Creating a vibrant startup ecosystem in Hong Kong
In May this year, it was reported that another unicorn (a startup company with a valuation of at least US$1 billion and having been established for less than 10 years) has joined the Cyberport community. According to the analysis of unwire.pro, a local online media, the total number of unicorns in Hong Kong is 12, mainly distributed in five areas: logistics (GoGoX, Lalamove), finance (WeLab, TNG, Airwallex, BitMEX), deep technology (SenseTime, SmartMore), cryptocurrency (FTX, Animoca Brands, Amber Group) and tourism (Klook). The number of startups also increased last year, reaching 3,360, an increase of more than 5% compared with 2019, according to an InvestHK survey. Although the increase is relatively small compared with 20% to 40% in previous years, such a figure is already very encouraging when taking the economic strain brought by the COVID-19 epidemic into account.
However, the annual Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021 (“Startup Report”) by Startup Genome, a startup research company, shows that several cities in the Mainland have either secured the top positions, or climbed to higher ranking year by year. However, Hong Kong’s ranking has dropped for three consecutive years, from 25th in 2019 to 29th last year, and 31st this year.
“America continues to dominate the Global Rankings, with 50% of the Top 30 ecosystems coming from this region, followed by Asia with 27%,” said the Startup Report. Since 2017, the first place has been the Silicon Valley of the United States, with the second and third place taken up by London and New York respectively. Shanghai was ranked the 8th in the world and 2nd in Asia in the past three years, ahead of Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore. As for Shenzhen and Hangzhou, both were newly added to the list last year with them being ranked 22nd and 28th respectively. This year, they jumped to the ranking of 19th and 25th. Asia’s first is Beijing, which has been ranked No. 1 in Asia for four consecutive years, the city has hovered between the 3rd and 4th in the world in recent years.
According to China Unicorn Enterprise Research Report 2021 released by a Mainland research company, there were 82 unicorns in Beijing, accounting for more than 30% of the country's total number of unicorns. What’s more, 60% of decacorns, valued at over $10 billion, were also located in Beijing. No wonder the city can take the first place in the startup ecosystem in Asia.
One of the advantages Beijing’s startup ecosystem enjoys is the government’s financial support. The government has provided “$2.2 billion in private capital to tech projects and was committed to paying about $15 million in loan interest for startups to reduce borrowing costs by 20%” under the epidemic last year, according to the analysis of the Startup Report 2020. At the same time, the figures from the National Bureau of Statistics of China show that Beijing’s investment in research and development (R&D) last year was the largest among cities and provinces in the country in terms of the portion of local GDP which was 6.44%, while that of Israel was 4.95%, South Korea 4.81%. Compared with these places, Hong Kong’s 0.92% was really insignificant.
Nurturing talents and startups requires a lot of investment. The Trade Development Council found that "sufficient sources of funding" was one of three most important factors promoting the growth of startups in Hong Kong as concluded from more than 50% of the survey respondents, while "broad customer base" (42%) and "continuous innovation" (36%) are the other two. The findings were based on a survey conducted last year on 259 startups which were established in Hong Kong for less than 8 years and headquartered here. Although Hong Kong is an international financial centre, local startups find it challenging to raise funds. It is timely for us to think about how the government and the private sector can play a more active role.
-- Contact us at [email protected]
-
Integration of GIS and BIM can drive development of smart city Dr. Winnie Tang
The China Association for Geospatial Industry and Sciences (“the CAGIS”) released the Top Ten Highlights of China's Geographic Information Industry in 2023, which provides much inspiration. The
-
Equip young people for the future Dr. Winnie Tang
In late February, the inaugural flight of an air taxi from Shenzhen Shekou Cruise Homeport to Zhuhai Jiuzhou Port took only 20 minutes with an estimated one-way ticket price of 200 to 300 yuan per
-
Are we raising a generation of leaders, or of followers? Brian YS Wong
The essence of education is defined not by the facts it imparts, but the potential knowledge it inspires students to individually pursue on their own. Put it this way – the ideal form of education
-
The urgent need for reforms to sex education in Hong Kong Sharon Chau
Nearly one in every four university students (23%) in Hong Kong has been sexually harassed, according to a 2019 report published by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC). A 2019 study found that
-
STEAM should be linked to real life Dr. Winnie Tang
In the 2017 Policy Address, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education was proposed as one of the eight major directions to promote I&T development. Since then, funding has
-
Integration of GIS and BIM can drive development of smart city
-
第五屆台北當代藝術博覽會 5月回歸南港展覽館
-
香港霹靂舞運動員:團隊並肩同行 走上國際舞台
-
THE FUTURE ROCKS打造K11 MUSEA快閃店
-
街頭演唱者:BUSKING歷練場 成就登台大將之風
-
心流藝術家:旋環登上舞台才能真正被看見
-
Russia’s nightmare – loss of Far East
-
尚品~即食花膠靚湯
-
My Brief Remarks – at the HKS China Conference
-
The perils of self-censorship