Enlarging talent pool key to HK’s innovation
Official: Government initiatives boost students’ interest in new industries
Nurturing a richer pool of professionals is a decisive factor in the Hong Kong road map to becoming a global innovation hub and in the nation’s high-quality development, the city’s innovation chief told an international summit on Wednesday.
The city will keep attracting talented people through various internship and training programs, enhancing academic-industrial cooperation and providing more resources to local universities and research institutions, said Sun Dong, secretary for innovation, technology and industry of the special administrative region, in his opening remarks at the 2nd Global Innovation and Technology Summit.
The one-day summit, hosted by the Greater Bay Area Association of Academicians, was attended by over 200 government officials in charge of education, heads of leading universities and scholars worldwide to envisage strategies and partnerships in innovation and higher education. Attendees included Kazakhstan Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek, Peking University President Gong Qihuang, and Oxford University Pro Vice-Chancellor for Innovation Chas Bountra.
Sun said talent holds great significance for Hong Kong’s future as well as for the nation’s high-quality development. The HKSAR government is committed to continually enlarging the city’s pool of talent through different approaches, and deepening collaboration among the government, academic, and research sectors to achieve its goal of cultivating more talented people, he added.
The government launched the STEM Internship Scheme in 2020 to help university students gain innovation- and technology-related work experience. By June 2023, the program had provided internship opportunities in five government-funded research and development centers and the Hong Kong Productivity Council — a statutory body to help local enterprises upgrade manufacturing and managing capacities.
Sun said he believes internship opportunities can foster students’ interest in innovation and encourage them to pursue a career in this realm, therefore expanding the city’s talent pool.
Other programs initiated by the government include the Technology Talent Admission Scheme, a policy attracting talented people from outside the city to work in Hong Kong, and the Research Talent Hub, a government-led program subsidizing companies hiring college graduates to conduct research and development.
Sun added that the government has also been providing stable resources for universities to conduct research and development and support the commercialization of their outcomes.
Speaking at the same event, Fang Jianming, deputy commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the HKSAR, praised Hong Kong’s robust intellectual property system and high-quality professionals, saying those advantages allow the city to help the country with industrial innovation.
Fang said that Hong Kong’s cultural diversity and well-developed connectivity give it an upper hand in the competition for attracting talented people.