Macau’s four State Key Laboratories were presented with their official plaques by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) yesterday.
The presentation ceremony was co-officiated by Science and Technology Minister Yin Hejun, Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macau SAR Director Zheng Xincong and Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai.
The plaque presentation ceremony was held at Government Headquarters.
Addressing the event, Sam said that with the support of the central government, the ministry approved the establishment of four State Key Laboratories in Macau in 2010 and 2018 respectively, laying a solid foundation for the region’s technological development. These laboratories, according to Sam, while based in Macau, serve national interests and have achieved significant results in scientific innovation, translational research, and talent cultivation.
Sam underlined that the four labs will actively undertake national strategic tasks in science and technology, deepen innovation collaboration within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), and contribute to achieving high-level technological self-reliance, Sam said.
In his address, Yin emphasised that the formal accreditation of Macau’s four State Key Laboratories marks their integration into the national management framework, solidifying their role as a critical component of China’s strategic scientific and technological strength. Yin stressed the vital significance of these laboratories in advancing Macau’s sci-tech innovation ecosystem.
Yin underlined three key expectations for the laboratories and Macau’s scientific community, namely 1) to seize the opportunities of the times and reinforce their sense of mission, striving to achieve leadership in specialised fields and key research directions; 2) to cultivate a dynamic and inclusive environment that attracts and nurtures talent, leveraging Macau’s international character to build a globally appealing hub for excellence-driven research; 3) to deepen institutional and resource integration with the mainland, enhancing collaboration with leading universities, research institutes, and tech enterprises to accelerate the transformation and practical application of scientific outcomes.
Macau’s four state key laboratories are Mechanism and Quality of Chinese Medicine; Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI*; Internet of Things for [a] Smart City; and Lunar and Planetary Sciences.
Hong Kong has 15 State Key Laboratories. A similar plaque presentation ceremony was held in Hong Kong on Monday.
*VLSI stands for Very-Large-Scale Integration. It is the process of creating an integrated circuit (IC) by combining millions or even billions of transistors onto a single silicon microchip. – DeepSeek
Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai (centre), Science and Technology Minister Yin Hejun (second from left), Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macau SAR Director Zheng Xincong (second from right), Lunar and Planetary Sciences Laboratory Director Zong Qiugang (left) and Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) President Joseph Lee Hunwei pose during yesterday’s official plaque presentation ceremony at Government Headquarters. – Photo: Armindo Neves
