Shulou(Shulou.com)06/03 Report--

In a series of recent news stories about Hong Kong, every mention of economic exchanges between Hong Kong and the mainland has led to a consensus that the further economic growth achieved by the mainland in recent years through the Internet, mobile Internet and AI has further widened the distance between the two sides. Even demand for shopping and tourism is beginning to be replaced by Japan.

Whether this statement is objective or not, what can be confirmed is that the upsurge in the development of science and technology industries has indeed created a gap between the economic levels of the mainland and Hong Kong.

Many people say that Hong Kong's 20 years of contribution to the technology industry have been missed.

The reason why it is "missed" is that Hong Kong is not without innovation ability. In the mobile Internet era, Hong Kong launched Talkbox, which is very close to WeChat concept, but now it is completely replaced by Whatsapp; In the closer AI era, Tang Xiaoou originally led the engineering team of Hong Kong Chinese University, but soon Shang Tang chose to take root in Shenzhen. Not only that, Hong Kong Chinese University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and other universities are also exporting a large number of talents to enterprises and academic circles every year. In other words, it is not that Hong Kong does not have the ability to innovate, but rather that it does not have the soil for innovation.

Hong Kong's innovative soil, where has it gone?

The failure of the Silicon Harbor Project cannot be blamed forever.

Many people attribute the slow development of Hong Kong's technology industry to the failure of the "Silicon Port Project" around 2000.

In October 1998, in his second policy address after assuming office, the then Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region proposed that Hong Kong should be revitalized by technology and that Hong Kong should be developed into an international centre of innovation and technology. He proposed to build an electronic technology development zone called Silicon Harbour in Hong Kong.

At that time, East Asia was becoming the mainstream to undertake the demand for chips and semiconductors transferred from European and American countries. taiwan's famous "hsinchu science and technology park" was built around the same time. At that time, statistics showed that the project was expected to create 195,000 new job opportunities and a GDP of HK$30 billion by 2008.

However, this project has been delayed, on the one hand, because the government has a very low voice on the land grant, on the other hand, it also includes restrictions on the export of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to Hong Kong by the United States at that time. Without land and production equipment, it would naturally be impossible to build any science and technology parks. In addition, the bursting of the first Internet bubble in 2000 made Hong Kong, which had more financial functions, feel the relevant fluctuations more obviously and left a deeper shadow.

However, these reasons are obviously not enough to explain the later problems. In the upsurge of mobile Internet rise, many enterprises are latecomers who started to develop from around 2010, such as Uber overseas and Didi at home. In fact, compared with the mainland, Hong Kong has better preconditions in the mobile Internet era.

Compared with the mainland, Hong Kong achieved 4G network coverage earlier. In 2010, many public places in Hong Kong already have free WiFi, and individual homes have long realized gigabit fiber into the home. Including the price and sinking efficiency of smartphones, they are all one step ahead of the mainland. Other services, such as financial services and the entry of overseas technology enterprises, are also more perfect than those in the mainland.

In such an excellent environment, Hong Kong can still miss the mobile Internet. The reason is worth saying.

Curse of the developed world? How to explain Hong Kong's failure on the mobile internet

First of all, we all know that Hong Kong is a city with developed economy but high cost of survival. Remember this point, many problems have root causes.

First, Hong Kong mobile Internet has a strong outsourcing atmosphere. The so-called outsourcing ethos is not about outsourcing App development to other countries, but a large number of so-called technology companies that contract App development to survive. A large part of this comes from orders from government departments and entity enterprises. These Party A regards App as an accessory to the operation, so it doesn't take much effort on creativity. Over time, under the warm boiled frog effect of stable income, technology enterprises have gradually lost their innovative ability and aggressive risk-taking spirit, but are more like service-oriented enterprises, resulting in many apps produced in Hong Kong looking very similar.

GreenTamato, which hatched TalkBox, is an outsourcing App company. Some people say that TalkBox's subsequent decline is also due to insufficient support from GreenTamato.

Secondly, labour in Hong Kong is expensive. We know that a large number of enterprises in the mobile Internet rely on access to supply and demand information + cheap labor to promote development, while Hong Kong, with perfect urbanization, obviously does not have this advantage. This has led to a lot of good patterns flowing out to the next door_for example, the O2O platform we often see today, formerly EasyVan from Hong Kong. Obviously, the mainland's economic environment has given this enterprise better room for growth.

Moreover, under the combined effect of expensive living cost and stable technology industry, Hong Kong IT practitioners 'income is not dominant, far less than that of the financial industry. IT is nicknamed "decadent science" by people. In the end, many talents will be lost overseas, mainland China and even Taiwan.

Third, the conservative tendency of capital. Although Hong Kong's financial industry is developed, it is also "dark under the lights" for local enterprises due to the global trend of finance. The combination of the above two conditions has led to the difficult development of Hong Kong technology enterprises, and it is normal for capital to be reluctant to pay attention to it.

On the other hand, Hong Kong's domestic financial stability is similar to that of industries with stable income, such as port transportation and real estate. Trade and logistics, financial services, professional and business support services and tourism, together with real estate, are also not adventurous. Together, these four traditional industries account for 60% of Hong Kong's GDP. Capital and entrepreneurs don't want to take risks, and the technology industry will naturally have its current cold scene.

Some people interpret this situation as "the curse of developed areas"_after the social economy and social strata tend to stabilize, they also lose vitality, and it is difficult to accept and breed new peaks. In fact, besides this reason, Hong Kong's own land, population, influx of foreign technology enterprises and other factors also constitute various unfavorable conditions, finally forming the lonely scene of Hong Kong's technology industry today.

Technology Industry Development: The Future of AI in Hong Kong

If we follow the development route of the technology industry, from the Internet to the mobile Internet to AI, we can almost certainly think that Hong Kong has no hope in AI development.

Admittedly, the direct cause of the lack of Internet and mobile Internet is the lack of data and the shortage of cloud computing resources. At the same time, a large amount of data is held at the government port. Paul Yip, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, said that if you want to call data now, you still need to write a "paper application."

But we can't draw conclusions from that.

After 20 years of backwardness in the science and technology industry, Hong Kong is obviously more alert in this AI boom. Not only has the media paid more attention, but the actions of the government port have also begun to accelerate, such as the introduction of "innovation budget funds" and the state funding for Hong Kong's science and technology innovation center.

Another important point is that, unlike the mobile Internet, the emergence of AI technology will actually change the lives of Hong Kong people. For Hong Kong, where life is highly convenient, O2O and the sharing economy can bring little leverage. However, for industries such as finance and port logistics, the changes brought about by AI are huge. In other words, if Hong Kong does not accept AI, it may be replaced by AI.

So on AI, what opportunities exist in Hong Kong, which starts late, has little data and closed capital flows? In the AI era, has Hong Kong's innovative soil emerged?

At present, several strategies for AI in Hong Kong can be found.

For example, it can give full play to its academic advantages and attract support from the mainland. In fact, even if Hong Kong has not achieved much in the science and technology industry, it is not bad in scientific research and innovation ability. At the APICTA conference with Oscars in the IT industry, Hong Kong can win good awards almost every year. Just like last year, SmarKie's smart vending machines in Hong Kong, Fano Labs 'multilingual AI customer service system and smart RFID embedded airport baggage loading robots all won awards.

For Hong Kong, the "Israeli model" of technology sales may be a good choice.

On the other hand, with the implementation of the concept of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong's integration in the industrial chain and the acceptance of Chinese-funded enterprises will undoubtedly enhance the entrepreneurial conditions of local AI entrepreneurs. For example, Ali and Shang Tang jointly set up Hong Kong Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in Hong Kong, mainland enterprises opened application scenarios, and Hong Kong researchers obtained relevant support in data and computing power.

In addition, just as Google "retreated" to Hong Kong with the intention of entering the Asia-Pacific market, some small European and American enterprises have begun to take advantage of the social atmosphere, convenient global financial services and geographical advantages related to the integration of China and the West to regard Hong Kong as a springboard for entering the mainland market. For example, Aitrak, a British brand retail service company, although still in its infancy, has set up a branch in Hong Kong, hoping to enter the mainland of China, where capital is more active and data resources are richer.

In this way, no matter which strategy, the future of AI in Hong Kong is almost closely linked to the mainland. The cooperation and growth of both sides has become a foregone conclusion. It is absolutely irrational to resist and destroy this trend.

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