- New scholarships to be awarded each year to support talent in business, finance, biotech, and innovation
- Funding for scholarships to be from new HKEX Foundation
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is today (Friday) pleased to announce the launch of its first university scholarship programme in Hong Kong, which will develop home-grown talent in the fields of business, finance, biotech, and innovation.
The programme will each year fund, through the newly-launched HKEX Foundation two types of scholarships: The HKEX Foundation Scholarship will be granted for study in the fields of business and finance; whilst the HKEX Foundation Scholarship for Biotechnology and Innovationwill be awarded to candidates demonstrating achievement or potential in the area of biotechnology and innovation.
“This year marks HKEX’s 20th anniversary as a public company. Over the past two decades, nurturing talent, giving young people the skills and tools they need to fulfil their own ambitions, and supporting the next generation of leaders have been a major priority for us,” said HKEX Chairman Laura M Cha. “I am therefore delighted today to be announcing our HKEX Foundation’s scholarship programme which will support the best and brightest talent in Hong Kong. Working with some of Hong Kong’s world leading academic institutions, we will sponsor a number of scholarships in finance and biotechnology, in turn contributing not only to the development of the talent pool, but to Hong Kong’s continuing role as a leading global international financial centre.”
The scholarships will initially support tertiary students at The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in the 2020-2021 academic year. Six scholarships of $50,000 each – or three in each scholarship category – will be given out every year. Application details will be announced in due course.
“Part of our new scholarship programme will be dedicated to supporting talent in the biotech and innovations sector, an area of remarkable growth and emerging importance in Hong Kong,” Mrs Cha added. “This reflects our commitment to cultivate the local ecosystem for new economy and biotech investments, adding vibrancy and diversity to Hong Kong’s capital market.”
Since HKEX launched its listing reforms two years ago, Hong Kong has become a preferred listing venue for high growth biotech and new economy companies from around the world. Ninety new economy companies (including healthcare and biotech firms) have listed in Hong Kong since the new listing rules took effect, raising $363.2 billion, and accounting for 55 per cent of IPO funds raised in Hong Kong during the period. Hong Kong is currently the second largest biotech fundraising centre in the world.
Source: HKEx