‘Time is now’ for Hong Kong to promote creative research that can lead to great discoveries
Physicist says city has a window of opportunity that may close if moment is not seized
Hong Kong is now perfectly positioned to attract creative researchers from around the world amid the rise of China, while America and Europe are less focused on such activities, the head of one of the city’s leading research institutes has said.
Professor Andrew Cohen, director of the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Science and Technology, said the idea was to let creative people work on any subject they were interested in – not directed at making money or technology, but for exploring things that did not seem applicable to any field initially.
Speaking to the media following his recent appointment at the institute, Cohen said: “Whenever humanity has done this, it has always led to a transformation of society 100 years later.” He cited the influence of Isaac Newton’s ideas in modern society.
But the music-major-turned-physicist warned that the window of opportunity might only be fleeting for Hong Kong, as the West could soon move to catch up.
“It is a special opportunity for Hong Kong because the system [here] is based on [developed fields] in the US and Europe. Yet Hong Kong is a Chinese city.”
Cohen added that this would not have been possible 20 years ago.