Hong Kong has the potential to become a showcase smart city
Simon Galpin says Hong Kong is on the right track to becoming a hub for the growing and lucrative business of smart wearables and other devices
Among the new industries that we have seen growing particularly fast in Hong Kong recently is the "Internet of Things" and related businesses.
The Internet of Things refers to the phenomenon in which physical objects are connected to the internet and can "talk" to other objects or devices via radio frequencies and sensor or wireless technologies. In particular, it allows the development of smart-city applications by sharing data across systems.
In the past couple of years, we have assisted an increasing number of overseas-born entrepreneurs engaged in developing smart wearables and other devices linked to the wireless network.
That, I believe, is only the beginning of a long-term trend that will extend to almost every business area and help make people's daily lives easier. The latest establishment of Brinc's IoT Hub, which opened last month at PMQ, is a good example showing the confidence of foreign investors in Hong Kong's Internet of Things industry.
Brinc is a group designed to help Internet of Things start-ups to scale from Hong Kong globally with a one-stop mentorship, investment and training programme. Member start-ups will be posted to its Shenzhen and Guangdong outlets to learn about manufacturing and distribution aspects.
By many measures, Hong Kong is already geared to take advantage of the business opportunities arising from this technology trend.