How can Guangzhou lure Hong Kong universities to set up branches?
- Incentives for personnel and student exchanges would be one place to start, says delegate to a municipal advisory body
- But different management mindsets could be a barrier to partnerships, according to a researcher
The southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou needs to work harder to lure universities from neighbouring Hong Kong to set up branches and work with local tech companies to get products to market.
The suggestion was part of a number of proposals to the Guangzhou Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a municipal advisory body that held its annual conference over the weekend.
Xiao Guowei, a conference delegate and president of APT Electronics in Guangzhou, said that so far only Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) was setting up a campus in the provincial capital.
He said Guangzhou should reach out to more Hong Kong universities and encourage them to establish research centres and laboratories in the southern Chinese city and support them through incentives such as personnel and student exchanges.
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In addition, he said that Guangzhou should encourage Hong Kong universities to test their scientific research results in the southern mainland city.