New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in announcing a historic partnership to construct a two million sq ft applied-sciences campus, is seeking to dramatically transform the city into a leading centre for technological innovation. The winning consortium of Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, aims to build a US$2billion NYCTech Campus to 'educate tomorrow's entrepreneurs, create the jobs of the future and make New York City home to the world's most talented workforce'. Such daring vision is what you get when one of the world's wealthiest people and most successful entrepreneurs is elected mayor.
Instead of resting on its laurels as one of the world's leading financial capitals, New York, under the leadership of Bloomberg, has aggressively sought to reinvent itself. In contrast, Hong Kong's topping of the latest World Economic Forum's financial development ranking occurred primarily because of our fortuitous role in listing initial public offerings from mainland China, rather than through any proactive decisions or innovative policies by our leaders.
Hong Kong's ascension to the pinnacle of the world's financial markets, unfortunately, also coincides with us having one of the world's highest Gini coefficients, a measure of wealth inequality. Such an incongruous situation is a clear indictment of our government's ineffective policies to eradicate poverty.
Seen in this light, Bloomberg's initiative is astounding; it is projected to not only generate more than US$23billion in economic activity over the next three decades, but also create 20,000 construction and 8,000 permanent jobs. More importantly, it is projected to generate 600 companies and create an additional 30,000 jobs.
Hong Kong sorely needs a chief executive with an equally bold vision to reinvent our city. We must take advantage of our unique position as China's window to the world, our proximity to its manufacturing centres, our low tax regime, established rule of law, and most of all our entrepreneurial spirit to attract the best and brightest business and scientific minds, to help us meet the challenge that New York has thrown our way.
Funding should not be an issue for Hong Kong. What we sorely need is political leadership and a healthy dose of audacity. The two leading candidates for chief executive would do well to meet Cornell president David Skorton when he visits Hong Kong next month to learn about this 'game-changing' technology campus and how Hong Kong might benefit from a similar initiative.