Funding that drove China’s tech rise now available to Hong Kong scientists, as Xi Jinping pledges to make city global innovation hub
Directive from Chinese president to state agencies comes as China’s quest to dominate hi-tech industries faces pushback from governments around the world
Xi’s move, state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday, was in response to an appeal by 24 of Hong Kong’s leading scientists and university professors who wrote to him last year to “express their pressing hope to make a contribution to the motherland”.
The group, among the 40 Hong Kong members of either the Chinese Academy of Sciences or the Chinese Academy of Engineering – two of the country’s top science and technology research institutes – had complained of problems with“the cross-border usage of national scientific research funds in Hong Kong, as well as the tariff imposed on scientific research equipment”.
Universities warn that Hong Kong must ‘innovate or die’ amid growing economic challenges from Greater Bay Area cities
Commentators noted the president’s move to underscore Hong Kong’s importance as an innovation hub came as China’s quest to dominate hi-tech industries faced suspicion and pushback from governments around the world.