Paul Chan says talent anchors Hong Kong innovation push
SingTao · 1 SOURCESabout 3 hours ago6 MIN
Summary
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po (陳茂波) said on Sunday that talent is the foundation of innovation and technology, and that building Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology centre requires both corporate investment and the nurturing of local research and talent. He said the city’s research capabilities are gaining international recognition while increasingly being turned into practical benefits and commercial opportunities
Key Points
- In a blog post published on Sunday, Chan said innovation and technology needs more than industry and capital, arguing that companies, researchers and younger generations must all have room to apply knowledge in practice
- Chan said Lingnan University won awards for all 14 projects it entered at the Silicon Valley International Invention Festival in August, including eight gold medals, making it Hong Kong’s top-performing tertiary institution for a second straight year
- He said products and technologies from several Hong Kong start-ups, including electric-vehicle charging systems, cooling coatings for buildings, artificial reef tiles for coral restoration and battery energy storage systems for construction sites, have entered multiple overseas markets
- Chan said the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises has brought in an 18-company seventh batch, with half from outside mainland China and several with market capitalisation or valuations above HK$100 billion
- Including the first six batches, 142 strategic enterprises have set up or expanded in Hong Kong, with expected investment of about HK$84 billion in coming years; by the end of September, actual investment from the first six batches had reached HK$28.3 billion and employment exceeded 10,300, about 30% and 34% above interim targets respectively
Why It Matters
Chan’s remarks tie Hong Kong’s innovation agenda to whether research talent can move from laboratories into companies and marketable products, rather than relying only on headline investment figures. If the investment and hiring commitments continue to materialise, the government will have stronger evidence that its strategy to attract major firms is feeding into the real economy and local job creation