Smart city: Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Rita Lau (second left) officiates at the Hong Kong - Smart City, Smart Life reception in San Francisco.

Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Rita Lau has encouraged scientists and IT companies in San Francisco to come to Hong Kong for collaboration in research work and business partnerships.

Mrs Lau today visited the Mission Bay Campus of the University of California. She was briefed on how the campus could be developed as a world-class biotechnology cluster under a public-private partnership project.

She toured the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences on the campus. She said the institute is a useful reference for Hong Kong in reinforcing the biotechnology cluster at the Hong Kong Science Park and hoped more R&D collaborative opportunities can be explored with the institute.

Officiating at the Hong Kong - Smart City, Smart Life reception, Mrs Lau said the IT software and services market in Mainland China is one of the world's fastest growing. Small and medium-sized IT firms around the world wishing to serve this market can team up with Hong Kong companies.

"There is no better place to find a partner to help address the huge Mainland market. I invite you to explore the opportunities to partner with our innovative and capable IT companies."