Blog

Visiting the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Bay Area

A gist of the blog:

Last week, I visited three cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong–Macau Bay Area (the Bay Area), namely Guangzhou, Foshan and Jiangmen, to learn more about the latest social and economic development of these places, especially the upgrading of local enterprises through innovation and technology.

Hong Kong boasts a number of unique strengths that enable us to benefit from this new wave of innovation and technology. For example, at a Hong Kong-invested company specialising in air-conditioning products that I visited in Jiangmen, Hong Kong engineers are taking charge of the research and development (R&D) and product design, and some of the R&D results are patented in Hong Kong. Hong Kong offers a robust intellectual property rights protection regime and can help these products gain international recognition.

On the other hand, Foshan City has co-initiated a LED-FPD Technology R&D Center with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Focusing on technology development for LED and FPD, the Centre provides technical support and skills training for relevant manufacturers in Guangdong, and vividly illustrates Hong Kong’s strength in innovation and technological research. Hong Kong can join hands with the vibrant supply chain and manufacturing sector in Guangdong to promote innovation and technology development of the Bay Area.

I believe that Hong Kong can play a pivotal role in the development of the Bay Area, and at the same time we will be able to maintain our distinctiveness amid Hong Kong’s economic integration with the Mainland. This is the very reason why many Mainland enterprises and international technology institutions appreciate and value what Hong Kong can offer.

August 5, 2018