Opinion | 3 traps Hong Kong must avoid in building an innovation-driven university town
- The recently proposed Northern Metropolis university town should not be designed for education only
- To truly boost innovation, a global vision is required rather than unhealthy competition among local universities and an overly local focus
At a forum I attended this year, a senior official characterised the promotion of innovation and technology in Hong Kong through the Northern Metropolis project as a last chance for the city, and a battle of life and death. In his latest policy address, Lee gave a clearer outline of how the government will accomplish this mission.
Is physical expansion and consolidation the right formula to drive the higher education sector towards greater innovation? Probably. However, such a plan should come with caveats, considering there have been both success stories and frustrated attempts elsewhere.
More importantly, the university town development plan must recognise the peculiarities of Hong Kong’s university sector and the broad ecology of innovation and technology. In other words, Hong Kong must avoid three traps.
First, designing a university town purely for teaching purposes is neither productive nor suitable for Hong Kong.
