Opinion | Hong Kong is attracting top talent but can it keep them?

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has achieved another key performance indicator ahead of his policy address: plugging the brain drain.

Hong Kong rose seven spots to ninth place in the International Institute for Management Development’s latest World Talent Ranking, trailing only second-place Singapore among Asian nations. In response, a government spokesman said it “is clear evidence that the work of the Hong Kong government in education and talent admission has made remarkable achievements”.

There are some encouraging numbers. Through its various talent schemes, including the Top Talent Pass Scheme, the city received more than 360,000 applications, with nearly 230,000 approvals granted as of the end of August. One of the reasons Hong Kong rose into the top 10 is because of its improvement in attracting and retaining talent, jumping 18 places from last year’s score to place 14th out of 67 economies.

Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki has said the government will revise the Top Talent Pass Scheme to include graduates of institutions outside the present top 100 universities list. But as lawmaker Johnny Ng Kit-chong pointed out last year when the government introduced its talent schemes, the number that truly matters is how many of those attracted here actually stay in Hong Kong.

The first batch of applicants approved under the scheme, which began in December 2022, will soon face the decision to stay put or leave. We might need to wait for those numbers to see if the government has succeeded in retaining the talent it has attracted, but we can already tell things are not as rosy as they seem.