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The founder and CEO of the first medical 3D printing manufacturer in Hong Kong, Edmond Yau is also a pioneer in the moulding and plastic industry
Hong Kong-born entrepreneur Edmond Yau didn’t set out to change the healthcare industry. Having started his career in machinery and product development, and having built expertise in moulding, he capitalised on the potential of additive manufacturing to start Koln 3D, a 3D metal-printing business, in 2013. But just a few short years later, an opportunity presented itself, causing Yau to redirect the company’s focus towards medicine.
“In 2015, we were approached by a local hospital that was looking to have a custom talus implant printed for a patient who’d been in a motorcycle accident,” recalls Yau. “I got the specs for the implant and coordinated with the hospital engineer and doctor to understand how to prepare for the project and make it work.”
This was the Yau’s—and Koln 3D’s—first foray into the world of medicine and, despite the company having no background in the field, the custom implant was a success. Yau realised there was a market for made-to-order metal implants—at the time, the majority were plastic—and in 2016, he set Koln 3D on a new trajectory, one that embraced healthcare. Now, driven by Yau’s passion for innovation and a team of biomedical engineers, the company harnesses the latest technologies to improve lives and surgical outcomes with its custom-printed implants.
Challenge accepted
While changing the focus of the business, Yau came across new metal printing machines in Japan and decided that Koln 3D needed them to pursue its new path. The problem was that they weighed five tonnes apiece and stretched to two metres tall—and finding somewhere in Hong Kong that could accommodate them was no mean feat. But Koln 3D, and two of these mammoth machines, found a new home at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (HKSTP).
“It was a big process,” says Yau. “We needed to get a licence from the Japanese government to export the machines to Hong Kong, and then, because of their size, it was difficult to find an industrial building that they would fit into. Finally, a friend suggested HKSTP. They already had plastic 3D printing machines and had been thinking about getting a metal one, so it was the perfect opportunity.” Now located at HKSTP’s InnoPark in Tai Po, the company has access to world-class facilities suitable for 3D printing production.
Minimal intervention
Being a local person, Yau always wanted to base Koln 3D in Hong Kong. But the city had other attractions, too. “Hong Kong is showing a lot of promise with its geographical advantage, talent pool and government support,” he notes. “Take the medtech field, for example—Hong Kong is home to the best medical schools in the region and has a well-established healthcare system with a strong R&D base. Koln 3D benefits from all of this, along with the ongoing research into AI, product development and robotics that is being conducted at the top local universities.”
For the future, Yau is driving Koln 3D into the world of AI, exploring how new developments in the field could boost the company’s automated production. “We’re looking to adopt AI, big data and robotics in our manufacturing process to shorten delivery times, and perhaps even allow for the automatic rendering and 3D-printing of devices within hospitals, with minimal intervention from technical specialists.” The company is also exploring opportunities in bioprinting, recently successfully creating a partial pelvic implant for a patient in Kazakhstan, and in tissue engineering.
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