Arya News - The policy direction and specific measures outlined in the city`s latest development blueprints will help strengthen Hong Kong`s innovation and technology ecosystem and accelerate the commercialization of research outcomes, industry insiders said.
HONG KONG – Hong Kong will step up efforts to develop into an international innovation and technology center, targeting breakthroughs in core technologies such as artificial intelligence and life sciences, with the push backed by modern finance, expanded public research platforms and closer collaboration with the Chinese mainland.
The policy direction and specific measures outlined in the city’s latest development blueprints will help strengthen Hong Kong’s innovation and technology ecosystem and accelerate the commercialization of research outcomes, industry insiders said.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Wednesday, while delivering the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (2026-2030), that Hong Kong will continue to increase its expenditure on innovation activities as a share of gross domestic product, aiming to raise the ratio to 3 percent after 2030, from about 1.63 percent in 2024.
Lee said the Innovation and Technology Industry-Oriented Fund is expected to be launched this year, covering five thematic sectors, including life and health technology, AI and robotics. With a HK$10 billion ($1.27 billion) injection from the HKSAR government and market contributions at a ratio of 1 to at least 3, the fund is projected to reach at least HK$40 billion in total.
In his annual Policy Address released on the same day, Lee provided further details, saying that about 20 fund managers have been preliminarily shortlisted to raise capital for the establishment of sub-funds.
The two road maps also proposed advancing the development of the “three major innovation and technology parks and five key research and development institutions”. The latter include the Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Institute, which is expected to begin operation this year, and the Life and Health Technology Research Institute. Preparatory work for the LHTRI, which will focus on “AI + life sciences”, will be largely completed by the end of the year.
“We will basically have established an international innovation and technology center based in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, serving the entire country and connected to the world, after 2030,” Lee said.
He added that this will give rise to a new paradigm for innovation and technology development, with enterprises as the key players, unicorns taking the lead, and modern finance empowering the integrated development of technological and industrial innovation.
Joseph Chan, associate director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Business School of the University of Hong Kong, said the “finance+” strategy is a smart move because it treats finance as an essential engine powering technological innovation, rather than as an isolated sector.
Innovation and technology are increasingly becoming key drivers of Hong Kong’s economy, with their contributions reflected in a growing share of the city’s GDP, Chan said.
“The HKSAR government has both the will and a concrete plan,” he said, citing the Innovation and Technology Industry-Oriented Fund and major research institutions as examples of policy support. “In doing so, far greater social resources can be rallied, and more importantly, (this can) generate impactful outcomes that benefit both the people’s livelihoods and the wider national economy.”
Speaking of the “three major innovation and technology parks”, which include the Hong Kong Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, Hannah Jeong, head of valuation and advisory services at CBRE Hong Kong, said the coordinated development model is expected to create a more comprehensive innovation ecosystem supporting research, commercialization and advanced manufacturing.
Jeong said that while physical infrastructure is important, “a key success factor will be Hong Kong’s ability to attract leading international technology companies, research institutes and universities”.
Commenting on the proposed Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Application Scenario Promotion Centre and the target of establishing the SAR’s first national manufacturing innovation center by 2027, Victor Kwok, deputy research director of think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation, said the two institutions will play complementary roles in building the ecosystem.
The application scenario center will help accelerate the process of moving innovation solutions from the R&D stage to market validation and implementation, Kwok said. The national manufacturing innovation center, meanwhile, can help overcome bottlenecks in key technologies and promote the industrialization of research outcomes.
“Together, the two institutions will help address Hong Kong’s long-standing weakness in midstream and downstream commercialization in its innovation and technology ecosystem,” he added.
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