HK to set up key industrial innovation site

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will earmark about HK$220 million ($28.1 million) to establish the first national manufacturing innovation center outside the Chinese mainland, according to the 2026-27 Budget released on Wednesday.

"Under 'one country, two systems', Hong Kong is in the best position to attract top talent from all over the world to use the city as a base to do research and find application scenarios. That is why we set up this center," Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po told China Daily.

Government sources said the center will focus on semiconductor-related research and development, with the aim of driving breakthroughs in critical technologies, accelerating the commercialization of research results and attracting international talent to the city.

Led by the Hong Kong Microelectronics Research and Development Institute, the facility will be built at Yuen Long InnoPark, a 67-hectare industrial estate near Shenzhen Bay Port.

After construction, it will undergo evaluation and accreditation by central government authorities, a process that is expected to take one to three years, officials said.

Chan said technological innovation is one of the guiding principles of high-quality development, an underlying tone of the country's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) recommendations. He added that the Hong Kong SAR has a unique role to play in that national strategy.

The center will also track international technologies — particularly in artificial intelligence and health — in a bid to bring leading scientists, engineers and researchers from both the mainland and abroad to conduct frontier research in Hong Kong, he added.

Kenny Shui, vice-president of think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation and executive director of its Public Policy Institute, said that by combining Hong Kong's research capabilities and global networks with the mainland's strengths in pilot production and commercial-scale manufacturing, the center will help integrate the full industrial chain from research and pilot production to mass manufacturing, supporting companies in upgrading and expanding into overseas markets.

Qin Sizhao, president of Lingnan University, described the government's move as strategically significant. It would strengthen Hong Kong's role in the country's broader push for new industrialization and provide local universities with a valuable platform to connect with industry, accelerating the translation of research into practical applications, Qin said.

He added that universities could support the SAR government by serving as both sources of technological innovation and hubs for talent development.

The innovation center represents part of the HKSAR government's efforts to implement the Cooperation Agreement on the Development of New Quality Productive Forces and the Promotion of New industrialization signed with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in September 2024.

The agreement supports Hong Kong in developing new quality productive forces in line with its local conditions, while also promoting closer coordination between the two sides in areas such as advanced manufacturing research and the development of innovation systems.

The HKSAR government is accelerating its drive to accelerate new industrialization in a bid to inject fresh momentum into the economy. In his budget speech, Chan also announced that the city will roll out the new industrialization elite enterprises nurturing scheme this year, supporting targeted high-growth enterprises that contribute to the development of emerging industries.