Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong said on Monday the government would unveil a conceptual outline for developing the San Tin Technopole on Thursday as he called on market players to join forces to develop the city's future tech hub.

The San Tin Technopole is a flagship project under the Northern Metropolis mega development spread over 626 hectares, with half of that earmarked for tech purposes, and envisioned to become an international innovation and technology (I&T) centre.

It will be sited near the Huanggang and Futian I&T zone in Shenzhen to create synergy with the mainland.

Speaking after attending a tech conference, Sun noted the outline would offer more details over the positioning, development models and land distribution of the area.

"The positioning of the San Tin Technopole is different from that of Lok Ma Chau Loop and other science parks in Hong Kong as it will mainly focus on developing industries," he said.

"Based on statistical findings, we propose to develop several major industries there: life and health, robotics, artificial intelligence, new materials and new energy.

"Coming up, we'll focus on bringing in some leading enterprises to drive the development of the upstream and downstream supply chain."

Sun noted the development of the technopole would involve five stages, during which three core hubs will be established, depending on land release and acquisition procedures.

The government, he added, is also proposing to set up a platform company just like the ones for the Science Park and Cyberport to leverage market forces to speed up the development of the area.

"On the one hand, we should strengthen the government's guidance to ensure long-term planning, but on the other, we should fully leverage the power of the market and its resources, speed and efficiency," he said,

"In this way, we hope that the government and the market forces can be combined to achieve high-quality development."

Sun also said a new HK$10 billion tech-focused fund had set in motion the process of selecting fund managers for one or more sub-funds to invest in the city's I&T sectors.

The Innovation and Technology Industry-Oriented Fund focuses on five main areas: life and science, artificial intelligence, robotics, semiconductors, as well as digitisation and sustainability.

Sun said the government would serve as the limited partner in the fund and that while some strategic investors had already shown interest, it would aim to attract more investors to participate.