Macau is a fantastic place for Australians to develop their business and extend their commercial interest in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), Dr Billy Chan, co-founder of the Sino Luso International Medical Forum, told Inside Asian Gaming during the Australia Chamber of Commerce Power Hour on Wednesday evening.
AustCham Macau held its first combined online and offline event to share the “Aussie spirit” in combating COVID-19, inviting three medical professionals to speak. Aside from Dr Chan, they included Professor Kathryn Hird, Dean of Notre Dame University of Australia, and Dr Ross Horley, the CEO of Medical Synergies. The event was streamed on AustCham Macau’s Facebook page and can be viewed here.
Held at St Regis Macao, Dr Chan spoke about the operation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based diagnostics systems in working on identifying COVID-19 in just 20 seconds and with 95% accuracy. The technology has been partially developed by Macau’s computer scientists and could relieve the workload of doctors and hospitals. The system is currently in use in Macau’s two private hospitals, and is shared with medical institutions in Italy and universities in the United States.
“There are no borders in terms of helping people, and there are no borders in terms of virus infections. So we should all come up to help,” Dr Chan said.
Dr Chan also shared his insights into the close relationship between Macau and Australia in the post COVID-19 period.
“Many companies do have interests in Macau, and in years to come when the GBA opens up, Zhuhai and nearby regions, we can see more and more interest coming from Australia in terms of working with our partners here,” he said.
“The GBA is not a small area. If you look at its GDP in the next 10 years, it will be comparable with South Korea or probably Germany. And Macau is a fantastic and multi-cultural port. I can see when the pandemic is over, Macau will become a vibrant place again. I have full confidence.”
Joining the meeting by video from Australia, Professor Hird shared her experiences in delivering higher learning in Australia during the COVID-19 lockdown, while Dr Horley offered his thoughts on the impact and response from Western Australian businesses.