Hong Kong innovation: a peek into John Lee’s secret weapon to outrace Shenzhen and Singapore in technology development
- Hong Kong’s incubator aims to grow from 1,200 to 6,000 start-ups within a decade, dispelling the myth that the city is an innovation desert
- ‘We need to attract global and local talent, attract global enterprises, and grow our local start-ups,’ says CEO of park that spawned AI firm SenseTime
Albert Wong Hak-keung had to stick to his guns when he took over as CEO of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP) about six and a half years ago. With more than 30 per cent of the space at the technology-incubator campus sitting empty, Wong stood by a policy that turned away potential tenants unless at least half of their team members were dedicated to research and development (R&D) – a stand designed to protect the park’s identity as a home for technology companies.
“It was not easy to enforce it while there were many empty buildings and spaces in front of you,” Wong said in an interview with the South China Morning Post. “But after these years, tech companies recognise the park as the technology industry cluster. When start-ups and investors look for tech companies, they will come here.”
Today the Hong Kong Science Park boasts more than 1,200 start-ups and has spawned a few listed companies. Occupancy is close to 90 per cent, and Wong’s calendar is jammed with meetings with investors, interviews with start-ups and overseas trips.
However, the current level of success does not fulfill the vision of the 20-year-old park. So Wong is spurring HKSTP to step up its role nurturing innovation, while dispelling the notion that Hong Kong – with the dubious honour as the world’s most expensive urban centre – is a desert for entrepreneurship. The chief executive now wants to grow the roster of start-up tenants to as high as 6,000 over the next 10 years.
