Hong Kong sets 5-year plan to double innovation spending, boost new industries

Hong Kong’s leader has unveiled the city’s first five-year blueprint, aligned with China’s national development strategy, setting targets to nearly double innovation spending and raise the share of manufacturing and new industries to 5.5 per cent of the economy.

In a historically significant new approach, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu prefaced his annual policy address on Wednesday with a comprehensive set of binding and anticipatory or aspirational longer-term targets for Hong Kong up to the year 2030.

The two documents would go hand in hand, Lee said, promising to take the city’s economic development to the next level by creating a new innovation engine in the Northern Metropolis megaproject, while building on Hong Kong’s strengths in finance, aviation, maritime services, trade and technology.

He also focused on improving living standards and social well-being, announcing initiatives ranging from higher baby bonuses to encourage childbirth and increased healthcare spending to more subsidised housing and shorter waiting times for public flats.