Hong Kong’s universities should encourage teachers and students to innovate and be more tolerant of failure, say university chiefs
- Wong Yuk-shan, president of the Open University of Hong Kong, said the city needs more research centres to foster opportunities outside the academy
- HKU president Zhang Xiang lauded the willingness to learn from errors and said cross-disciplinary knowledge was vital for innovation
Universities in Hong Kong should encourage teachers and students to innovate by giving them better chances for promotion and by being more tolerant of failure, the heads of two universities said on Thursday.
The calls were made by Zhang Xiang, president of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), and Wong Yuk-shan, president of the Open University of Hong Kong, who were speaking at a conference organised by the Guangdong Hong Kong Macau Bay Area Economic and Trade Association.
The association and the conference are devoted to promoting Beijing’s scheme to develop the “Greater Bay Area” – an ambitious plan to turn Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities into an innovation and technology powerhouse to rival Silicon Valley by 2035.
Wong said: “The University Grants Committee and universities in Hong Kong should consider allowing a small proportion of teaching and research staff to be promoted to professors if they have outstanding achievements in technology applications.”
Wong added that most university staff should continue to focus on basic research, which is fundamental to innovation.
According to Wong, the Hong Kong government should invite more leading international companies to start research centres in the city, and the business sector should invest more in industrialising innovation.