Technology Development: Hong Kong's Historical Contribution and its Role for the Future

Hong Kong established itself with a manufacturing-based economy during 1950s with a rapid industrialization development through 1970s. In 1980s the economic reforms in Mainland China opened up favorable conditions for Hong Kong industrialists to relocate their factories into the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region and successfully transformed Hong Kong from labor intensive industries into capital and technology intensive industries. In recent years, the Chinese Government introduces new policies that strategically lead PRD into a high value-adding technology sector. Hong Kong was ranked by Forbes in 2013 as the first amongst the worlds top four technology capitals right after Silicon Valley and New York, which will have another role to play in this new era of technological development in China. In this paper, we will delve to articulate the way-forward technology focuses and collaborations Hong Kong can develop in becoming a sustainable technology development catalyst.