The Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) Tuesday officially opened its Innovation Center and Photonics Center to provide end-to-end support facilities in Hong Kong for both local and overseas Integrated Circuit (IC) and photonics companies.

Tung Chee Hwa, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) officiated as the guest of honor at the opening ceremony.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Tung said that innovation and technology, complementing other competitive advantages of Hong Kong, holds the key to the success of Hong Kong's restructuring.

"Our vision remains that technology will expand our innovative capability, increase productivity and enhance our competitiveness. Technology manifesting itself in products, services, processes and infrastructure will also offer tremendous opportunities for our economy," said Tung.

The Innovation Center features Asia's first-of-its-kind IC Design/Development Support Center providing the ultimate in solution services to IC companies throughout the entire product development cycle -- from initial design to production release, according to the HKSTP.

The Photonics Center, designed to provide a multi-disciplinary research and development facility for the Science Park community and Hong Kong as a whole, comprises major facilities including the Photonics Development Support Center and the Product Analysis Laboratory, the HKSTP said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2003)