Eco-Tek founder Lily Chiang has found a keen export market for her Hong Kong-designed environmental technologies

A Hong Kong company is "cleaning up" the industrial world with technologies fostering environmental sustainability.

GEM-listed Eco-Tek Holdings Limited, focusing on air, noise, hydraulic and waste pollution control, was founded by Dr Lily Chiang in October 1999.  The company promotes a new economic business model based upon sustainability. "I believe that capital health equals capital wealth, and that sustainability is everybody's responsibility," Dr Chiang said. "If you do it with passion, it truly becomes sustainable."

Conducting its R&D in Hong Kong, the company has developed a range of "green" products and technologies for export to countries such as Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia and China. These include a breakthrough technology to reduce car exhaust gas by 50 per cent, currently being deployed in Hong Kong with support from the SAR government.

"We also have products based on advanced environmental technologies that clean the air, clean the water, reduce noise pollution, and save energy," Dr Chiang said. "In today's environment, I believe that these products are vital to our future.  We have just invented an energy saving device that will reduce electricity consumption by 80 per cent and is applicable throughout the metal, plastic and construction industries." Other products under research and development include a plastic recycling process and an innovative hydraulic filter.

Strong R&D base

While Dr Chiang's ideas might have seemed ambitious at first, she found in Hong Kong the technical expertise to turn them into reality. "When Eco-Tek started, we had a lot of technical collaboration with Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and universities in Japan and Germany," she said. "The main focus of our R&D is in Hong Kong, where people are very creative and adaptable, and there is a free flow of information. If something new comes up, they can respond fast, so it is easy to adjust to the needs of the customer."

Eco-Tek also bases its administrative functions in Hong Kong because of the ease of doing business, and its convenience as an export hub.

"Hong Kong is an international finance centre, business hub, and has a closely knit, highly focused community. When you export from Hong Kong, it is an instant vote of confidence. Buyers know that if our products are used by the Hong Kong government, they are quality assured, and we gain international credibility."

Cost effective production

For the manufacture of its products, the company utilises the cost-effective production base of the Pearl River Delta in southern China. Eco-Tek has a factory in Dongguan, a water treatment plant in Tianjin and representative offices all over China servicing its customers in the marine, manufacturing and construction industries. The combined strengths of Hong Kong's effectiveness and PRD efficiencies have enabled the business to develop quickly with a fast turnaround of its products for export.

Eco-Tek, which has been recognised as one of the most outstanding SMEs in Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Productivity Council and Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, aims to become one of the leading providers of environmental protection related products and ancillary services in the world. As a businesswoman, Dr Chiang sees this mission as part of her social responsibility. "With increasing technology, globalisation, and consumerism, more and more of what we do has a direct impact on everyone else," she said.

Related link
Eco-Tek