At the Economic Summit 2021 hosted by "Hong Kong 01" on Wednesday (8th), several university presidents agreed that Hong Kong will focus on innovation and technology in the future.
The government has indeed increased its investment in innovation and technology in recent years, but as the principal said, money alone is not enough to activate the innovation and technology ecosystem.
To gather talents from all walks of life to encourage young people to be willing to devote themselves to innovation and technology, Hong Kong must also reform its education and economic systems.
Innovation and technology is the growth point of Hong Kong's economy, and it also benefits the whole society.
There is no shortage of money for the development of innovation and technology. The current Hong Kong government has promised that by 2022, the total local R&D expenditure will account for 1.5% of GDP. The proportion is increasing in recent years, but it is still far from the target, let alone catching up with the Mainland and other countries.
However, even if there is more money, the achievements of innovation and technology will not automatically emerge.
The President of the University of Hong Kong, Zhang Xiang, who attended the forum, believed that the industry should be diversified. The President of Chinese University Duan Chongzhi emphasized the cultivation of local talents and the application of what he learned. "Go", he and the president of Lingnan University, Zheng Guohan, said that the government must first develop industries and then create jobs, so that the next generation will be willing to join the industry.
"Hong Kong 01" held the 2021 Economic Summit Forum, from left: Yu Pinhai, President of Chinese University Duan Chongzhi.
(Photo by Yu Junliang)
Find the right industry to serve the country and Hong Kong
If you are worried that Hong Kong does not have enough land to build diversified industries, cooperating with other cities in the Greater Bay Area can be one way out.
Furthermore, careful selection of industries is also very important.
As Teng Jinguang pointed out in an interview with the media at the beginning of this year, Hong Kong should take advantage of its existing advantages, such as relying on the medical industry to develop medical technology such as artificial intelligence care, or relying on the high-density geographical environment to develop high-precision car navigation systems. Achievements have been made in the field of smart cities.
Furthermore, if it is to actively integrate into the overall situation of national development, Hong Kong's innovation and technology goals are also quite clear: to solve the bottleneck of economic development in the Mainland, such as chip research and development.
Although industry drives employment and employment drives job selection, the current urban competition is fierce and Hong Kong cannot "step by step". After the industry is established, local and foreign talents must be attracted. The two must be synchronized, and the innovation and technology talent pool must be established as soon as possible.
The government wants talented companies to dare to pursue the dream of innovation and technology
Innovation and technology are extremely important to society, but it is always difficult to encourage more local students to enroll in science and engineering courses.
Local university, elementary and middle school students are more enthusiastic about participating in information technology and scientific invention competitions. The government, colleges and businesses also organize exchange activities from time to time. However, when they go to the most practical university joint recruitment, most students still prefer business management or early childhood education courses. .
In university graduate research courses, the number of non-local students is longer than that of local students.
As we all know, the reason is the low salary and the unclear career path, especially compared to the financial industry where real salaries continue to rise, perhaps many of them have buried their talents and interest in innovation and technology research and development in order to pursue a stable career.
The situation of Hong Kong's innovation and technology talents and industry is "struggling." The innovation and technology industry has not taken shape, and the company and academia have not fully absorbed science and engineering students, which in turn restricts industrial expansion.
When a local software service start-up company was interviewed by "Hong Kong 01", he said frankly that the price of recruiting program developers in Hong Kong is more expensive, "people are not so good," and that many companies will set up separate technology teams in Shenzhen.
To increase the number of talents, the government can refer to the opinions of the School of Economics and Management of the University of Hong Kong.
The college issued a green paper on economic policies at the beginning of this year, suggesting to increase the number of graduate students admitted to the colleges and universities, to find places to build talent apartments to reduce housing and living expenses, and to relax the restrictions on technology companies to recruit overseas technical personnel, that is, there is no need to hire bundles. Local scientific and technical personnel, instead, encourage foreign companies to hire Hong Kong people by subsidizing local labor costs.
Of course, loosening the terms of employment will cause controversy, and the government must weigh it carefully.
It is undeniable that Hong Kong has over-relied on the financial services industry in the past years, and has repeatedly missed opportunities for innovation and technology development, and industrial talent has been left empty for a long time.
It is a good thing for officials to step up quickly, but other cities continue to move forward at the same time. Hong Kong has to do more to catch up with them.
Investing money is essential for research and development, and equally important is the reform of the economy and education, so that companies and young people are willing to pursue innovation and technology ideals in Hong Kong, and meet the expectations of several university presidents.
Encouraging innovation-the unique significance of the opening of the Beijing Stock Exchange, using financial technology to promote the transformation and upgrading of Hong Kong's industry｜Yu Pinhai Hong Kong needs a complete set of talent planning