Proposal for R&D transfers from mainland China to Hong Kong has ‘very high’ chance of success, technology secretary says
- Sun Dong says data access proposal is part of strategy to transform city into global hub for innovation and technology
- Technology secretary says chief executive also planning ‘ambitious and new’ plans to tackle talent shortage in sector
Hong Kong and mainland China are discussing a proposal to give the city access to some state-owned data on research and development, as part of a wider drive to become an international hub of innovation and technology (I&T) and attract talent in the sector, the minister leading the talks has said.
Sun Dong, the secretary for innovation, technology and industry, told the Post that Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu would also introduce several “ambitious and new” initiatives to tackle Hong Kong’s lack of I&T talent in his first policy speech next month.
“Hong Kong would like to set up its own data centre, so we hope that part of the national data could be transferred to Hong Kong. This will form a unique advantage for the city,” said Sun, a former professor of biomedical engineering who was in charge of robotics and automation research at City University.
“We are now arguing for the transfer of national data and in discussion with the central government and its relevant departments. I believe under certain conditions, the chances are very high the mainland will relax the data access.”
Sun said he was confident the authorities in mainland China would give conditional approval to the proposal. The Post understands that the type of information under discussion consisted of state-owned scientific and technology data.
On the issue of whether any sensitive data could ever flow in the opposite direction, Hong Kong’s privacy laws prohibit the transfer of personal data to places outside the city except in circumstances specified in the law. The government has said in the past it had bolstered confidence in data centre services.
Sun explained the data access proposal was part of a strategy to transform the city into a global hub for the I&T, a goal outlined by Chinese President Xi Jinping and the country’s 14th five-year plan.
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Sun said a top priority was the creation of a plan to assist in the development of the city’s I&T development over the next five to 10 years. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po earlier said a strategy would be drawn up within six months.
A central focus was enticing top technology companies and overseas professionals to move to Hong Kong, Sun said.
“Hong Kong now is running out of talent … It’s true that Hong Kong has gone through many storms in the past few years and Hong Kong’s competitiveness has been on the decline,” he said.
“Other places such as Singapore have been rolling out aggressive measures to ‘snatch’ talent … therefore we must also put in place some talent policies in the policy address. There must be ambitious and new moves to attract and retain talent.”
A total of 113,000 people have left the city over the past year, government figures have shown. Some who migrated highlighted frustration over tough Covid-19 restrictions, and others complained about changes to the political environment after the introduction of the Beijing-imposed national security law in June 2020.
Sun said some people were temporarily dissuaded by the city’s stringent coronavirus curbs, but he insisted the security law had restored order, which would help to attract professionals from overseas.
“Only when Hong Kong has a stable environment will it manage to attract talent. They are here to conduct their professional business, not politics,” he said.
“As long as Hong Kong has a raft of facilitating measures to show to businesses and talent that it is an ideal place to make their dream come true, they will come to Hong Kong.”
Sun, a former legislator who once said that officials should be held accountable and step down if they failed to deliver on promises, vowed he would adopt Lee’s “result-oriented” approach to his I&T goals instead of just meeting some performance indicators.
He emphasised he placed great importance on public opinion, and that he would not hesitate to clear up any public misunderstanding over government policies.
Sun also highlighted a public relations crisis in July after health minister Lo Chun-mau proposed real-name registration for the government’s “Leave Home Safe” app, which triggered public concern that the authorities might want to track people’s movements and collect information on their digital footprint.
Sun dismissed Lo’s proposal a few days later and said there were no plans to update the risk exposure app as it already had some real-name functions through users’ vaccine records linked to it.
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Sun insisted he did not have any communication problems with Lo, but that public concerns had to be tackled.
“I have high regard for public opinion. Residents were concerned about their privacy and whether the app would introduce tracking functions,” he said. “If you are tracked every day, how can you ‘leave home safe’ [go out with peace of mind]? That was why I clarified the issue promptly so everyone was at ease”, Sun said.
Sun pointed out his blueprint would address measures to support commercialisation of research and development results and industrialisation in Hong Kong, especially in the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop.
The Hong Kong government has invested more than HK$150 billion (US$19.1 billion) in I&T development, with the number of start-ups increasing from about 1,000 in 2014 to around 4,000 at present.
Venture capital investment also rose from HK$1.24 billion to nearly HK$42 billion.
Sun said computer chip manufacture, life science technology and production of green vehicles could all be options to reboot industry in Hong Kong.
“The Lok Ma Chau Loop can be a product test base for testing I&T products,” he said. “Manufacturing of chips is under consideration. We may not be suitable for having a large-scale operation of chip manufacturing but we could be a test base for products.”
