HONG KONG, 19 September 2026 – The School of Biomedical Sciences, HKUMed hosted the first-ever Industry Engagement & Orientation Day for the HKU Master of Biomedical Innovation (MBioInno) programme, at the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel Hong Kong. 

School Director Professor Michael Häusser welcomed 63 outstanding students who were admitted to the highly selective inaugural MBioInno cohort. 

MBioInno Programme Co-Director Professor Joshua Ho shared a few interesting facts about this cohort: >37% of students had >3 years of prior work experience; students completed their previous degree from diverse regions in the world, including Hong Kong, Chinese mainland, UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey; students had diverse academic background: life and biomedical sciences, medtech and biotech, computer science/AI and engineering, finance and management, clinical medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and other health professions. All these students aspire to become future industry leaders and entrepreneurs in biotechnology and AI digital health.   

This inaugural MBioInno event brought together senior executives, investors, start-up founders, and leading R&D experts from our 20 industry partners, many start-up teams and leading academics. 

Importantly, the 20 industry partners have committed over 90 industry internship positions to our full-time MBioInno students.

Deep industry engagement: Senior industry executives presented their company’s visions, internship opportunities, and future vision. Students engaged directly, gaining valuable career and innovation insights.

HKU Innovation Ecosystem: Associate Vice-President (Research & Innovation) of HKU Professor Stephanie Ma shared the University's Cora Reefs approach to nurturing a vibrant deep tech ecosystem that engages academia, industry, and investors.

Panel on biomedical entrepreneurship : Mr. Collin Lau (Group CEO of Virtus Clinical Study & Translation Platform Limited), Professor Christopher K.S. Leung (Chairperson and Clinical Professor of HKU Department of Ophthalmology, and Founder of SightTorch), Professor Joshua Ho (Assistant Dean of Innovation & Technology Transfer, HKUMed), and Dr. Lanqi Gong (CEO of Inspire Science Limited, and Research Assistant Professor of HKU Department of Clinical Oncology) shared their candid experience of building biomedical ventures, sharing their hard-won lessons.

MBioInno Entrance Scholarship: 13 entrance scholarship recipients were honored, reflecting their exceptional calibre entering the MBioInno programme.

To our industry partners, academics, and students, we thank you for walking this path with us. Together, we are building a collaborative journey that turns deep biotechnology and AI/digital health technology into real-world healthcare impact.

The application of MBioInno for the 2027/28 cohort will open soon. Please stay tune: https://mbioinno.hku.hk/.