The Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Paul Chan, posted on his blog on the 4th that on the first trading day of 2026, the Hang Seng Index performed strongly, and innovation and technology companies were the main driving force behind the market's rise. Hong Kong will seize this momentum and build a more vibrant innovation and industrial ecosystem, promoting high-quality economic development. Chen Maobo said that on the first trading day of 2026, the Hang Seng Index rose by more than 700 points, an increase of about 2.8%, which is the best performance since 2013. The Hang Seng Technology Index rose 4%, with several artificial intelligence related stocks continuing to be popular among investors. He said that by the end of 2025, there will be over 400 new economy companies listed in Hong Kong, accounting for about 15% of the total number of listed companies, and their market value and transaction volume will account for about 30% of the market. It is expected that among the companies applying for listing this year, there will be cutting-edge technology enterprises one after another. The SAR government welcomes these enterprises to go public and raise funds in Hong Kong, encourages them to settle in Hong Kong, establish research centers and realize the transformation of achievements, encourages them to set up advanced manufacturing facilities in Hong Kong, fully utilize the advantages of local basic research and international scientific research talent gathering to accelerate development, and enrich and strengthen Hong Kong's innovation ecology and industry; Support them to establish regional or international headquarters in Hong Kong, and expand into international markets, Southeast Asia, and even the world through Hong Kong. Chen Maobo introduced that in recent years, Hong Kong Cyberport and Jiangsu Province have jointly established the "Hong Kong Jiangsu Science and Technology Innovation Center", promoting the model of "research and development in Hong Kong, application in Jiangsu", and promoting the collaborative development of innovation and technology between the two places. In addition, the Hong Kong branch of the National Torch Science and Technology Innovation Institute (Zhongguancun) has been established to promote talent cultivation and enterprise incubation in Beijing and Hong Kong. He said that the first three buildings in the Hong Kong Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park have been completed, with two wet laboratories having a rental rate of nearly 80%. Over 60 domestic, foreign, and local enterprises have successively settled in. In terms of industry types, about half of the enterprises belong to artificial intelligence and data science, and about 40% belong to life and health technology. (New Society)