Hong Kong Innovation, Technology and Industry Council: Hetao Park gathers global wisdom and connects regional resources to help transform the innovation and technology industry

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on September 8, at the 2026 “Leveraging Hetao's Strategic Value: From Industrial Chain to Talent Flow” keynote speech at the Sing Tao Real Estate Development Trend Forum, Choi Kit-ming, Permanent Secretary General of the Hong Kong Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau said that the northern metropolitan area is the new engine of Hong Kong's future economic growth, and the Hetao Hong Kong Park is the core ignitor of this engine. The strategic value of Hetao is not only an industrial chain, but also a talent ecosystem that gathers global wisdom and connects resources in the Bay Area to build the real driving force for Hong Kong's economic growth.

Choi Kai-ming pointed out that since the opening of the Hetao Hong Kong Park in December 2025, more than 100 technology companies and institutions have signed contracts. Currently, the companies that have settled in include leading domestic companies, international pharmaceutical companies, and start-ups covering mainland, Hong Kong and overseas companies. Currently, there are about 2,000 researchers working in the park.

Furthermore, in order to accelerate the development of the park, Hong Kong also launched two rounds of tenders in June and July of this year, respectively, to launch eight plots of land to be developed by private forces. It is hoped to make good use of the private market, especially the development experience of leading technology companies, and accelerate the construction of Hetao's international innovation and technology ecosystem.

The strategic value of the Hetao Hong Kong Park is to link the development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong into a complete industrial chain with the participation of various majors, with research institutes and universities carrying out research projects in the past to independently support the process of R&D, pilot testing, and commercialization. This industrial chain can be divided into three levels, extending from the Hetao Hong Kong Park to Xintian Science and Technology City to the Shenzhen Park across the Shenzhen River.

At the first level, the Hetao Hong Kong Park is positioned to focus on upstream and midstream R&D and pilot transformation. The second floor is Xintian Science and Technology City, which is positioned to undertake downstream mass production and industrialization. The last floor is an advanced manufacturing base for the entire Greater Bay Area. Through the Hetao Hong Kong Park, Hong Kong's R&D achievements can be connected with the manufacturing capacity of Shenzhen and other cities in the Greater Bay Area to form a complete closed loop of “Hong Kong R&D, Bay Area manufacturing, and global sales”.

In terms of institutional innovation, Hetao has the geographical characteristics of “one river, two banks, one district, two parks”. The two parks each operate according to the legal, economic and commercial systems of their respective regions, and complement each other's strengths. This “one zone, two parks” pattern is unique in the world. After opening up the “four streams” of people, logistics, capital flow, and data flow, the potential of Hetao will be fully unleashed.

The Government has announced that it will inject an additional HK$10 billion into the park company. It has also proposed specific measures to the relevant central ministries and departments to facilitate the cross-border capital flow of enterprises settled in the Hetao Hong Kong Park. Furthermore, the Hong Kong Government has been closely consulting with the Shenzhen Municipal Government and national ministries and departments, including launching a pilot project on data flow to test the actual operation of measures such as the filing system and exemption from evaluation. It provides an important reference for the full implementation of future data and biological samples crossing the river, and allows innovative elements to flow unhindered in the Hetao region.

In terms of attracting talent, Hetao has already taken the first step. The first batch of talent apartments in the park has already joined the project. The HKSAR Government will continue to improve existing plans to attract talents, and at the same time combine it with the “Study in Hong Kong” brand to attract top researchers and graduate students from around the world to study and work in Hong Kong.

The development of Beidu University City covers the three urban areas of Hung Shui Kiu, Xintian and Daguling. Among them, the urban area of Xintian University is adjacent to Hetao Hong Kong Park and Science City, and is positioned as an innovation platform for advanced industries such as life and health technology and artificial intelligence. The Hetao Hong Kong Park will become the vanguard of the Beidu University City. Relying on it, it will actively introduce top local and domestic universities to settle in, making university laboratories close to corporate R&D.

From strategic location, to industrial chain thinking, to institutional innovation, to the talent ecosystem, from Hetao to the entire Beidu region, it radiates to the entire Greater Bay Area, forming a talent network that gathers global wisdom and connects regional resources. Coupled with the policies and measures just mentioned and the hardware to accelerate development, the Hetao Hong Kong Park will surely become an important strategic base to help the country's goal of becoming a science and technology powerhouse.