Late to the game, Hong Kong’s big splash on tech must pay off

National industrial strategies, the subject of intense study and debates in the 1980s in the wake of the phenomenal success of Japan’s industrial economy, have returned to the centre stage of global attention. Much of this stems from the fact that two of the world’s largest economies, the US and China, have focused more on industrial policy.

Mainland China’s service economy, transport infrastructure and technological innovations have improved so much that it has become more competitive than Hong Kong when it comes to providing these services, except for in high-end legal, professional and business sectors.

Faced with an existential need to diversify, the government doubled down on ambitious projects to overcome the key bottlenecks hindering the development of tech-based industries of scale – namely land, funding and talent.

The current administration has made the boldest and most direct intervention in the economy to jump-start technology-based industries. Resources are being mobilised on an unprecedented scale. Success will depend on whether the markets will pick up the ball and run with it.

Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee is convenor of the Executive Council, a lawmaker and chairwoman of the New People’s Party