Hong Kong a place to start for businesses looking to dip their toes into China’s Greater Bay Area
The city’s developed legal and financial systems offer a familiar environment from which foreign business and entrepreneurs can explore the potential of China’s grand regional development idea
With a potential market of some 68 million people and a gross domestic product that could triple by 2030 to some US$4.6 trillion, China’s “Greater Bay Area” economic development plan for the country’s south promises big opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs looking to take the plunge into the China market.
But the plan to link 11 cities is still in its infancy and lacks the specific details that investors would wish to see before committing their cash. One big selling point, however, could be the inclusion in the plan of Hong Kong, where the global financial expertise, English-speaking base and developed legal system offer a familiar environment for foreign businesses to explore the plan’s potential.
Bangladesh-born entrepreneur Mahmudul Hasan is one who has taken that route for his health care start-up MVision, which uses artificial intelligence to speed up radiotherapy treatment for cancer patients.
He has set up the company in Hong Kong, a city he called “welcoming”, and sees the region just across the border as both a big market and a source of innovation and expertise
“We are looking to further expand the software to hospitals across mainland China, starting with the Greater Bay Area due to its proximity to Hong Kong and its highly developed infrastructure,” he said.
“Shenzhen would be very attractive place to set up an R&D office. There are lots of trained AI engineers in that region,” he said, referring to the city in Guangdong province – around which the bay area plan is centred – that has become global a hi-tech development and manufacturing hub.