New | Hong Kong-based carmaker Infiniti offers free co-working space to bolster city's start-up ecosystem
HK-based carmaker provides free co-working space in latest move to build system and infrastructure to help local entrepreneurs
Hong Kong's growing start-up sector received another boost this week with the opening of a new co-working space for entrepreneurs by Infiniti Motor.
It marks the latest start-up initiative by the luxury car company after it teamed up with local business incubator and venture capital firm Nest in June to launch the "Infiniti Accelerator" programme focused on "smart city" technologies.
"As a brand, we want to embody entrepreneurship, and there is no better place to start this journey than the dynamic and well-developed urban infrastructure hub known as Hong Kong," Dane Fisher, the managing director for Asia and Oceania at Infiniti, said on Thursday.
Infiniti, the Hong Kong-based luxury vehicle division of Japanese carmaker Nissan, also launched its "Founder Series" programme that will have global and local entrepreneurs talk about their experiences to start-ups and the wider business community in the city.
"What's very important to understand is that a lot of brands talk about innovation, but a lot of it is just PR," Nest founder and chief executive Simon Squibb said.
"What we're doing [with Infiniti] is building an infrastructure and a system to help start-ups."
Describing entrepreneurship as "a phenomenally difficult process", Fisher said any additional value that Infiniti and Nest could provide to start-ups "far outweigh any return on investment we make".