On November 22, 2021, the Hong Kong Unicorn list unicorns hk2021 planned by Chuangke Hong Kong foundation was officially released. Among them, 18 Hong Kong gene related enterprises were selected, which set the highest record in the history of Hong Kong’s science and technology industry. The so-called Hong Kong gene refers to the establishment / early incubation / headquarters of the enterprise in Hong Kong, or the founder and co-founder are Hong Kong residents. As of August 31, 2021, these enterprises have obtained private investment and have not yet been listed, with a valuation of US $1 billion or more, so they meet the international evaluation criteria for unicorns. Hong Kong has always been known as an international financial center second only to New York and London, but the development of innovation and technology industry lags behind. Before 2017, the number of science and technology Unicorn enterprises was small. However, after several years of transformation and development, Hong Kong’s innovation and technology industry has made remarkable achievements. Among the selected enterprises, unicorns in the field of high-end manufacturing and artificial intelligence are the most, with four each, including well-known enterprises in Dajiang and Gugao, two related enterprises in the fields of financial technology, medical health and logistics, semiconductors, enterprise services One enterprise for cultural consumption and one enterprise for new energy track were shortlisted. The main concerns are as follows.
First, Dawan district helps Hong Kong Youth innovate and start businesses. Since the promulgation of the outline of the development plan of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Dawan District, all parts of Dawan district have accelerated the formulation of policy systems for supporting Hong Kong and Macao youth entrepreneurship, and supported Hong Kong and Macao youth to integrate into the country and participate in national construction. In May 2019, the Guangdong provincial government issued the implementation plan on strengthening the construction of Hong Kong and Macao Youth Innovation and entrepreneurship base, which clearly proposed to build the carrier layout of “1 + 12 + n” incubation platform, form a Hong Kong and Macao Youth Innovation and entrepreneurship support system with perfect functions, obvious characteristics and outstanding achievements, and build a Hong Kong and Macao Youth Innovation and entrepreneurship vitality area, integrated development demonstration area and experimental field for living and working in peace and contentment, Attract more young people from Hong Kong and Macao to live and work in mainland cities, and make the base the “first window” for young people from Hong Kong and Macao to enhance their identity. Guangzhou has built 44 Hong Kong and Macao Youth Innovation and entrepreneurship bases. Among the eight municipal Hong Kong and Macao Youth Innovation and entrepreneurship demonstration bases selected, the Guangzhou municipal government gives each base an annual operation subsidy of 1 million yuan, and a total subsidy of 13 million yuan has been allocated. Since 2019, Guangzhou Municipal Finance has allocated 100 million yuan a year for three consecutive years to support the development of Hong Kong and Macao Youth in Guangzhou. At the same time, it has established a special financing guarantee amount of no less than 1 billion yuan and a total scale of 1 billion yuan of Hong Kong and Macao Youth innovation and entrepreneurship fund, Assist Hong Kong and Macao Youth innovation projects to obtain 60 million yuan of low interest policy loan support and 50 million yuan of special guarantee fund granted by mainland banks. The bases in Guangzhou have attracted 348 entrepreneurial projects, more than 600 teams and more than 3000 young people from Hong Kong and Macao to settle down, resulting in 1401 patents and 1.013 billion yuan of venture capital. In March 2020, Shenzhen also issued several measures on further facilitating the development of Hong Kong and Macao residents in Shenzhen, proposing 18 measures from four aspects: facilitating Hong Kong and Macao residents’ learning, employment, entrepreneurship and life in Shenzhen. Qianhai is also committed to building a “dream factory” for young entrepreneurs in Hong Kong, providing various special support funds for internships, employment, innovation and entrepreneurship and life security for young people from Hong Kong and Macao in Qianhai. Seven batches of special support funds for young people from Hong Kong and Macao have been issued, totaling more than 90 million yuan, benefiting about 289 units (Times) and 855 people in the region. By the end of October 2021, Qianhai Shenzhen Hong Kong youth dream workshop had filed a total of 549 incubation entrepreneurial teams, with a total financing of more than 2.8 billion yuan.
Second, the integration of science and technology, education and capital has helped the vigorous development of Hong Kong’s science and technology industry. From the enterprises selected in the list, the industrial profile of “Chuangke Hong Kong” is becoming more and more obvious. With strong scientific research strength and leading advantages in cutting-edge fields, Hong Kong universities have trained a large number of well-trained, innovative and entrepreneurial talents for the industry. Six Unicorn enterprises in the list are “from” the Hong Kong University of science and technology. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the City University of Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong all have relevant enterprises occupying certain seats. For example, the origin of Shangtang technology is the Chinese University of Hong Kong. On October 18, 2021, China Resources venture announced that it had officially signed a cooperation agreement with Chengda Enterprise Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of City University of Hong Kong, to establish a science and innovation investment platform, with a total of HK $100 million in the first phase. The two sides invested 50% each to establish a joint venture in Hong Kong, focusing on investing in innovative technologies and start-ups in the fields of life science and health, biomedicine and engineering, material science and engineering, etc, Help the invested enterprises become the “unicorn” of science and innovation in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Dawan district. Neighboring Shenzhen is also the global capital of science and technology, with more than 30000 science and technology enterprises. There are more than 7000 enterprises invested by investment institutions alone, which not only provides a good incubation scene for Hong Kong scientific research institutions, but also provides rich investment opportunities for Hong Kong’s capital market. Up to now, there are four major categories of venture capital institutions active in Hongkong. One is Hongkong local venture capital fund, such as Hong Kong X seed technology fund, which has invested nearly 50 companies and captured two EcoFlow unicorns. Second, high net worth individuals and family offices. Such institutions in Hong Kong are among the best in Asia in terms of number and activity. Third, the branches established by international VC / PE Institutions in Hong Kong, such as tiger global management, Anzi ventures, DST global and other international investment institutions. Fourth, China’s land dollar fund has developed most rapidly. These institutions not only have abundant funds, but also have a more professional understanding of Hong Kong enterprises and industries than overseas funds due to their geographical proximity. From the list, we can see that Hong Kong’s science and technology industry is experiencing leapfrog development from scratch. From 2014 to 2020, the number of local start-ups in Hong Kong increased from about 1100 to more than 3300, an increase of more than 200%. Among them, the number of start-ups from Hong Kong Cyberport to Dawan district increased from more than 30 last year to more than 70 this year.
Third, the transformation of Hong Kong Chuangke helps Dawan District shape a higher economic status. In order to promote the development of innovation and science, the Hong Kong government has spared no effort to actively launch various measures to increase the attraction of talents at home and abroad, and implement the “talent program” and “science and technology talent entry program”, so as to provide convenient arrangements for non local scientific research talents. Under the guidance of the national 14th five year plan, Hong Kong has a historic opportunity to accelerate the transformation of the capital of innovation and science. First, after the establishment of the North stock exchange, Hong Kong people have also benefited from their participation in innovation and technology industries. On November 24, 2021, Shenzhen Qianhai equity trading center opened its “specialized and special innovation cultivation board”, and a series of supporting and service preferential policies also benefited Hong Kong entrepreneurs. Second, Hetao Shenzhen Hong Kong scientific and technological innovation cooperation zone has become a national strategy. It is the only characteristic platform with the theme of scientific and technological innovation in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Dawan District, and it is also a major platform for Shenzhen to build a leading demonstration zone of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Third, on October 6, 2021, the Hong Kong SAR government announced the development strategy for the northern metropolitan area, which will establish a “northern metropolitan area” in Yuen Long District and Northern District near Shenzhen. 300 square kilometers of land development resources will help Hong Kong’s innovation and technology fully integrate into the overall situation of national development. In recent years, Hong Kong has broken through its geographical limitations and constantly expanded its business to the whole country and the world by taking advantage of the development of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. With the most complete manufacturing supply chain in the world, Dawan district is a “must pass” for many start-ups to become big from small to strong. Today’s innovation industry chain is like a relay race. With strong basic scientific research, Hong Kong will become the source of technological innovation and model innovation in the Bay district. However, compared with Hong Kong, which has a population of 7.5 million, the broad and high growth user market brought by the 86 million population of the whole Dawan district can not be ignored. Dawan district is an excellent entrance for Hong Kong’s scientific and technological innovation “unicorn” to embrace the Chinese market. If Hong Kong wants to realize the transformation of basic research results, it also needs to give full play to the overall linkage advantages of the Bay District, including excellent talent pool, world-class universities Convenient transportation conditions and prominent location advantages not only promote the accelerated development of Hong Kong’s innovation and technology industry, but also make Dawan District play a more important role in China’s and global economic growth.
