University Presidents and Leaders Summit Opens: Northern Metropolis University Town Development in Focus; John Lee: Invite Institutions to Set Up Research Platforms to Strengthen Industry-Academia-Research Links

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The Second "Global University Presidents and Leaders Summit 2026" is being held over two days at the Convention and Exhibition Centre, bringing together representatives from over 50 universities across more than 20 countries and regions to discuss issues including the development of the Northern Metropolis University Town and government-industry-academia-research-investment collaboration. In his opening address, Chief Executive John Lee reiterated that the first Five-Year Plan published last month will focus on building Hong Kong into a highland for top talent, and that the Northern Metropolis University Town is one of the key priorities of the Five-Year Plan and Hong Kong's future, aimed at attracting the world's best scholars and students to Hong Kong.

🏙️ John Lee: University Town Land Increased to About 300 Hectares
The first day of the summit featured five seminars, two of which were themed on the Northern Metropolis University Town. John Lee noted that at the summit two years ago, he stated that the government would reserve over 80 hectares of land in the Northern Metropolis for the university town, but this has now increased to about 300 hectares. All three university towns are being built on a district concept, comprising campus areas, technology areas, industry areas and living communities. He will invite various institutions to establish basic research institutes and large-scale shared research platforms in the Northern Metropolis University Town, and will also encourage university faculty to conduct research in enterprises, hoping to strengthen links between industry, academia and research and achieve complementary strengths and mutual reinforcement.

💬 Leung Mei-fun: The World Wants Dialogue; University Town Benefits the Globe
Leung Mei-fun, CEO of the Hong Kong External Exchange Friendship Association and Legislative Council Member, who organised the summit, said in her opening address that the gathering of university representatives showed "the world wants dialogue," and hoped all parties would face future challenges together in this era of prevalent artificial intelligence (AI). She continued that the Northern Metropolis University Town was still just a concept two years ago, but now has a detailed plan, stressing that the Northern Metropolis University Town is not just for Hong Kong people but can benefit the whole world.

🌍 Zhang Xiang: University Town Is a Golden Opportunity to Solve Humanity's Challenges
The first day of the summit featured five seminars, with representatives from multiple local and overseas institutions sharing views, experiences and expectations for the Northern Metropolis University Town. Zhang Xiang, President of the University of Hong Kong, who chaired the first seminar, said that AI, geopolitics and international issues are all challenges humanity must face, and considered the Northern Metropolis University Town a "golden opportunity" to lead the region and the world in solving problems. Lam Khin-yong, Vice-President (Industry) of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, believed that Asia is currently in a golden period of economic development and that Hong Kong can perform well in this regard. He also said that for the Northern Metropolis University Town to succeed, it is important to attract more talent from outside Hong Kong and the Mainland. Bruce Dowton, Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University, Australia, said that the federal to local governments have played a role in university development over the past 12 years, such as policy support and tax concessions, enabling universities that had once "lost direction" to achieve their current success.