Technology gap: Hong Kong cannot afford to delay setting up an innovation bureau any longer
Naubahar Sharif says any more delays to setting up an innovation bureau will only hurt HK's economy
We are witnessing a further extension of the longstanding argument over funding for the proposed innovation and technology bureau. Hong Kong needs this bureau, which would be the government's smallest, to ensure the broadening of the city's economic base, and also to guarantee its integration into a regional economy that depends increasingly on innovation and technology as a lever for economic growth.
Hong Kong's innovation ecosystem is relatively underdeveloped and undergoing transition. Hong Kong is a small territory; the diversity and range of its innovation ecosystem compares poorly to those of small countries such as Switzerland, not to mention its fellow Asian "tigers" of Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore.
This lack of coordination, along with Hong Kong's procrastination in introducing innovation policies, has meant that policy measures have been extremely fragmented
Historically, Hong Kong has experienced relatively little government intervention while serving primarily as a trading post. But it is not possible to promote innovation and technology or strengthen an innovation ecosystem, without significant government intervention, especially in the early stages.
What stands out most strikingly is how far behind Hong Kong has lagged behind. Not until 1999 did the city develop any kind of formal, coordinated innovation policy. Against almost any benchmark - whether among Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, other Asian tigers, or other economies of a similar size and level of development - that was far too late. From the establishment of the Innovation and Technology Commission in July 2000 until now, Hong Kong's innovation ecosystem has not progressed sufficiently to maintain our competitiveness.
The seemingly endless delays that have plagued the launch of the bureau have arguably been especially detrimental to the overall innovation ecosystem in Hong Kong because of the speed and intensity with which the mainland - the economy on which Hong Kong depends most for its economic livelihood - has been pursuing scientific and technological pursuits, in industry, government and private firms, over the past two decades.
In terms of almost any important research and development-related indicator, Hong Kong lags far behind even Shenzhen.
The consensus among key policy advisers is that innovation policymaking has been constrained by the lack of legitimacy and authority accorded to the Innovation and Technology Commission within the government's bureaucratic framework. This has led, unsurprisingly, to low levels of coordination, which manifests in neglect of systemic relationships across the various policy areas.