Editorial | Saudi Arabian deals from new partnership promise rich rewards
Hong Kong officials’ mission to Riyadh clinches valuable finance for start-ups, sharing of hi-tech expertise and accord with US$1b investment fund
Hong Kong has embarked on ambitious plans to build itself up as a centre for hi-tech and innovation in Asia. It has also been casting its net wider for diverse markets to partner with for trade and business owing to geopolitical tensions between China and the West.
A new partnership between the city’s leading technology park and Saudi Arabia’s key start-up incubator has managed to tick both boxes.
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP) last week signed an agreement in Riyadh with Beta Lab that opens a pipeline of potential funding for the parks’ 1,200 start-ups from the latter’s US$300 million investment pool.
In return, HKSTP chief executive Albert Wong Hak-keung said the city ventures offer the promise of expertise in artificial intelligence, biotechnology and green technology to Riyadh.
The Middle Eastern kingdom launched its massive Vision 2030 development programme in 2016, and is spending hundreds of billions of US dollars to diversify its economy and wean itself off dependence on oil.
Wong was attending the annual Future Investment Initiative summit in the Saudi Arabian capital along with Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po.
“It’s important for the start-ups to show that their innovation and products are worthy of financial support,” said Wong, adding that Beta Lab would also be promoted to more than 2,000 tenants at the HKSTP tech park in Tai Po, and value-added services provided to companies in the Beta Lab portfolio.