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Recently, the latest development achievements of Chinese tech startups, represented by DeepSeek, and Unitree Robotics have attracted significant international attention. Strategic industries such as AI and robotics constitute fiercely competitive highlands in the innovation and technology sector.
How can the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) cultivate and build more internationally competitive tech companies? How can Guangdong and Hong Kong complement each other's strengths in innovation and technology?
展开剩余96%Allen Yeung, Hong Kong's deputy to the 14th National People’s Congress, emphasized that industrial collaboration within the Greater Bay Area requires top-level design coordination, during an exclusive interview with the SFC ahead of the country's Two Sessions. He particularly highlighted the strategic value of leveraging the Hetao Cooperation Zone as a platform to cultivate it into an innovative powerhouse capable of rapidly incubating unicorns.
Yeung currently serves as a member of the Chief Executive's Policy Unit(CEPU) Expert Group of the Hong Kong SAR Government, the Hong Kong President of the GBA International Information Technology Association, and the founder and CEO of Intelli Global Corporation. He has been committed to the development of the digital economy as well as the innovation and technology cooperation in the GBA.
Yeung pointed out that the foundation of AI development is data. Without high-quality and sufficient data, its development will be constrained. Currently, due to legal restrictions on data flows between the Chinese mainland and foreign countries, data on both sides has not been fully utilized.
Yeung suggested establishing a data special zone in Hetao. For instance, in the biomedicine sector, Hetao can integrate international and domestic medical data for big data analytics, potentially creating huge scientific research value. “We should explore how to aggregate data into Hetao and to use them for more innovations in various fields such as artificial intelligence, finance, healthcare and precision manufacturing,” Yeung said.
The GBA is at the forefront of exploring innovative approaches to cross-border data flows. In terms of cross-border flows of personal data, the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau of Hong Kong jointly launched the “Standard Contract for Cross-boundary Flow of Personal Information Within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Mainland, Hong Kong)” (hereinafter referred to as the "GBA Standard Contract") in 2023, with pilot implementations in the banking, credit information, and medical sectors. In the Chief Executive's 2024 Policy Address, it was proposed to extend the facilitation measures of the "GBA Standard Contract" to all industries, promoting more cross-border services that benefit the people and enterprises and facilitating data flows in the GBA.
The implementation of the "GBA Standard Contract" allows individuals and institutions in the nine mainland cities in the GBA and Hong Kong to establish standard contracts based on the voluntary principle and a unified template, thereby facilitating and simplifying the secure cross-border flow of personal information in the GBA.
Yeung stated that the standard contract can eliminate complicated and lengthy approval processes, enabling data from various sectors such as finance, economics, healthcare, and people's livelihood to flow into Hong Kong through the mechanism. Hong Kong can seize this opportunity to better develop its digital economy and build an international data hub port.
Both Guangdong and Hong Kong are striving hard to cultivate and expand emerging industries and make forward-looking layouts for future industries.
Recently, Guangdong Province released the Action Plan for Accelerating the Cultivation and Development of Future Industries, focusing on implementing seven major projects in seven key areas such as future intelligence, future life health, and future energy. As of 2023, the core industry scale in the AI field reached RMB 180 billion, with computing power scale and enterprise scale ranking among the top nationwide. The 2025 action plan for building a modern industrial system proposes to build a high-standard humanoid robot innovation center and cultivate 3-5 unicorn companies.
In the Chief Executive's 2024 Policy Address, Hong Kong announced the establishment of an HKD10 billion Innovation and Technology Fund, aiming to guide market funds into investing in designated strategic emerging industries and future industries, including healthcare technology, AI and robotics, semiconductors and smart devices, digitization and upgrading and transformation, as well as future and sustainable development.
Yeung believes that the HTCZ can serve as a pilot zone for emerging industries, such as developing the low-altitude economy to address barriers in cross-border logistics and transportation. Meanwhile, Hetao should gather talents from both the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, especially leveraging Hong Kong's advantages to attract more international talents, university professors, and research teams to settle there, thereby addressing talent shortages through in-depth cooperation.
SFC: Could you please outline the key focuses and foundational considerations underpinning your proposals for this year's Two Sessions?
Allen Yeung: I have consistently been committed to fostering the development of the digital economy. Consequently, in this year's Two Sessions, my focus is on how to leverage Hong Kong's highly internationalized environment and further integrate it with the nation to jointly propel the development of the digital economy.
SFC: Hong Kong is currently advancing a new model of industrialization, while Guangdong is speeding up the development of a more internationally competitive modern industrial system. How do you envision the two regions effectively leveraging their complementary strengths to accelerate industrial innovation and nurture new quality productive forces?
Allen Yeung: This is indeed a matter of great importance. There has been ongoing discussion regarding how Hong Kong might assume a more prominent role within the Greater Bay Area. When considering complementary advantages, Hong Kong's positioning is remarkably well-defined.
Primarily, Hong Kong excels in high-level internationalization and finance. Furthermore, several of our universities lead in basic research, with five universities ranked among the top 100 globally. The key question now is how to translate these strengths into large-scale applications, which requires a robust connection with the Greater Bay Area and collaborative development efforts. Although this is widely acknowledged, questions remain as to how to integrate industries, leverage mutual complementarities, and allocate responsibilities effectively across the entire industrial chain. These are the details needed to be further explored.
Thus, I believe we should rethink the issue from a top-level design perspective-specifically in constructing the Greater Bay Area, particularly the Hetao Cooperation Zone, an innovation hub. The key challenge lies in how to leverage complementary strengths to forge a new pathway. Moreover, it is imperative that we rapidly assemble a cadre of innovation talents, achieve scalable development, and cultivate unicorn companies.
SFC: Having witnessed the planning and development of this area when working as the Hong Kong SAR Government Chief Information Officer, from your perspective, how can Hetao Cooperation Zone further advance its digital software connectivity and cross-border flow of innovation and technology resources to bolster the cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong?
Allen Yeung: Hetao occupies a position of considerable significance, particularly given its unique status in the realm of scientific research. For instance, there is currently robust discourse on artificial intelligence—a field fundamentally driven by data. Without diversified data, AI’s capabilities remain confined to computations based on limited datasets.
In addressing data, several factors merit discussion. Data from the Chinese mainland and international sources remain somewhat disconnected due to regulations such as the Cybersecurity Law, Data Security Law, and Personal Information Protection Law, which constrain data flows into Hong Kong. Likewise, regulations like the European Union’s GDPR, along with similar restrictions imposed by countries such as the United States on data entering mainland China. In this case, Hong Kong is well positioned to serve as a bridge for integrating data.
Data can be categorized into three types: personal information, important data, and sensitive data. Regarding personal data, over the past two years, the Hong Kong SAR Government and Cyberspace Administration of China have rolled out the “GBA Standard Contract”, which enables unlimited individual data flow between the nine mainland cities in the GBA and Hong Kong, allowing such data to be transferred beyond the Hetao Cooperation Zone. However, important and sensitive data necessitate the establishment of a regulatory mechanism to manage their flow. For example, advancing innovation in the health sector requires access to numerous medical cases as well as sensitive data from personal and national databases.
This raises the question whether data from both sides can be integrated, including international and domestic medical data and databases. Could we build a research and development data special zone in Hetao, where data from both sides can be transferred? Owing to its advantageous geographical position, Hetao can facilitate such data transfers while maintaining the necessary physical isolation.
Therefore, we should explore how to aggregate data into Hetao and to use them for more innovations in various fields such as artificial intelligence, finance, comprehensive health and precision manufacturing. I am confident that by combining Hong Kong’s strengths with the Greater Bay Area’s power, the Hetao Cooperation Zone can build an exceptionally robust innovation center in certain fields.
SFC: The "2025 Action Plan for Building a Modern Industrial System in Guangdong" emphasizes cultivating emerging industries and strategically deploying future industries including biomedicine, low-altitude economy, intelligent robotics, and quantum technology. How should the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Cooperation Zone position its industrial development? What advantages does Hetao possess in developing emerging and future industries?
Allen Yeung: In the realm of emerging industries, Hetao is well suited to serve as a pilot zone, and some institutional openness can be provided. For example, the development of low-altitude economy industry is closely linked to cross-border delivery. Hetao’s “one zone, two parks” configuration-comprising one park in Shenzhen and the other in Hong Kong-is ideally positioned to facilitate cross-border delivery through the collaboration of the two parks. This arrangement allows us to fully leverage the potential of the Hetao Cooperation Zone as a pilot zone.
Furthermore, in sectors such as low-altitude economy, data, and other emerging industries, Hetao can play a leading and exploratory role. It is equally important for Hetao to attract and consolidate a broader pool of talent. There is great talent pool in the Chinese mainland, and we also welcome more international talents can join us for innovation. Hong Kong has innate advantages to attract international talent.
Additionally, we can optimize the utilization of Hong Kong higher education institutions, inviting our professors to provide academic tutoring for mainland universities, or serving as the supervisor for PhD students. Through this in-depth cooperation, we can make up for the gaps in the talent chain.
Therefore, the future development of the Hetao Zone hinges on how to effectively integrate and translate Hong Kong's strengths into tangible implementation. With institutional openness, cross-border collaboration, and talent convergence, the Hetao Zone is well positioned to play a pivotal role in advancing both emerging and future industries.
SFC: Unitree Robotics in AI and robotics has attracted worldwide attention. What breakthrough insights do these technological advancements offer for Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area in developing new quality productive forces?
Allen Yeung: Several common themes emerge. The entrepreneurs are from young generations, who do not rely on the government providing industrial policies. They focus on one field attentively, carrying out in-depth research and development and making innovations. This innovation model does not heavily rely on government’s supporting policies but needs more open and free market environments. This is what we should pursue, and it is the key to encouraging more young people to start their business.
I believe that Hetao should be established as an exceptionally open and dynamic space that brings together young individuals from both regions to exchange ideas, spark innovative collaborations, and infuse the zone with new vitality.
SFC: As the wave of artificial intelligence sweeps across the globe, in which key areas should Hong Kong focus its efforts and strengthen collaboration with the Chinese mainland to accelerate the development of digital economy and AI-related new quality productive forces?
Allen Yeung: Historically Hong Kong has a robust financial sector. Artificial intelligence now enters the period of “AI +”. Reflecting on the previous “Internet +” era, during which numerous innovative tech companies came into the spotlight. Over the next decade, “AI +” is a new wave. The critical question is: which sectors stand to benefit most from the integration of AI?
Hong Kong is home to more than 170 international banks, which underpin its rich financial heritage. We should fully leverage this strength by deeply integrating AI with finance, thereby promoting the development and innovations within the financial sector. At the same time, Hong Kong has substantial potential to cooperate with the mainland in the areas of comprehensive health and biomedicine. Through bringing in industries and data from the world, we can establish innovative cooperation with domestic research teams to further advance these sectors.
Chief Producer: Yu Xiaona
Supervising Producer: Lina Zhu
Editor: Yingliang Li
Reporter: Sijie Yuan (Intern Aaaron Wei)
Video Editor: Sijie Yuan
Produced by: Southern Finance Omnimedia Group炒股配资选配资
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