State of the Faculty Address 2020

6 In addition to the above one-off exercise, HKUMed secured in excess of HK$500 million research funding from the Research Grants Council (RGC), Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF), Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF), and mainland/ overseas funding agencies in the past academic year. RGC HMRF ITF Other Research Funding HK$500M + More specifically, accounting for one-third of RGC General Research Fund/Early Career Scheme projects awarded to HKU overall, HKUMed gained 12 more projects this year, bringing the total to 78 successful applications. This has widened our lead over our nearest competitor to 28 projects, demonstrating broad- based competitive advantage across a wide range of research fields. We continue to dominate HMRF funding, our largest single source of sustained research grant support, again winning more grant award in dollar terms than all other institutions combined SAR-wide. Our researchers have filed and been granted 69 and 9 new patents respectively. Another major achievement in terms of enhancing support to our research community concerns the transformation of the erstwhile Laboratory Animal Unit into the Centre for Comparative Medicine Research (CCMR), effective July 2020. This goes much deeper than a simple name change but a genuine recognition of its leadership in supporting and advancing animal welfare, veterinary care, ethics and cutting-edge scientific innovation. The unit has long been the only AAALAC (Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care) International accredited animal facility in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area.