Tech policies are for officials to decide, new Hong Kong Science Park chief Sunny Chai says while revealing plans for HK$10 billion spending

Incoming chairman says he will spend his energy on things related to Science Park, after outgoing boss Fanny Law admits she may have been blunt when ‘speaking the truth to rich and powerful’

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Hong Kong’s Science Park. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:04pm, 24 Jun 2018Updated: 10:59pm, 24 Jun 2018

Hong Kong’s Science Park has proposed 18 projects under the HK$10 billion (US$1.3 billion) funding set aside for it in this year’s budget, its incoming chief said on Sunday, while indicating he would leave policymaking to the city’s technology bureau.

The comments by Sunny Chai Ngai-chiu came a day after outgoing chairwoman Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun admitted she might have been blunt when “speaking the truth to the rich and powerful”, in what was widely seen as a veiled reference to Secretary for Innovation and Technology Nicholas Yang Wei-hsiung.

Law, who was forced out by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor after four years in the job, had said she did not recall coming up against the technology chief, who had described their relationship as “harmony in differences”.

Her term as chairwoman of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, which operates the Science Park and three industrial estates, expires on June 30. On Saturday she also said the future of innovation and technology in the city depended on finding and retaining talent.

On a TV programme on Sunday, Chai was asked if he would follow in Law’s footsteps in giving policy advice related to technological development.