Article Summary:
Armed with a love of physics and computer chips but most of all a will to leave lasting impact, Dr Owyang King’s career began with roots at MIT and went on to blaze a trail of innovation at Silicon Valley.
Armed with a love of physics and computer chips but most of all a will to leave lasting impact, Dr Owyang King’s career began with roots at MIT and went on to blaze a trail of innovation at Silicon Valley.
Faced early on with the choice between research and industry – he chose the path to commercialization of tech. “I saw great research coming out of labs but leading to many failures—I wanted to make it count and ensure products got commercialized and have an impact,” said Dr Owyang.
His first job lasted over 15 years at GE and led him to a career-defining time at a Silicon Valley chip company. Success in the valley could have fulfilled his ambitions but a hunger to tackle a major transformation challenge and a call from a brother in need took Dr Owyang King to Hong Kong to lead traditional electronics firm Computime into the modern era of IoT and smart city technology.
Singapore-born, American in nature, Dr Owyang still has his home on the West Coast where most of his family remain. Yet Hong Kong is where he resides today and is forging a path of innovation that is putting Hong Kong on the global IoT map.
Dr Owyang has used his extensive micro-electronics knowledge and experience in business revival to propel Computime from a Hong Kong-China centric business onto the world stage with a bold IoT-fueled vision.
HK10X Pioneering Moment:
The decision to no longer follow other's technology but to pursue innovation unlocked the huge potential in the application of Computime’s IoT sensors and control technology in areas like energy saving, tele-health and in addressing aging population issues.
Dr Owyang arrived in Hong Kong having succeeded as a head of research at GE developing semi-conductor technology. He later spearheaded the engineering division of Silicon Valley chip firm Siliconix. His time at Siliconix included a dramatic turnround operation when the company hit shaky times after losing out in a court battle over IP. “That was a painful lesson to learn and the takeaway for me was never be a follower of someone else’s technology,” he recalled.
But this dire situation gave him the freedom to take the company in a new direction. He led the development of a new technology that would significantly increase cell density but also lower resistance on microchips. At a time of growing demand for wireless and mobile technology this was a huge breakthrough. As Siliconix grew, Dr King became CEO and the company was the darling of Silicon Valley and was swiftly acquired by a large conglomerate.
But the lure of adventure and another transformation challenge brought King to Hong Kong. “I saw an opportunity with Computime to be the first electronics company from Hong Kong and Asia to successfully transform into global IoT leader,” said King.
"I saw an opportunity with Computime to be the first electronics company from Hong Kong and Asia to successfully transform into global IoT leader."
This is a far cry from when he first joined the company in 2010. The company till then had good success as an electronics manufacturing services company specializing in design, manufacture and testing of control systems. But the emergence of China’s manufacturing might and the growing shift away from hardware to software challenged the company to find new areas of growth.
With the same desire to find a new path and lead the market, he saw huge potential in the application of Computime’s sensors and control technology in areas like energy saving, tele-health, addressing aging population issues with monitoring and warning systems.
Computime is one of few Hong Kong tech firms that is a true global player, with 90% of its business outside of Hong Kong, mostly in the US and Europe. Dr Owyang is especially proud that customers today know of the Computime name and come knocking on his door for the company’s smart home and embedded control systems that are found in an array of consumer and industrial electronic devices.
The firm’s market-leading products are now extensively used by leading electronics brands in Europe and are making headway into the US market too.
Dr Owyang's fierce belief in technology innovation and his recognition of transformation potential ignited Computime’s turnaround to pushing the charge by Hong Kong and Asian companies into leading the wave of IoT spreading around the world today.
He sees huge potential in Hong Kong’s development of IoT with extensive supply of scientific research talent with the top Hong Kong universities, quality technology infrastructure, dense population creating an array of user scenarios for IoT and smart city applications.
Computime has provide a blueprint for success with extensive R&D and high-end product development capabilities in Hong Kong married to advanced manufacturing in China.
“Hong Kong stands to be a leader in the IoT space as long as certain polices and regulations are in place to help develop the required relationships between government, industry and academia,” said Dr Owyang. He views this collaboration to be essential to smart city and IoT success and is an advocate of creating a government body to facilitate such collaboration. “Hong Kong has many advantages and if used in the right way, Hong Kong can go a long way to make this vision of leading IoT development into reality.”
He noted the major role that agencies like the Hong Kong Science Park have played to date. Such agencies have helped significantly in providing key facilities and infrastructure for innovation as well as critical networking but Dr Owyang feels there is more to be done.
"Hong Kong stands to be a leader in the IoT space as long as certain polices are in place to help develop the required relationships between government, industry and academia."
One other opportunity and clear advantage for Hong Kong is the huge Greater Bay Area potential that provides major market opportunities to Hong Kong companies yet to access the global market. Dr Owyang views this a significant stepping stone for rising Hong Kong tech players and an opportunity not to be missed.
“We’re constantly looking for new examples that could be game-changers and it’s exciting as we can’t predict yet what will be next,” he said. “I always tell people to climb a mountain, not just to reach the top but to see the next mountain—we apply this to product innovation and development.”
Over time Dr Owyang's outlook on goals has understandably shifted. “As you mature, you see the lasting effects of your work and the legacy you leave behind on business, industry and society – these become more important than profit and keeping shareholders happy,” he noted. He acknowledged that money has a high place in life, “but money is not the end-game, it is merely a tool towards the end-game.”
He insists that entrepreneurs today must have the mindset of why they are earning money and what do they want to use the money for. “My thinking is if I’m going to do something, I’ll make it count--a true pioneer should dream of something that has never been dreamed of before and ask themselves why not?”
These stories, contributed by Hong Kong Science Park, are examples of HK10X in action, showcasing Hong Kong’s world-leading technology innovation and the city’s unique pioneering spirit and scale-up mentality.