AT HKSTP, Weng Li leads the account management of Therapeutics companies, the Advanced Therapy Products (ATP) initiatives as well Clinical Translational Catalyst programmewhich aims to drive the translation journey of biotech companies through funding and connections to industry partners. Under her leadership, the number of clinical-stage companies in Hong Kong Science Park has grown more than 8-fold in the past 4 years, signaling their steady progress to commercialization. She also sits on the HKSTP Clinical Research Ethics Committee and Joint Management Committees with HKU and CUHK ATP collaboration to establish PIC/S GMP facilities.

Previously, Weng Li was the Senior Research Director at Athenex HK where she established the Hong Kong R&D team from ground up to file numerous US IND applications. She also spent more than 15 years working at GSK in the UK as Lead Chemometrician and Development Scientist in her latest role.

Weng Li obtained her PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology from University College London and MBA from Imperial College London.

Brad Nelson has been the Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH Zürich since 2002, where his research focuses on microrobotics and nanorobotics. Fundamentally, he is interested in how to make tiny intelligent machines that are millimeters to nanometers in size.

He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois and the University of Minnesota, worked as a computer vision researcher at Honeywell and a software engineer at Motorola, served as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana, Africa, and then obtained a Ph.D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and an Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota before moving to ETH.

Prof. Nelson has over thirty years of experience in the field of robotics and has received a number of awards for his work in robotics, nanotechnology, and biomedicine. He received the Grand Hamdan International Award for AI in Healthcare and was named to the “Scientific American 50”, Scientific American magazine’s annual list recognizing fifty outstanding acts of leadership in science and technology. His lab is the undefeated international champion in Robocup’s Nanogram Soccer League, and he is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the “Most Advanced Mini Robot for Medical Use.” His research group has won more than a dozen best paper awards at various international conferences and in international journals.

Prof. Nelson is a member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering (SATW) and serves on the advisory boards of a number of academic departments and research institutes across North America, Europe, and Asia. He is on the editorial boards of several academic journals, including the founding editorial boards of Science Robotics and Annual Review of Controls, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems. He has been the Department Head of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH twice, Chairman of the ETH Electron Microscopy Center, and a member of the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Dr. Régis Gauderon is the CEO and co-founder of Flowbone Ltd, a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) advancing bone regeneration technology. With a decade of experience at Johnson & Johnson in the MedTech industry, Dr. Gauderon brings a wealth of expertise to his current role. He holds a PhD from the University of Sydney and a Master’s degree in engineering from EPFL.

At Flowbone, Dr. Gauderon and his team are dedicated to enhancing bone health for active aging. They are developing a revolutionary hydrogel that leverages nanobiology and pharmacology for rapid local bone repair and strengthening. Their gel offers a compelling alternative to traditional injectable bone cements, providing biologic solutions for the repair of closed bone defects, for hardware augmentation, and for enhancement of spine fusion, arthroplasty, and revision surgeries. Additionally, it has the potential to significantly reduce the incidence of debilitating osteoporotic hip fractures. Flowbone anticipates FDA clearance for its first device by the end of 2025. Since its inception in July 2020, the company has raised $4.5 million, including $2.3 million in non-dilutive funding. The startup is currently seeking an additional $8 million to accelerate its development efforts and expand its presence in Asia.

Clémence Hermann serves as the Business Development Manager at Spirecut SA, a Swiss MedTech company specializing in improving treatments for trigger finger and carpal tunnel syndrome, conditions that affect one in seven people. Spirecut’s patented Sono-Instruments® are ultrasound-guided and non-invasive, enabling greater surgical accuracy and improved patient outcomes. The instruments are available through a network of distributors in various markets. Clémence is responsible for entering new markets, and overseeing the commercialization of Spirecut’s innovative treatments across Europe, Asia, and the US.

Dr. Stella Sun is the Principal Manager of Biotechnology Enterprise at Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), a government department dedicated to attracting and retaining foreign direct investment, which is essential for Hong Kong’s economic development. Her primary areas of focus include biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare.

Dr. Sun brings over 15 years of extensive experience in the Innovation and Technology sector, spanning academia, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology companies. Prior to her role at InvestHK, she held a medical affairs position, where she played significant roles in launching blockbuster pipelines at leading pharmaceutical. In the biotech sector, she successfully led the productization of in vitro diagnostics (IVD) for cancer interception, guiding projects from discovery to commercialization.

Dr. Sun graduated from the University of Manchester in the UK, earning a degree in Clinical Biochemistry and a Master’s Degree in Immunology and Immunogenetics from the same institution. She holds a PhD in cancer diagnostics from The University of Hong Kong, where she also completed her postdoctoral training.

In addition to her academic qualifications, Dr. Sun has secured several patents and has served as an investigator on various research grants, contributing to numerous publications throughout her career.

Dr. Russell Chan is the co-founder and CEO of E-SENSE Innovation & Technology, and a senior consultant at COCHE (Hong Kong Center for Cerebro-cardiovascular Health Engineering). He obtained his B.Eng. in biomedical engineering and Ph.D. in electrical and electronic engineering from The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He was a post-doctoral research fellow at Stanford University in Neurology and Neurological Sciences, and New York University in Neuroscience, Tech4Health, and Ophthalmology. He was the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of a Forbes Asia 100 to Watch Startup. His focus is the research, development, application and commercialization of state-of-the-art multi-modal and multi-scale biomedical imaging and in vitro diagnostic (IVD) devices to advance biotechnology and quality of life. Dr. Chan is an elected Junior Fellow of International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), a prestigious and highly selective award for young scientists from the leading global MRI society. He is the ex-co member and R&D focus group lead of the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers (HKIE) Biomedical Division. He is the founding Vice-Chair of the Young Member Section and a Young Fellow at the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences (HKAES). He is the Vice President of the Hong Kong International Biotechnology Convention (BIOHK). He has published 30 scientific journal papers and 75+ conference papers, including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and Neuron. He is an inventor for more than 10 family patents/provisional patents.

CEO, Consul, Swissnex in China