Hong Kong and GBA Cities Forge Biomedical Partnership Driving Global Innovation Leadership
Hong Kong's biomedical sector has grown nearly 30% in the past decade, with collaborative efforts across the Greater Bay Area positioning the region as a global biotech innovation hub through financial resources, clinical trial capabilities, and cross-border partnerships.
The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) has released a comprehensive research report detailing the remarkable growth of Hong Kong's biomedical sector and its collaborative development with Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) cities. According to the findings, Hong Kong's healthcare sector has surged by nearly 30% over the past decade, with the total number of related businesses now exceeding 3,000 companies, up from 2,340 in 2013.
The report, titled "I&T Cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area: Hong Kong Partners with Mainland Cities in Advancing Biomedical Upgrade in the GBA," was produced alongside a joint research initiative with the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province. HKTDC Research Director Irina Fan emphasized that technological innovation has been a key driver of Hong Kong's economic growth, allowing effective alignment with national priorities. "Thanks to extensive government support, technological innovation has been a key driver of Hong Kong's economic growth," Fan stated.
Hong Kong's status as a leading international financial center provides comprehensive funding opportunities for biotech businesses. As of June 2025, the total market capitalization of the Hong Kong-listed healthcare sector reached US$441 billion, accounting for approximately 8.1% of the total market cap of Hong Kong-listed companies. This represents a threefold increase from the US$144 billion figure recorded at the end of 2017, prior to the launch of the HKEX Chapter 18A regime. Since these listing rules came into effect, allowing biotech firms without recorded revenue or profits to list, 73 biotech companies have listed, collectively raising US$16 billion as of mid-2025.
Beyond financial resources, Hong Kong offers technical capabilities that significantly benefit GBA businesses. Wing Chu, HKTDC Deputy Director of Research, highlighted that "the city's advanced clinical trial services, all of which yield internationally accepted data, make Hong Kong the ideal launchpad for any regional healthcare venture looking to go global." Clinical data from Hong Kong-based trials has been approved by leading regulatory bodies including the US Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency, and China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA).
The international recognition of the region's innovation capabilities was underscored by the World Intellectual Property Organization designating the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster as the world's leading innovation hub in its 2025 Global Innovation Index. Hong Kong's biotech and health start-up sectors have demonstrated extraordinary growth, more than quadrupling from 110 to 510 companies between 2018 and 2024, while their share of the city's total start-up ecosystem rose from 4% to 11%.
Cherry Yeung, HKTDC Research Senior Economist, outlined how future intra-regional cooperation could benefit all parties: "Hong Kong is already seamlessly connected with many of the pharmaceutical manufacturers and markets in Mainland China, thanks to its strengths in R&D and international trade. For their part, the GBA cities deliver considerable production as well as resource support, creating a real synergy across the board." The Guangdong Government's action plans aim to grow its biomedical and healthcare industry cluster by around 50% by 2027, increasing its value from RMB 664 billion in 2023 to more than a trillion yuan, with Hong Kong playing a crucial role in this expansion strategy.