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Innovating Hong Kong

Peter Kam Fai Cheung SBS

How to measure an economy's innovation productivity as well as its international ranking? While there are many different approaches to the measurement, a way is to do annual global benchmarking surveys based on a coherent framework that links economic theory with index number theory. For example, the surveys can be conducted by consistently using certain input factors such as human capital, infrastructure, governmental institutions, business sophistication as well as market sophistication, and output factors such as knowledge, technology and creativity.

The truth borne out from the facts of such a 2017 survey is that Hong Kong's innovation index has been slipping and is behind Singapore, South Korea and Japan in Asia. While Hong Kong is relatively strong in its market sophistication and infrastructure, Hong Kong is relatively weak in its human capital and research; knowledge, technology outputs and creative outputs. Those who love Hong Kong should feel the urgency to manage the emergency or crisis, and help Hong Kong turn around timely.

Global competition does not allow an economy to sustain its traditional edge if it does not innovate ie contributing unique value to the world at large. Whether an economy has the necessary conditions to become innovative would largely depend on the mindset of its entrepreneurs, the quality of its research and development personnel, the openness of university collaboration, and the protection of intellectual property. As to intellectual property protection in Hong Kong, I played my due role as a government lawyer in designing, building and maintaining Hong Kong's world class system from 1988-2014.

In my view, innovating Hong Kong as a value proposition requires strategic public-private partnerships, key strategic macro-and-micro activities and significant investment in human and financial capital. While the public sector (including quasi-governmental agencies and universities) can endeavour to provide new moneys in whatever forms and pool the available resources to enhance and facilitate entrepreneurs's capacity to innovate, they (and those invest in them privately) should also have the calculated mindset to succeed fast. Knowing the right things to do by the right entities (whether public or private) at the right time concretizes outcome and is conducive to nurturing the elements of Hong Kong's innovation ecosystem!

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