Hong Kong is “changing gear” in growing expertise at a pivotal second because it seeks to construct itself into a global innovation and expertise middle, says Duncan Chiu, who was reelected to signify the expertise and innovation practical constituency within the metropolis”s legislature final month.
“We have long been strong in applied technology,” he says. “But, recently, we’ve been pulling government and policy resources to migrate from just application to research and innovation.”
The transition additionally aligns with the nation’s priorities for the fifteenth Five-Year Plan (2026-30). Chiu says he believes one key path for China’s expertise sector is the event of research-based applied sciences. “We have to look at the core technology and innovations instead of the application side,” he says.
The legislator, who additionally serves as president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Joint Council, says funding from private and non-private sources has historically favored initiatives that generate short-term returns.
However, the particular administrative area authorities has rolled out numerous initiatives to plug the early-stage funding hole for startups, together with the Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme and the New Industrialisation Acceleration Scheme that intention to draw long-term capital and steer extra skilled buyers towards nascent initiatives.
The SAR authorities additionally launched the HK $10-billion ($1.28-billion) Innovation and Technology Industry-Oriented Fund in 2025.
Chiu expects to see the funds going to the market in 2026 to catalyze additional market funding, and assist early-stage modern initiatives from universities, analysis establishments, and undertaking groups in Hong Kong.
According to the Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong, complete funding exceeding HK$54.8 billion had been authorized for greater than 80,000 initiatives by September final yr.
“We can see the snowball starting to roll,” says Chiu.
Another side of the change, he says, is “the recognition of science to be a very important stage in academics”. “We will not have all the top students applying only for medicine. We want more students to apply for technology or science-related majors in the future.”
As for key expertise fields in 2026, he cites synthetic intelligence, life sciences, blockchain and digital property. To develop these sectors, nevertheless, one problem to beat, he believes, is to strengthen cross-boundary flows inside the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, together with information, expertise and pattern exchanges.
An ultimate area for cross-boundary trade trials is the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone. The Hong Kong Park of the zone opened in December final yr and three buildings are already in full operation, together with two wet-laboratory buildings which have attracted over 60 enterprises from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and abroad.
The Hong Kong Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau signed a memorandum of understanding with the nationwide Cyberspace Administration in June 2023 to collectively promote cross-boundary information stream inside the Greater Bay Area. By the tip of August 2025, about 100 purposes for cross-boundary switch of private information from totally different sectors, together with healthcare, insurance coverage, and securities, had been processed.
Another concern for a lot of innovation and expertise enterprises is land provide.
Chiu says the Northern Metropolis, which occupies about one-third of Hong Kong’s complete land space, will proceed to be a focus of the town’s growth technique this yr.
The HKSAR authorities ought to expedite the designation of developable websites within the Northern Metropolis by 2026 and determine a listing of firms in particular sectors — AI, medical gear and monetary expertise — which might be keen to increase their presence there.
“We have to bring not just one, but a field of leading companies to Hong Kong,” with the purpose of creating a synergistic impact by drawing particular industries to the Northern Metropolis, Chiu says.