Open up city to foreign talent or risk lagging behind in innovation: Hong Kong Science Park chief
Fanny Law says priority should be given to industries with shortage of skilled labour
The shortage of skilled professionals and red tape in hiring overseas talent must be solved or Hong Kong will risk falling behind other cities in innovation and technology, the head of the Science Park has warned.
Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun called on Hongkongers to embrace opening up the city’s labour market to foreigners, but she admitted that public consensus must be gained before such a move.
Hong Kong leader doubles R&D expenditure to HK$45 billion for next five years to boost ‘smart city’ innovation
In particular, Law praised eight initiatives mentioned by the city’s leader to boost the innovation and technology industry. “I’m fully confident in Lam … and the new administration, which has cooperated well in the past few months and responded to many of our suggestions,” she said.
One of Lam’s goals is to double the expenditure on research and development from 0.73 per cent of the gross domestic product to 1.5 per cent within the term of the current administration, which ends in 2022.
A HK$500 million Technology Talent Scheme will also be launched in the coming year to help enterprises recruit highly educated professionals.
But Law, who is also an executive councillor, said she believed that one area in which the government could do more was to encourage hi-tech companies to recruit talent from overseas.
