Hong Kong universities to nurture startup ecosystem

LI GANG XINHUA HONG KONG - Startups are important in an economy as they bring new services, technology and job opportunities, and Hong Kong has advantages in nurturing talent to nourish the startup ecosystem, said Stephen Phillips, director-general of investment promotion at Invest Hong Kong.

Phillips said that money makes the world go around but the key difference between a startup's success is having the right talent, and Hong Kong universities provide an ample supply of researchers to replenish the technology and innovation sectors.

Phillips said there are two ways to increase highly-skilled professionals in an international trading hub. He said that one is about cultivating homegrown talent. We need to attract international professionals at the same time. He said that InvestHK was playing a role in promoting Hong Kong to international talent, in addition to the traditional work of appealing to foreign direct investment. InvestHK provides services for global talent in areas like housing, working spaces, acquiring support from the Hong Kong government funding programs, as well as assistance with identifying incubation programs.

Jayne Chan, head of StartmeupHK - an initiative of InvestHK, said that talent is a fundamental part of the growth of a startup ecosystem, and talent often starts at universities. She said that several entrepreneurship and startup support programs were set up by Hong Kong universities to expand the city's talent pool.

Five academies from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University were listed as among the world's top 100 universities in the year 2021, according to the QS World University Rankings. Some of the research strengths in engineering, computer science and physics are major growth engines for startups.

The University of Hong Kong offers HK $100,000 $12,740 funding for each eligible innovation project under iDendron to help students turn their ideas into reality. City University has established HK Tech 300, a goal to create 300 startups within three years, to encourage students and their employees to start their own startups.

The number of startups in Hong Kong has doubled in the past seven years, from 1,558 in 2015 to 3,755 in 2021, according to a survey conducted by InvestHK, the Hong Kong government's direct investment promotion agency. There was 13,804 staff employed in startups last year, a 118 percent increase from 2017.