The HOUSING · I&T Summit opened today, bringing together experts, scholars and industry leaders in public housing from over 15 countries and cities worldwide to participate.

The summit, being held over four days, is themed “Pioneering Innovative Housing for a Sustainable Future” and was organised by the Housing Bureau and the Housing Authority.

Under the HOUSING · I&T initiative this year, the bureau has organised a series of events, including today's international symposium, a construction robotics competition in May and a secondary school housing construction robotics design competition in September to foster the development of the construction technology industry.

The first two days of the summit are being held at the Sham Shui Po Leisure & Cultural Building, featuring a symposium, alongside an intelligent technology exhibition area for participants to exchange ideas and explore innovation and developments in housing construction technology.

In her welcoming remarks at the opening ceremony this morning, Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho said: “We are delighted to bring together experts and industry leaders from around the world to explore how innovative technology can drive sustainable housing construction and development.

“Hong Kong will continue to play the roles of a 'super connector' and 'super value-adder' to foster cross-regional collaboration, building safer, more livable and quality homes for our people.”

The summit sessions this morning, under the theme “Smart · Housing”, brought together global perspectives and local experiences to discuss shaping the future of housing and urban development. The afternoon sessions, focusing on “Smart · Innovation”, explored how intelligent innovations like artificial intelligence (AI), component-based construction and advanced materials are transforming the construction and real estate industries.

During the summit, Ms Ho and other guests visited the intelligent technology exhibition area to interact with participants and learn about the active research and developments in innovative technology by tech companies. They also viewed the Better Housing Exhibition on display at the Sham Mong Road Playground. This mobile exhibition is organised and instructed by the Ministry of Housing & Urban-Rural Development's Centre of Science & Technology Industrial Development, technically supported by the ministry's smart low-carbon construction technology innovation centre and whole-house smart key laboratory.

To capitalise on Hong Kong's distinctive advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world as well as its prime location linking the Greater Bay Area, the Housing Bureau and the Housing Authority have arranged for over 50 participants, including those from Portugal, Australia, the UK, Cambodia, Macau and Hong Kong to visit Zhuhai on the third day of the summit for site visits to a smart factory.

They will tour advanced production lines featuring high automation and robotics applications, gaining insights into the production processes for both concrete and steel-structured Modular Integrated Construction (MiC), alongside high-quality supervision and inspections.

The itinerary also includes visits to an outdoor product exhibition hall and a construction technology pavilion, allowing participants to experience firsthand how advanced construction technology and MiC are shaping the future of housing. A sharing session will be held before concluding the visit to facilitate experience exchanges between participants and factory representatives, jointly exploring future directions for housing construction technology.

On the fourth day of the summit, over 60 participants will conduct site visits in Hong Kong. Their first stop will be the Housing Bureau's Light Public Housing (LPH) site at Olympic Avenue, Kai Tak, and Choi Hing Road LPH, Ngau Tau Kok, to understand how the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government employs standardised, simple designs and steel-structured MiC technology to build LPH swiftly, addressing the needs of families urgently requiring improved living environments.

The project team will conduct demonstrations of modern construction technologies, including the smart inspection, logistics and installation monitoring system for MiC, developed in collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Hong Kong's iLab, enabling participants to learn about the latest achievements in public housing developments and gain insights into the latest technologies such as MiC and 4S Smart Site Safety System.

Click here for details of the summit.