Esri China (Hong Kong), an international office of the global market leader in GIS (Geographic Information Systems), today announced the establishment of its first Research & Development Centre (R&D Centre) at HK Science Park (HKSP) to support the development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong. The R&D Centre will focus on developing innovative GIS solutions and integration with other emerging smart city enabling technologies to facilitate the development of Hong Kong into a smart city.

The R&D Centre will actively participate in the Smart Region initiative fostered by Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (HKSTP). The Smart Region serves as an ideal testbed for the R&D Centre to integrate GIS technology with sensor technology, AI algorithms, big data analytics and mobile communication for smart city applications. The Smart Region also offers a complete ecosystem for collaboration with a wide variety of technology partners in HKSP by adding spatial dimension to their technologies. An exclusive program for the start-up partners will be run in the Park to support the adoption of GIS technology in their products and solutions.

The first collaborative partner of the R&D Centre is the Health GeoLab Collaborative which is supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Esri, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Asia eHealth Information Network (AeHIN). The mission of the Health GeoLab Collaborative is to facilitate the health sector in countries across Asia Pacific to geo-enable their Health Information System (HIS) and to support the implementation of their respective health programs through the use of geospatial data and GIS technologies. This is important for better health service planning, disease prevention and health promotion, and response to disease outbreaks and disasters. This exactly demonstrates how smart GIS technology makes smart people healthier.

Mr. Nicholas W. Yang, GBS, JP, Secretary for Innovation and Technology welcomed Esri to invest in R&D to better support smart city development. It helps to cultivate a culture of collaboration and co-create smart solutions, which is essential to build a smart city and nurture talents in Hong Kong, he added.

The Hon. Mrs. Fanny Law Fan Chiu Fun, GBS, JP, Chairperson of HKSTP said, “Esri China (Hong Kong)’s R&D centre is a most welcome addition to the Science Park ecosystem, as we turn the Science Park and the Chinese University of Hong Kong into a smart region and a testbed for smart city initiatives. No doubt, the GIS technology of Esri China (Hong Kong) will enrich the HKSP-CUHK Smart Region pilot and support the vision for Hong Kong to be a regional health data hub.

Mr. Mark Landry, Regional Advisor, Health Situation and Trend Assessment at World Health Organization said, “Geo-enabled public health data and analysis using GIS generates powerful evidence for policy and planning, especially in this new era of Sustainable Development Goals. I am very pleased to see this new R&D Centre initiative, the Health GeoLab Collaborative, and so many partners working together. The R&D Centre has tremendous potential to bring to light GIS innovations and smart city technologies to help countries everywhere to achieve better results in healthcare.”

Dr. Winnie Tang, JP, Founder and Chairman of Esri China (Hong Kong) said, "Spatial thinking is of paramount importance to our daily life. People can gain insight from geospatial data and identify pattern and spatial relationship that help better decision-making. I hope our R&D Centre can help nurture more local talents in Geospatial Science and develop more innovative solutions that help build Hong Kong as a spatially enabled smart city."

To learn more about how Esri uses The Science of Where to make our community smarter, please visit esri.com/smart-communities.

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About Esri China (Hong Kong) Limited
Esri China (Hong Kong) Limited (esrichina.hk) is the premier Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and mapping solutions provider in Hong Kong and Macao. As an international office of Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), the world leader of GIS software, we aim to bring state-of-the-art GIS technology from Esri to the local users.

Esri China (Hong Kong) believes that Geography fundamentally influences and connects our many cultures, societies, and ways of life and work whereas GIS is an intelligent language and technology of geography for understanding our world and creating a better future. Conveying this belief to the local community, we dedicate our support to users in achieving success in the implementation of GIS applications.