City Beat | Surely Hong Kong can offer tech trailblazers something more
City is losing out to Shenzhen when it comes to start-ups - and failed IT bureau is another blow
A day before Chief Executive Leung Chun- ying's IT bureau was again killed off by filibustering lawmakers, I happened to be in Shenzhen visiting its hi-tech development zone.
The showpiece was the headquarters of leading international drone maker DJI. It's a success story for Shenzhen, and the official taking our group around recalled a visit in May last year by Hong Kong's chief executive. Apparently Leung was so keen to check out DJI, or Dajiang Innovations Science and Technology, that he skipped a lunch with local government officials, instead grabbing a takeaway and touring the site with his entourage.
He also met the founder of the company - a graduate of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology - and so did we.
At just 35, Frank Wang Tao heads a company that is the world's biggest supplier of civilian drones. Wang, who as a child was fascinated by radio-controlled model planes, started DJI in 2009. It now has a staff of 2,800 - and a global market share of more than 70 per cent. The company, which has outposts in Tokyo, Los Angeles and Frankfurt, had turnover of three billion yuan (HK$3.78 billion) last year, he said.
But Wang, who was born in Hangzhou , raised in Shenzhen and studied computer science in Hong Kong, graduating in 2006, is in a quandary. "When Leung asked if I'd like to move my business to Hong Kong, I told him I did - and that I appreciated the rule of law and professional services there. But my key partners and their families are all here. Not everyone wants to move to Hong Kong," Wang said.
"I told him if there is ever a special zone set up over the border - one that grants free entry for our mainland staff - then I'd seriously consider opening a Hong Kong office."