Hong Kong touts super-connector role as Northern Metropolis tackles land costs
At Hong Kong Fintech Week, officials said the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park uses cross-boundary policies to address land unaffordability. The park hosts over 100 companies, with new capital flow rules expected next year.
Hong Kong is leveraging its role as a “super-connector” and cross-boundary policies to establish the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park (HSITP) as a global technology hub, HSITP ecosystem development director Anita Chau said at the “Scaling Innovation: The Northern Metropolis Frontier” forum during Hong Kong Fintech Week on 3 November.
“We want to support companies from China through Hong Kong to overseas, and attract good tech companies overseas to Hong Kong to enter the ecosystem,” Chau said, adding that companies can use Hong Kong’s common law system, robust intellectual property protection and government funding to scale internationally.
The park currently hosts more than 100 companies, with about a quarter from overseas, and has established dedicated channels to help tenant firms land in Dubai. Chau highlighted special policies within the Loop that strengthen collaboration between Hong Kong and China, including arrangements allowing biological materials such as cells, organs and blood to be transported from mainland China to Hong Kong to support life sciences and medical technology development. The government is set to announce new capital flow arrangements next year.
Ronald Cheng, principal assistant secretary for the Northern Metropolis at the Development Bureau, said the development of the Northern Metropolis addresses Hong Kong’s land unaffordability bottleneck, and that authorities have been introducing adaptive data legislation to enhance the cross-boundary flow of factors of production. Cheng noted that the Greater Bay Area presents opportunities for global pharmaceutical and medical device firms, as new drugs and devices used in Hong Kong public hospitals can gain access to the broader mainland market.
Phase 1 of the Loop park has completed three buildings, with its fourth building, the headquarters, scheduled for completion by the end of this year. Major local universities will move into the headquarters to engage in research and development ahead of the opening of the dedicated university loop in 2028.