Tuesday, October 2, 2018 5 COMMENT CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION Editor’s note: We launched a photo-sharing campaign on Instagram. Share your photos by tagging #hk24hr! We’ll choose the best ones to publish in the newspaper. Encourage R&D in areas Left hanging where HK has distinct edge The SAR must take a long-term, targeted approach to research and development to further national development goals, writes Ken Chu ang Zhimin, direc- sector and tertiary institutes. tor of the Liaison Unfortunately, corporations in the pri- O ce of the vate sector in Hong Kong, known for their Central People’s make-a-quick-buck mentality, may not have Government in the patience to wait for R&D to pay o . To the Hong Kong encourage private-sector R&D, more incen- tives must be o ered. Currently, the SAR Special Adminis- Ken Chu trative Region, recently penned an article The author is a CPPCC member and government has put in place a tax deduc- Win a newspaper urging the SAR to leverage CUHK Council member. tion up to 300 percent for private enter- its advantages to establish itself as a global prises’ R&D expenditures, but we certainly innovation and technology center in order would like to see more tax-incentive mea- A street lamp in Tseung Kwan O hangs by its electrical cord after being snapped o its pole by to better integrate into the nation’s overall tech and medical research institutes have sures to encourage the private sector’s R&D Typhoon Mangkhut. @KANEHUNGKANE / INSTAGRAM development and contribute to building the also established branches in the SAR, such e orts in the upcoming Policy Address. Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay as Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet, which Besides funding and incentives, we need Area’s overall innovation and technology. chose Hong Kong as the place to set up its experts and scientists to carry out R&D Without doubt, Hong Kong is well-posi- fi rst overseas branch. work. The recently launched Technology tioned to forge ahead with its innovation However, Hong Kong still relies heav- Talent Admission Scheme is a step in the and technology development. Hong Kong ily on talents, knowledge and resources right direction but we still face formidable Bay Area development is thriving in this area, largely due to our imported from abroad. Perhaps this challenges in attracting top-notch sci- solid supporting infrastructure. Our well- explains why the SAR still ranks low entists and IT talents because of intense established intellectual property legislation in various global indexes in the area of global competition. Even within the United of international standards is vital. Besides, innovation capacity. Our relatively little States, various cities are competing with o ers SAR new roles our venture fund market is vibrant, condu- overall R&D spending by the private sector, Silicon Valley for talents. What should cive to nurturing numerous young startups universities and government is another we do to attract them? Not just monetary he convening of the fi rst plenary in Hong Kong. According to InvestHK, factor contributing to our low ranking in rewards but also a favorable living and meeting of the Guangdong-Hong there were some 2,229 startups in Hong terms of innovation and technology in working environment, such as interna- Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Kong by the end of last year. these global indexes. The combined total tional education and leisure activities, must leading group, a coordinating The “one country, two systems” principle research and development spending by the be provided to them. Tbody tasked to drive the development of the undeniably has given Hong Kong a distinct private sector, universities and government Apart from experts and scientists, we Bay Area project, signifi es a crucial mile- should also consider where the R&D advantage. While maintaining its status as accounts for less than 0.8 percent of our stone in the development of the Bay Area. Edward Liu the most international cosmopolitan city GDP, according to a recent report by the spending must be used. Defi nitely our The e ects of those favorable policies that The author is vice-president of the Hong within the Bay Area, Hong Kong’s position Task Force on Review of Research Policy R&D cannot focus on all kinds of new benefi t residents in this whole region are Kong and Mainland Legal Profession as an SAR a ords it numerous additional and Funding headed by well-respected technologies and innovations. Our R&D already felt as we speak. In particular, after Association and co-opted member of the privileges, such as enabling us to tap into Professor Tsui Lap-chee. This percentage is e orts should focus on where Hong Kong the publication of the “Method of Applica- Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board. the pool of experts and scientists who have well below the average 2.4 percent among has advantages and where the Chinese tion of the Residence Permit for Hong Kong, abundant knowledge of the nation’s innova- OECD countries. mainland needs support. It normally takes Macao and Taiwan Residents on the Main- tion and technology sector and the science Insu cient R&D will impede the drive to decades to see basic scientifi c and tech- land”, many of my friends and colleagues Hong Kong must be more fi eld, as well as attract global IT enterprises, spur innovation and advances in technolog- nological research bear fruit. In this case, have already been disquisitive and ebullient innovative entrepreneurs and venture capi- ical development. Although Chief Executive fi ntech, biotech, pharmaceuticals, robotics about the functions, rights and privileges proactive in the develop- talists. The soon-to-be-established Hong Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has promised and new energy come fi rst to mind. that this residence permit has to o er. Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology to set aside HK$10 billion to lift our overall Rome cannot be built overnight. Hong The Bay Area is seen as an important piv- ment of the city cluster, Park in Lok Ma Chau Loop is an excellent R&D spending to 1.5 percent of GDP by the Kong must patiently devote more funding ot in the implementation of “one country, otherwise it will fail to example of how Hong Kong and Shenzhen year 2022, R&D takes a long time to yield and resources to R&D before we can derive two systems”. It is part of the national policy, can collaborate and complement each other fruitful results. Therefore, funding in R&D concrete results to transform our city into as made known in the 19th National Con- cement its traditionally in the IT fi eld. Because of our unique nature must be sustained on a long-term basis. an IT hub, and before this materializes, we gress of the Communist Party of China, that and position, we have attracted many global One of the recommendations by the task must carefully address how much funding promotes faster integration of Hong Kong strong and vital economic IT giants such as Alibaba, IBM, Facebook, force is to substantially boost Hong Kong’s is needed for whom to carry out R&D work and Macao into the national development sectors and it may even Google and NEC. Leading international bio- overall R&D spending by both the private in the most suitable IT areas. strategy. When President Xi Jinping visited Hong Kong during the commemoration of forego the opportunity to the 20th anniversary of the establishment raise its level of competi- Peter Liang of the Hong Kong Special Administra- tive Region, he noted that Hong Kong’s tiveness in the world. Although the government economic development faced an array of Long may HK’s rekindled constraints, including fi rstly, the relative long ago abandoned the abatement of the city’s traditional strength their economies in order to maintain their and secondly, that many sectors of the econ- respective competitiveness. Particularly, traditional hands-o omy that are the targeted areas of the city’s banking on the infrastructural improve- self-reliant spirit continue future development are still in their prelimi- ments brought by the implementation of policy, it is singularly ill nary stages. As a result, Hong Kong should the Belt and Road Initiative, Hong Kong uper Typhoon Mangkhut, which rekindled, can continue to burn. Indeed, equipped to be a social bank on political and social policies that could utilize its familiarity with interna- hit Hong Kong last month with Hong Kong people were once well-known integrate the city further with the mainland tional commercial rules and its position as unprecedented fury, has taught for, among other things, their self-reliance nanny if the free market in order to fi nd its place and direction in a prime fi nancial center to attract overseas Hong Kong people a long-forgotten which was born out of the government’s environment and low the Bay Area plan as the country’s “super- enterprises to establish regional headquar- Slesson: self-reliance. hands-o policy. connector” to the rest of the world. It is only ters in the city and become the commercial In the aftermath of the storm, which left This policy, which ensured that people tax base are going to be with this determination, dedication and hub for the Asia-Pacifi c region under the behind mountains of debris on the beach- could get to keep a large share of the wealth fortitude that Hong Kong may continue to Belt and Road Initiative, particularly the es, in the streets and numerous densely they helped create, suited them fi ne.