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Greater Bay Area
TechPolicy

Cyberport’s future is in the north as industry pivots towards Greater Bay Area, says CEO of Hong Kong tech hub

  • With government funding support, Cyberport provides start-up capital, office space and access to technology to help local start-ups get off the ground
  • Cyberport CEO says Hong Kong’s tech firms will rely more on the Greater Bay Area as a market in future, and tech hub is at a special moment in its history

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With government funding support, Cyberport provides start-up capital, office space and access to technology to help local start-ups get off the ground. Photo: Handout
Josh Ye
Hong Kong tech hub Cyberport sees its future in the North as the city’s tech industry pivots towards China’s Greater Bay Area from Southeast Asia, its chief executive said.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post last week Peter Yan King-shun, chief executive of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company, which is owned by the Hong Kong Government, said that Cyberport is at a special point in its history. Its mission going forward will be to aid the city’s integration with the Greater Bay Area to create a hi-tech economic zone comprising Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province to rival Silicon Valley.
“In the past, tensions between China and the US have created a lot of uncertainty. But now with our country’s plan for the Greater Bay Area … the direction has become far clearer,” said Yan.
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“When you know what to expect … you can do the math and evaluate whether an investment is worth it. If it’s not worth it, you end it.” “We’ve done the math,” he added, “and it really is worth it.”

Cyberport has dedicated a lot of resources to fostering local tech start-ups since its inception in 2004 but there has been a debate over its future role. Although Cyberport has helped produce five unicorns - start-ups with a valuation of more than US$1 billion - this has been dwarfed by neighbouring Shenzhen, where more than a dozen new unicorns are born every year.

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Yan said Hong Kong’s tech firms will rely more on the Greater Bay Area as a market in future. “Ultimately this is about getting exposure to the Greater Bay Area market. In the past, we had the Hong Kong local market and the Southeast Asia market. This is a huge difference,” Yan said.

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