Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po(second right) and Secretary for Innovation & Technology Alfred Sit Wing-hang (left) attend the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Biotechnology Collaboration Seminar & Research Report Launch on July 26, 2021. (PHOTO / HKSAR GOVERNMENT)
Hong Kong and Shenzhen should cooperate to develop Lok Ma Chau Loop into a pilot and demonstration zone for biotech cooperation to pave the way for technological development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, according to a research report.
Biotech is one of the emerging industries with enormous development potential, and it presents an ideal opportunity for Hong Kong-Shenzhen cooperation, according to the report, released jointly on Monday by the Our Hong Kong Foundation, the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, and the China Development Institute.
Biotech is one of the emerging industries with enormous development potential, and it presents an ideal opportunity for Hong Kong-Shenzhen cooperation, according to the report, released jointly on Monday by the Our Hong Kong Foundation, the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, and the China Development Institute
While Hong Kong is the world’s second-largest financing center for biotech, and its universities own world-leading standards in basic research, Shenzhen is also developing quickly in the field, with the biomedicine sector contributing the most to the city’s GDP growth rate among its seven strategic emerging industries.
Cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen has promising prospects, according to the report.
It suggested that the Lok Ma Chau Loop — a 0.87-square-kilometer plot of land just south of the Shenzhen River — be classified as a pilot and demonstration zone for Hong Kong-Shenzhen biotech cooperation so that industry players can enjoy preferential policies from both sides and develop in a more flexible and internationalized way.
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Through such measures as tax relief, rent concessions and government-guaranteed low-interest loans, the zone could attract leading companies to set up regional headquarters or research and development centers there.
It also advised the two cities to further promote cooperation to avoid the one-way flow of talent and businesses resulting from policy differences, and work together to seek support from the central government.
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said at a seminar held in conjunction with the report release that the nation’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) has outlined how the country will support Hong Kong’s effort to become an international technology and innovation center. The plan also encouraged the special administrative region to strengthen collaboration with other Greater Bay Area cities in the field. The inclusion of Lok Ma Chau Loop into one of the four major Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao cooperative platforms reflects the importance the central government places on Hong Kong’s technology and innovation, he said.
Chan said the SAR will take advantage of the support from the central government and its advantages inherent in the “one country, two systems” principle — a strong research and development capability, a sound intellectual property protection system, and world-level financial services — to participate in the construction of the international technology and innovation center in the Greater Bay Area and serve the country’s needs from both aspects of “external circulation” and “domestic circulation”.
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To foster the growth of the biotech cluster, the report suggested the zone adopt a model similar to that of Shanghai and the US city of Boston, both of which introduced the “anchor-plus” model. The model could help create an ecosystem conducive to the development of startups and build a world-class biotech industrial cluster by bringing in leading companies and establishing a mega research institute there.
“Under the guideline of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the biotech industry is looking forward to becoming the pivot of cooperation and communication between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, further igniting technology and innovation in the Greater Bay Area,” said Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.