businesses. Research organizations, and universities.
Chan underlined the role AI plays in propelling technical and industrial change and strengthening Hong Kong’s digital economy. The grant will improve cybersecurity and data protection at the center in addition to helping local organizations. It seeks to draw research projects, businesses, and specialists in AI from around the world to Hong Kong.
AI Supercomputing Center: A Technological Milestone
According to Chan, this year will see the opening of the AI Supercomputing Center. It is anticipated to have 3,000 petaflops of processing power by early 2026. Which will allow it to process nearly 10 billion photos an hour.
The Hong Kong government has scheduled the opening of the plan and the facility for 2024.They will apply a user-pays model, with subsidies not being given overall; instead, the amount of subsidies will change according to the applicant categories.
Chan also disclosed the establishment of a HK$100 million ($12.7 million) starting fund to support post-secondary universities that are self-financing in their efforts to establish an Alliance of Universities in Applied Sciences. He declared:
“This alliance aims to improve the reputation of vocational and professional education and training among parents. Students, and society at large by working together to promote it.”
Additionally, HK$6 billion ($766 million) would be provided by the government to support the establishment of new life and health technology research centers at eight nearby universities. These institutes will work with domestic and international organizations.
“Investors intend to encourage the advancement of life and health technology through the investment. Which stems from the HK$10 billion ($1.2 billion) budget allotted in 2023.” Facilitating research and development, transforming research findings, and luring top innovation and technology personnel and research teams to Hong Kong are the objectives.
The Standard, a local media site, reports that the plan will restrict eligibility to organizations connected to the eight local universities receiving government subsidies. In the long run the government intends to subsidize three universities.
The application of AI in health technologies has gained traction in Hong Kong. The hospital’s administration decided to use AI to combat two superbugs that had become noticeably more prevalent in November 2023.
