Mind the Gap | Hong Kong’s Science Park just got the lion’s share of the budget goodies, but on what basis?

A government’s fiscal budget isn’t really a useful statement unless it is underpinned and driven by long term vision and strategy.

So each year, Hong Kong’ budget is a series of ad hoc expenditures based on the current surplus rather than total reserves. It’s as primitive as a household budget.

We’ve gotten so used to local terms like “goodies” and “sweeteners”, which are unheard of in real world public policy. They are poor intellectual substitutes for developing and funding long term policies to solve important social problems and steer the economy.

Some people heap praises on treating important and nuanced challenges like technology as if it’s a trendy subject that can be solved by one-time spending. The emphasis on government spending as Hong Kong’s way to technology prestige is much riskier than letting the private sector decide what technology suits Hong Kong’s domestic competitive advantages and disadvantages.

Historically, governments have rarely succeeded against the private sector in funding and developing successful technology from concept to application. The US government’s Manhattan Project, which built the atomic bomb - a real game changer - and the moon landing are the only two historically significant technology projects that a government can claim credit to.

You might include the internet, but today’s internet is a result of substantial private, rather than public investment.