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Welcome Remarks by Mrs Regina Ip, GBM, GBS, JP, at the “Seminar on The New Space Economy – Breakthroughs and Opportunities”
2025-09-16
Seminar on “The New Space Economy - Breakthroughs and Opportunities”
Welcome Remarks by Hon. Mrs. Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee,
16 September, 2025
Good afternoon, Professor Sun Dong, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Bernie - Mr. Bernard Chan. Co-chair of the Maritime Silk Road Society, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Welcome to the seminar on “The New Space Economy - Breakthroughs and Opportunities” organized by the Maritime Silk Road Society and supported by the Orion Astropreneur Space Academy. I wish to thank Professor Sun for taking time off his extremely hectic schedule to address us, and our sponsors The Hong Kong Compliance Association Limited and Mr Bernard Chan for their generous support for this event.
As a flagship event to mark the 12th anniversary of the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative and the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Maritime Silk Road Society, this seminar has been organized to follow up on the discussions on the opportunities offered by technological breakthroughs and new space economy at the Global Prosperity Summit held in May. The rapid development of the space economy - estimated by the Space Foundation to be valued at US$570 billion in 2023 - as well as China’s aerospace economy, have sparked much interest in Hong Kong’s business and scientific communities. There is general consensus that there is much Hong Kong can do to support the growth of China’s commercial aerospace economy, and contribute to the peaceful uses of the outer space.
Today, we are extremely privileged to have with us four distinguished speakers who are highly knowledgeable about the latest technological and commercial developments in outer space, the risks and the opportunities, and the role Hong Kong can play in developing a vibrant local space economy. Let us welcome our speakers Dr. Anthony Neoh, QC, SC, JP, Co-chairman of the Asian Academy of International Law; Professor Dong Xurong, Dean of the School of Aerospace and BDS Technology at the Guangdong Industries Polytechnic University; Professor Grace Yang Gao, HKUST Director of the Centre for AI Robotics in Space Sustainability and Co-director of Space Science and Technology Institute; and, last but not least, Ms Katherine Cortney, Chairwoman of the Global Network on Sustainability in Space, who has traveled the longest distance to join us. Please join me in giving our distinguished soakers a big hand for their support.
I wish to thank also the participants in today’s seminar, coming from aerospace, information technology, academia, the legal profession, and tech entrepreneurs from mainland China and Hong Kong, for their enthusiastic support. Without further ado, let me invite Professor Sun Dong to give us his keynote address.
