Hong Kong must take risks to nurture entrepreneurship, says Secretary for Innovation and Technology
Nicholas Yang Wei-hsiung tells Philanthropy for Better Cities forum that the government must embrace failure too
The Hong Kong government needs to take more risk and embrace failure in order to create a successful and innovative ecosystem for philanthropic entrepreneurship in the city, according to Nicholas Yang Wei-hsiung, Secretary for Innovation and Technology.
“If you look at the government, we don’t take risk, and that’s not synonymous with tech and innovation,” Yang said, speaking at the Philanthropy for Better Cities forum on Thursday.
He said that the government’s HK$500 million Innovation and Technology Fund for Better Living, which was announced in the 2016 Policy Address in January and aims to finance projects that improve everyday life for Hong Kong residents, will help to incubate social innovation ideas.
“This government will work with different organisations and NGOs to help them build something that will improve the life of residents over a three-year period and hopefully make them sustainable three years later,” he said, adding that this is the first time that the government is taking the lead in such a scheme, since it usually gives funds to organisations and leaves them to “figure it out”.
If you look at the government, we don’t take risk, and that’s not synonymous with tech and innovation
Key performance indicators and objectives will be set to help NGOs achieve their goals, Yang said.
