Around 30 enterprises to invest HK$30bn in HK to 'spur city's rise' as I&T centre

Around 30 overseas and mainland Chinese companies have pledged to invest about HK$30 billion in Hong Kong, which looks to provide 10,000 jobs in the city in the coming few years, including scientific research and management positions.

20 of the 30 companies that have already set up or will expand their businesses in Hong Kong, signed an agreement with the newly established Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES) of Hong Kong on Wednesday. The city's leader John Lee said at the launch ceremony that the strategic enterprise partners would help spur Hong Kong's rise as an innovation and technology centre. 

"Hong Kong welcomes you all with open arms. You come from all over the world, and you bring with you innovation, technology and expertise in a great variety of sectors and areas, from life science, biotech, fintech, to advanced manufacturing, AI (artificial intelligence), data science and more," Lee added.

On the same occasion, Hong Kong's financial secretary Paul Chan said that the investment aims to diversify the local industry structure, focusing mainly on the innovation and technology sector.

The specific scopes include four areas: artificial intelligence and big data analytics, health and life science, fintech, and finally, new materials and new energy. For this batch of companies, the majority of them are in health and life science. Secondly, in AI & fintech, Chan added.

Meanwhile, Chan said 80% of the 30 enterprises were from mainland China. According to SCMP, they include Huawei, eCommerce platform JD and food delivery platform Meituan. US science-led biopharmaceutical business AstraZeneca and biomedical company Sirnaomics were among the foreign companies that signed the agreement on Wednesday. 

Chan added that apart from bringing investment and employment, these enterprises would assist in gathering upstream, midstream and downstream enterprises in Hong Kong and therefore promote the vibrant development of the I&T ecosystem.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to OASES for more information. 

In fact, OASES was announced in Lee’s policy address in October last year. The initiative aims to attract high-potential and representative strategic enterprises from around the globe. It is tasked with drawing up a list of target enterprises, carrying out negotiations, formulating incentives covering land, tax and financing, as well as helping companies secure work visas for staff.

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