During the pandemic, companies accelerated digital transformation, and innovation and technology quickly became a top priority. Talent in related industries became highly sought after. As the global I&T sector competes for talent, the Hong Kong government has made strong efforts to expand the local talent pool. In the 2022 Policy Address, the government introduced measures to attract and retain talent, while emphasizing collaboration between government, industry, academia and research institutions to nurture local innovation talent.
Starting With Education to Drive I&T Talent Development
The first step in developing innovation and technology is releasing creative thinking. In the 2022 Policy Address, the government emphasized expanding the local and overseas I&T talent pool through additional resources and new policies.
Measures include requiring all publicly funded primary and secondary schools to appoint coordinators for STEAM education planning, arranging professional STEAM training for teachers, organizing or participating in quality STEAM activities, strengthening coding education in upper primary levels and adding I&T elements such as artificial intelligence to junior secondary curricula.
The government also established the HKD 10 billion Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme, providing matching funding to at least 100 university research teams with startup potential so they can commercialize research outcomes within two years.
Other measures include providing local I&T internship opportunities for students from designated local university branches in the Greater Bay Area and overseas STEM programmes, increasing recurrent education expenditure by more than HKD 13 billion, investing more than HKD 130 billion in innovation and technology, continuing the Global STEM Professorship Scheme, attracting I&T scholars and teams to Hong Kong, working with the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises to provide targeted support, optimizing the Technology Talent Admission Scheme, increasing subsidies under the Research Talent Hub by around 10%, providing living allowances for PhD research talent, and adding more accommodation support near Science Park and the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park.
Building Smart City Foundations Through Talent
The Hong Kong government released the Smart City Blueprint 2.0 in December 2020, aiming to embrace innovation and technology and build Hong Kong into an internationally recognized, vibrant and convenient smart city.
To achieve this vision, “smart citizens” play an important role. Governments worldwide are strengthening I&T talent development, especially in biotechnology, data science, artificial intelligence, robotics and cybersecurity, to ensure enough technology professionals support future development.
Singapore offers a useful reference. Since 2013, its Ministry of Education has gradually implemented a STEM Applied Learning Programme. Schools are required to develop practical learning projects, and retired professors, engineers and experienced R&D professionals are invited to work with teachers who lack STEM knowledge to design and teach courses, expanding curriculum depth and breadth.
However, cultivating I&T talent cannot rely on government efforts alone. It requires society-wide cooperation to support smart city development. As a local technology startup, technine understands that quality talent is essential to I&T development and social progress. To inspire young people’s interest in technology, technine actively connects with industry organizations and provides workplace internship opportunities for secondary and tertiary students, helping them understand the working environment and culture of the I&T sector.
As global competition for talent intensifies, Hong Kong must guide the younger generation into emerging industries at the right time. technine will continue supporting the cross-sector talent development plan involving government, industry, academia and research, creating more opportunities for the next generation to enter new industries, strengthen the local I&T ecosystem and help Hong Kong better integrate into national development.
Translation supported by AI.