Hong Kong will have plan for I&T ecosystem by December, finance chief vows, while admitting more talent needed

Financial Secretary Paul Chan tells forum that blueprint will map out direction for I&T growth for next five to 10 years

But other panel members argue that luring professionals back will require scrapping quarantine travel curbs

Reading Time:3 minutes

Finance chief Paul Chan says Hong Kong’s IT development is on the right track. Photo: Sun Yeung

Published: 6:08pm, 13 Sep 2022Updated: 3:14pm, 30 Sep 2024

A blueprint mapping out Hong Kong’s innovation and technology development for the next five to 10 years will be unveiled before the end of December, the city’s finance chief has revealed, while acknowledging more talent was needed to power growth in the area.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Tuesday said the government would strive to create an “overarching ecosystem” for the I&T industry, promote collaboration among stakeholders such as the government, academia, research and development sectors, and make it easier to turn the results of groundbreaking studies into profits.

“We are working on a strategic plan or a road map that will set out the directions and objectives of Hong Kong’s I&T development in the coming five to 10 years. We plan to roll it out within six months of this new government,” he told a forum on regional innovation organised by Our Hong Kong Foundation, a think tank founded by former city leader Tung Chee-hwa.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan delivers a speech at the forum. Photo: Handout

Chan said the city’s I&T development was on the right track, pointing to plans for the Northern Metropolis housing project along the border that would include a hi-tech cluster, the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park and ongoing collaboration with neighbouring cities in the Greater Bay Area, Beijing’s plan to unite southern cities into an economic powerhouse.

But the financial secretary admitted the city needed to attract more skilled professionals, whom he called the “most valuable asset for I&T”. Hong Kong has been struggling to reverse a worsening brain drain that has sapped talent from a number of sectors, fuelled in part by the government’s tough Covid-19 policies.

“Over the past month or two, in consultation sessions for the chief executive’s policy address, we have fully heard the need for Hong Kong to attract more talent and strategic enterprises to come here to help power our whole I&T sector,” he said, assuring that relevant measures would be rolled out to achieve the goal.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu will deliver his maiden policy address on October 19 and is under pressure to lay down steps to improve the economy, increase housing supply and better integrate Hong Kong into the national development plan.