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Executive Summary

Since the promulgation of the Outline Development Plan for the enjoys a competitive edge in basic research and boasts the
Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in February world’s second-largest biotech financing centre in the Hong Kong
2019, much attention has been drawn to collaboration on Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, Shenzhen has been leveraging on
innovation and technology (I&T) between Hong Kong and substantial government support to develop mature I&T
Shenzhen, the two major cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong- enterprises and supply chains. That is why in the past, the
Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) overlooking the same narrow Hong Kong-Shenzhen (HK-SZ) mode of collaboration was often
riverbed. Indeed, the synergy between the two cities has been seen as “basic research in Hong Kong, large-scale production in
impressive in terms of co-development. According to the Global Shenzhen, and finally financing in Hong Kong through public
Innovation Index 2019 published by the World Intellectual Property listing.” Yet, such a way of division along research and
Organization, Shenzhen-Hong Kong ranked second globally as a commercialisation lines is oversimplistic: it fails to account for the
science and technology cluster, ahead of innovation hubs such as differences between high-tech and conventional manufacturing
Beijing (4), San Jose-San Francisco, CA (5), Boston-Cambridge, and capture the different advantages the two cities enjoy in
MA (7), New York City, NY (8), and Shanghai (11). This various niches of biotechnology. In order to unleash
demonstrates the enormous potential the two cities can unleash in complementary advantages and realise win-win cooperation,
I&T collaboration, which tops not just national but also international Hong Kong and Shenzhen should develop a comprehensive,
standards. multifactored and refined division of labour along different niches.

As an industry showing promising potential all over the world, Whilst the nation is attaching increasing importance to biotech
biotechnology serves as an excellent point of departure for development amid a continuous stream of new innovations, the
bolstering I&T collaboration between HK and SZ. Both cities can two cities have notably failed to leverage on their synergy to
draw on their respective strengths, and call on their respective pursue co-development. The main challenges for this are: a lack of
governments for support to facilitate development. Hong Kong long-term planning and action plan to coordinate development

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