The vision of SKLA is to build on a strong foundation of basic research, to address important agricultural questions by conducting applied basic science studies on selected strategic areas. In line with the strategic direction of scientific and technological development set forth in the national “14th Five-Year Plan”, SKLA will actively promote deep collaborations between the Mainland and Hong Kong to achieve scientific advancement. We envisage that by combining traditional wisdom of breeders and modern biotechnology, and through collaborative and synergistic researches, we would deliver new knowledge and innovative products to safeguard global food security and sustainability.
While Hong Kong is positioning as an international innovation and technology hub by both the central and local governments, SKLA will continue to play a pivotal role participating in international initiatives on agricultural biotechnology. Through providing effective talent nurturing for innovation skills in terms of creative and technical capabilities, SKLA pledges to build a world-class research entity for high level scientific exchange on agricultural innovations, and talent hub for training and networking.
SKLA focuses on innovative agrobiotechnology research, and its prioritized research includes 1) Climate Smart Agriculture: including crop genomic and genetic research, crop stress tolerance and signaling research, crop energy conversion and carbon metabolism, earth system and climate modeling etc. Through concerted efforts of cross-disciplinary research, we pledge to align macroscopic sustainable environmental visions with the microscopic technological development in agriculture, and achieve important scientific breakthroughs to address major issues on food security amidst climate change. 2) Cell Biology and Cell Technology Platforms: it aims for the establishment of high-end research platforms, such as plant cell protein targeting, plant cell research, stem cell research, etc., pledging to establish a biological basis for agricultural biotechnology. 3) Molecular Biology and Gene Technology Platforms: it aims for building versatile teams to understand and leverage cutting edge technologies, laying a technical foundation for the effective application of agricultural resources, and serving as platforms to strengthen cooperation with mainland and international collaborators.
