Innovation drives nation and Hong Kong's tech ambitions, says Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation chairman

The Star

5 hours ago

HONG KONG: Embracing innovation is the way forward for the world's second-largest economy to climb up the value chain and advance technological self-reliance amidst geopolitical uncertainties, says Sunny Chai Ngai-chiu, chairman of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP).
Although local researchers may be handicapped by US sanctions on cutting-edge technologies throughout the artificial intelligence supply chain, Chai said he believes 'they will and must find another way out' with the support of domestic substitutes. This will incentivise and enable China to build out indigenous capacity 'faster than before', Chai told China Daily in an exclusive interview.
Indeed, innovation is the name of the game. Over the past decade, Chai has seen innovation and technology momentum really take off in Hong Kong, with the total investment by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government amounting to nearly HK$200 billion (US$25.5 billion).
In the 1960s-1970s, the world knew Hong Kong as a trusted manufacturing hub for industries such as clothing, textiles, electronics, toys and watches.
As the local manufacturing business climbs up the value chain — from 'made in' to 'created in' — 'the adoption of new technology is the way to go — there is no other trick,' Chai noted.
This is the lesson that Hong Kong industrialists shared with their Chinese mainland peers after the country launched its historic campaign for economic prowess in 1978.
Hong Kong industrialists have since answered the nation's call and expanded their presence in the mainland.
At one time, Chai recalls, there were 78,000 factories owned by Hong Kong industrialists across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area bolstering the country's economic miracle.
As Hong Kong industrialists evolved from working as original equipment manufacturers for overseas brands to original design manufacturers, 'this know-how in design, engineering, manufacturing and adoption of innovation was absorbed by Hong Kong industrialists and passed on to our mainland counterparts. This is Hong Kong's great contribution to our country's meteoric rise as the world's factory,' he stressed.
Today, HKSTP is home to over 2,200 tech companies. Among its 25,000 working population, 15,000 are research and development personnel, which accounts for approximately one-fourth to one-third of total R&D personnel in Hong Kong, including university researchers, according to Chai.
In 2023, HKSTP opened a new branch in the Futian district of southern Shenzhen, as another strategic platform for 'attracting in and expanding out'.
Despite operating on a smaller scale, the Shenzhen branch has now welcomed more than 60 HKSTP tech companies and 30-plus tech firms across the Greater Bay Area.
The next story unfolding is for Hong Kong companies to jump on the Greater Bay Area bandwagon, and for Greater Bay Area companies to make inroads into Hong Kong and expand far beyond to the ASEAN and Middle East countries.
Collaboration is everything. Beyond the Greater Bay Area, HKSTP also set up an office in Hangzhou, the hometown of China's AI phenom DeepSeek and which is emerging as a tech hot spot, with close to 10 HKSTP companies making their way there.
In a similar vein, Hangzhou has established a center within the HKSTP, where over 15 Hangzhou-based companies are now located.
As the embrace of innovation continues apace, Chai said the world-renowned financial hub has all the hallmarks of becoming 'an international city for innovation and technology'.
He recalled that many years ago, 90 percent of the participating companies in an Elevator Pitch Competition run by HKSTP were local.
What's going on nowadays paints a totally different picture, with 75 percent of tech companies coming from outside the HKSAR.
Likewise, HKSTP is looking to offer 400-500 summer internships this year. Chai was encouraged to see that total applications exceed 5,000, many from overseas.
At the end of the day, Chai pointed out, Hong Kong's contribution to the country's vibrant innovation ecosystem lies in its unique role under the 'one country, two system' principle, its impeccable strength in R&D with the backing of world-leading universities, its strong industrial background with a long track record of collaboration with tech companies, and its entrenched status as a well-established financial centre.
Amid mounting concern over the ongoing setbacks in globalization, Hong Kong is turning itself into a magnet for tech talents, and telling the country's stories of innovation on the global stage as a flag bearer of international cooperation. 'Seeing is believing,' Chai noted. - China Daily/ANN