Fear of risks and too few tech graduates stalling Hong Kong’s smart city ambitions

A survey of over 500 business executives found that 73 per cent of them said the city was falling behind others in technology and innovation

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KPMG’s Julian Vella said being more innovative will require a culture that ‘allows us as a community to take risks, within parameters’. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 4:08pm, 29 Jan 2018Updated: 9:23pm, 29 Jan 2018

Some 73 per cent of business executives and 45 per cent of other residents polled by one of the Big Four accounting firms believe Hong Kong is falling behind other developed cities in promoting technology and innovation, due to a low appetite for risk-taking and a dearth of technology graduates.

Findings from the survey of more than 1,500 people – about a third of them business executives – by KPMG and YouGov between October and December last year, come amid a government push to make Hong Kong a smart city.

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Last month, it unveiled a blueprint for the next five years to introduce technological innovations in a myriad of areas from autonomous vehicles to integrating e-transport apps to e-payments and virtual banking.

But business leaders said the government would struggle to fill new jobs in technology due to a current skills mismatch in the workforce.

Survey respondents said more needed to be done in education to foster a culture of innovation.

KPMG’s Asia-Pacific head of global infrastructure, Julian Vella, said: “[Innovation and technology culture] … is about nurturing an appetite for sensible risk-taking. It’s a culture that allows us as a community to take risks, within parameters.”