Hong Kong's Innovation and Technology Role in Mainland China's 12th Five Year Plan
香港的創新與科技發展相對於中國內地"十二五"規劃的互補定位及角色
(Download the full English version of this paper as a pdf file from apicc.asia or from hkdf.org or the full Chinese pdf file from here.)
Executive Summary
Milton Friedman described Hong Kong as a laissez-faire economy and he credited that policy for Hong Kong's prosperity since the end of the Second World War. Yet some local Hong Kong activists mock the "Freest Economy of the World" rating as business-government collusion that ignores a widening wealth gap, a more sustainable economic growth strategy and social justice.
Since 1997, the HKSAR Government has been learning to deal with increasingly demanding and diversified groups of stakeholders in the community. At the same time, Hong Kong is increasing its integration with Mainland China. Hong Kong has distinct advantages including: rule of law, integrity, free press, open information environment and Hong Kong's free and independent thinking capacity. As a Special Administrative Region of China, Hong Kong is treated as a separate custom territory under the "United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992" and can import many U.S. technologies that have embargo on Mainland China. But how do we turn those advantages into economic opportunities? What can Hong Kong do for Mainland China in the context of the 12th Five Year Plan? How do we attract the world to use Hong Kong as gateway for further economic cooperation with China?
Objectives of China's 12th Five Year Plan
The National 12th Five Year Plan (12-5 Plan) was released as a draft document and passed on 18th October 2010 at the 5th Plenary Session of the 17th Party Congress by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Many of the goals stated in the proposal are closely related to Innovation & Technology and Knowledge Economy. Hong Kong is still very new to this planning process and many of the discussions centered on and around Hong Kong's role as a financial centre and other commercial interests. Hong Kong also seems confused on whether the 12th Five-year Plan is directives "from above" and or if it is a national development plan seeking proposals "from below".
The 12-5 Plan stated China's economic ambition to become a truly "moderately wealthy" nation during the period of 2011-2015. To achieve this, China will continue with "Reform and Opening" and rely less on an export-oriented model for growth. More emphasis will be put on domestic consumption and sustainable development. The intention is real improvement in standard of living and real wage increases for the vast majority of the population. To achieve quality growth, planners at the Central Government level fall back on the tradition Confucian values of "knowledge" and "education" - which translates into "Innovation and Technology" (as understood by national leaders) and the "Knowledge-based Economy" (as it is practices in the United States and Europe).
Developing the Knowledge Economy as a reciprocal win-win strategy
Hong Kong, however, is somewhat uncomfortable with becoming part of a planned economy. Hong Kong was essentially built on a foundation of "… good laws, well administered" since it came under British Rule on 29 August 1842 after the Treaty of Nanking. Hong Kong has remained a Special Administrative Region (SAR) under Chinese rule after 1997. A legal and administrative system that is separate from mainland China has remained in place. Hong Kong is a territory of China that has done most of the important things right and a territory mainland China could continue to look at when faced with confusion regarding policy choices. Hong Kong also has all essential "first-level business conditions" which enables Hong Kong to turn into a world-class innovation and technology centre and incubation and commercialization hub to service R&D outputs from Hong Kong, mainland China and from the world.
Hong Kong, however, needs a footing - a positioning and a more active role in the 12-5 Plan. Such a cooperation process of asserting Hong Kong's "Soft Power" to facilitate trade relations between China and the West should be based on Hong Kong's most distinct competitive advantages. It can have many names: "Innovation & Technology", "Commercialization", "Knowledge-based Economy" or offering Hong Kong's "Soft Technology" to mainland China.
The Knowledge Economy idea is not new to Hong Kong. In the early 18th Century, Europeans in Hong Kong used "advanced technology" -- the China Clippers, the fastest sailing ships in the early 18th Century -- to ply trade route between China and Europe. Therefore, some argue that Hong Kong is already a Knowledge-based Economy and nothing more needs to be done. Yet, Hong Kong does not have a meaningful critical mass that would allow it to become a technology hub or to develop commercialization knowhow. University-based researchers keep using government money to invent and develop technologies and end up selling the results cheaply to mainland and international companies.
The lack of solid initiatives and ideas in Hong Kong has prompted some academics to quote John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural speech and remind that Hong Kong should: "… ask not what the country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country". Hong Kong must be proactive - identify and design an appropriate strategy and the supporting implementation policy and measures to make things happen. Hong Kong must also focus on its core strengths - the essential attributes and competitive differences that mainland China and the rest of the world cannot duplicate easily.
Relying solely on the "Four Pillar Industries" and "Six New Industries" need not be the only strategies for Hong Kong. A vertical sector-based industry support strategy is something Hong Kong should try to avoid. A more logical support strategy Hong Kong should adopt is the horizontal support strategy - an approach favored by the OECD and by the European Union as it does not name the "winning sectors" and exclude the "emerging" or "unforeseen" sectors which often become real winners because of market driven forces.
Discovering Hong Kong's market niche
A diplomat who is also a very well-learnt scholar of contemporary Russian and Chinese history said if Gorbachev had a little piece of Hong Kong when he was trying to reform USSR through "Perestroika" and "Glasnost" in the 1980s, it would have been easier for him and he could have done a much better job. Hong Kong should not overlook the historical perspectives -- Hong Kong has made much contribution in the early 80s by providing capital and production skills to the Pearl River Delta. Now that China is rich, Hong Kong's "soft power" has become more valuable than the money Hong Kong businessmen provided in the past. And these are the ingredients China is looking for to achieve the objective of quality growth.
Hong Kong's role in China's 12th Five Year Plan (12-5) must include China's "Self-initiated Innovation" objectives. To find a market niche for itself, Hong Kong also need to understand and face up to its own inadequacies. Moving Hong Kong towards knowledge-based production is not a sharp break from the past -- nor is it a "sector-based" support strategy as misunderstood by some opponents. Coming up with a coordinated economic development policy and providing business facilitation to turn part of Hong Kong economy into a commercialization hub (along the lines of Silicon Valley, Boston and the Research Triangle of North Carolina) is not a big step for Hong Kong to take. Samson Tam, Hong Kong legislator for the IT Sector, suggested publicly that Hong Kong needs an "Innovation and Technology Bureau". He suggested that the proposed Bureau "… will have the responsibility to build up links to initiatives in mainland China and the rest of the world under the "Open Innovation" theme". Hong Kong has been successful as a trading hub of goods, but Samson believes that Hong Kong also has potential to evolve into a trader of knowledge, linking R&D in universities and serving as a technology transfer and commercialization centre that serves mainland China and the world.
Opponents of "Innovation & Technology" and "Knowledge Economy" should take note that the subject is not about supporting narrowly defined "technology" or supporting narrowly defined business sectors. The concept, as it is practiced by the Danish Mindlab and many future centres in Europe, embraces "social innovation", "public sector innovation", very broad perspectives on social and economic development, R&D and job creation and business and economic value creation across all business sectors. NESTA(i) (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) of the UK which is the closest equivalent of the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) in Hong Kong, takes risk on behalf of the UK Government by investing in medium to long-term projects, informing the UK Government on innovation policy and encouraging a culture that helps innovation to flourish. The result is a UK innovation policy that embraces all innovative activities.
It was suggested that HKSAR Government could play the role of a creator of "virtuous ecology" to facilitate economic growth. Indeed, the idea of "Virtuous Ecology" has a Buddhist origin -- an "Indra's Net", often pictured as a light-weight "spider web" with jewels of water droplets attached: "… formless with qualities that depend on the wisdom of the observer." Such a metaphor is particularly relevant to Hong Kong's role in the National 12-5 Plan. Asserting Hong Kong's "Soft Power" and a light-weight facilitation role have no conflict with the market-driven philosophy of Hong Kong or the national development strategy (see point 6.6 for a list of proposed facilitation measures).
The National 12th Five Year Plan is not an order from above. It is not a static thing, but a constantly evolving set of national development objectives Hong Kong could contribute to. Hong Kong needs to take this opportunity to upgrade its own economic infrastructure - or risk becoming irrelevant to the mainland economy and other economies of the world.
Alan Lung
is the Director & General Manager of Asia Pacific Intellectual Capital Centre
(i) NESTA's (National Endowment for Science, Technolgy and the Arts) stated aim is to transform UK's capacity for innovation.
The above does not necessarily represent the views of the Foundation.
Reproduction of this article is permitted with proper attribution to the author.
香港的創新與科技發展相對於中國內地"十二五"規劃的互補定位及角色
執行綱要
米爾頓•弗里德曼把香港經濟模式描述為自由放任經濟，他對二戰後給香港帶來繁榮的經濟政策給予高度評價。然而，部分香港本地的公民社會則諷刺說，所謂的"世界最自由的經濟"已經淪落為政商勾結，無視日益擴大的貧富差距，無視潛在的更加可持續的經濟增長戰略和社會公義的後果。
1997 年以來，香港特區政府已學會如何面對社會上日益要求嚴格和多元化的利益群體。同時，香港也在加快與大陸的經濟合作。香港有其獨特的優勢，包括：法律健全、誠信的聲譽、媒體自由、公開的信息環境和自由獨立的思維模式。香港只是中國的一個特別行政區，但基於《1992 年美國-香港政策法》，對美國來說、香港是獨立關稅區，並能夠進口許多對大陸禁運的美國技術設備。但是如何才能將香港的這些優勢轉化成經濟機遇呢？在"十二五"規劃下，香港能為大陸帶來什麼呢？如何才能利用香港這個"門戶"為中國尋求更進一步的國際經濟合作？
"十二五"規劃的目標
"十二五"規劃以草案的形式發布，並在2010 年10 月18 日中國共產黨第十七屆中央委員會第五次全體會議上通過，其中許多目標都與科技創新和知識經濟密切相關。香港仍然是五年計劃進程中的新面孔，但許多議題都圍繞著香港作為商業中心和其它商業利益的功能展開。在"十二五"規劃到底是"自上而下"的規範指示，還是國家為尋求發展而冀望得到"自下而上"政策建議這個問題上，香港還是顯得有些混亂。
"十二五"規劃闡述了中國致力於在2011 至2015 年期間全面建設小康社會的決心。為了實現這一目標，中國將繼續堅持鄧小平的對外改革開放政策，同時，減少對出口導向型經濟增長模式的依賴，並將更多的重心放在刺激國內消費和促進經濟的可持續發展上，提升大多數人的生活標準和實際工資水平。為達到質的增長，中央政府領導者引入傳統儒家思想中的"知識"與"教育"("科教興國") 並將其轉化成"創新科技"（如國家領導人的理解）和"知識經濟"（如美國和歐洲的實踐經驗）。
把知識經濟發展成為互惠的雙贏戰略
某種意義上說，香港並不願意成為中國計劃經濟的一部分。 1842 年8 月29日《南京條約》簽訂之後，香港由英國政府管治，從根本上說、香港是建立"法律健全、管理完善"基礎上的。1997 年7 月1 日起，中國對香港恢復行使主權，香港成為中國的一個特別行政區，其不同於大陸的法律制度及行政體係被保留了下來。中國對香港恢復行使主權，但香港不單只中國主權下的一地區、而且是在眾多重要決策和事情中、早就有了合理正確決定的地區，同時香港也可以成為中國大陸遇到政策難題時可以參考的對象。香港擁有可以讓其成為世界級創新科技中心、創業基地、商業中心的"第一層商業條件"，並因此可以有系統和條件發展成為服務於香港本地、大陸和世界其他國家輸出的研發成果的中國地區。
但是，香港應明確其在"十二五"規劃中的定位及更加積極的角色。香港的"軟實力"、是有能力促進中國同西方國家間的貿易關係，但要成功的話，這能力必須建立在香港獨一無二的競爭優勢基礎上。發展這香港的獨特優勢時, 可以用很多名稱的, 包括"創新科技"、"科技產業化"、"知識經濟"以及為大陸提供"軟技術"。
"知識經濟"這一觀點對香港來說並不陌生。早在18 世紀初期，香港的歐洲人用"高級技術"— 中國快艇（18世紀初世界上最快的帆船）來往中國和歐洲之間進行貿易。因此，有人說香港已經是"知識經濟"社會，不需要再做其他的了。但是香港並不具備可助其達到成為技術中心的有意義的臨界點或發展科技產業化的專項技術的世界中心。高校的研究人員一直用政府的錢去開發新技術，最後卻將研究成果低價售給大陸或國際上的一些公司。
香港缺乏紮實的政策措施和發展觀念。這一點使一些學者引用肯尼迪的就職演說並說香港人應該"不要問國家能為你做什麼，要問你能為國家做什麼"。香港應更積極主動，尋找並提出正確的戰略與配套實施政策和措施來實現這戰略性目標。香港應將其重心放在核心優勢上——本質特徵和競爭差異，這些就是大陸和世界其他國家或地區無法輕易複製, 獨一無二的香港競爭優勢。
香港可以考慮不單只依靠"四大支柱產業"和"六大支柱產業"來發展。香港應該盡量避免以支持各個別工業的直向型策略為唯一的基礎發展戰略、去支持經濟發展，而考慮採用更合理的橫向型經濟發展和支持策略。一項借鑒經濟與合作發展組織和歐盟的策略，加入支持既不確定"必勝產業"也不排除"新興"或往往由於市場驅動力而成為真正的勝利者"意外成功"產業。
發現香港的市場地位
一位外交官，同時也是俄羅斯和中國當代歷史的資深研究學者說，80 年代戈爾巴喬夫嘗試通過"改革開放"來改變蘇聯未果。如果當時他可以擁有一個小小的香港，那麼他的改革會進行更加順利、並更有可能取得更大的成就。香港也不能忽視自身和相對中國經濟發展的地位和歷史觀點——香港在80 年代初通過向珠三角地區提供資金和生產技能為國家做出了巨大的貢獻。現在，中國經濟騰飛了，那麼香港的"軟實力"也就比過去香港商人提供的資金更有價值了。這些也是中國尋求實現高質量增長目標的重要組成部分。
香港在中國"十二五"規劃中的作用必須包括中國實現"自主創新"的目標。香港需要理解和正視自身的不足才能給自己正確的市場定位。香港朝著知識生產方向發展與過去並無極大不同，也不是反對者錯誤理解的"以行業為基礎"的支持策略。提出經濟協調發展政策，提供支持，使香港的部分經濟發展變成沿著矽谷線、波斯頓和北卡州三角創業園的商業中心，並不是要香港走一很大的步。香港立法會（資訊科技界）議員譚偉豪，公開建議香港需建立"創新科技局"。他說建議中的創新科技局有義務在"開放創新"主題下建立與中國大陸和世界其他國家地區的聯繫。香港已經成功地成為商品貿易中心，但是譚偉豪認為，香港也有潛力逐漸發展成為知識交易中心，連接高校裡的研發和作為服務大陸和世界的技術轉移的產業化中心。
反對"科技創新"和"知識經濟"的人應該注意到，這不是在狹義上支持"技術"或特定行業的戰略。丹麥的智慧實驗室(Danish Mindlab) 和歐洲其他未來中心擁抱社會創新、公共部門創新，有著非常廣闊的社會和經濟發展願景，包括研發和創造就業機會、產業和為所有行業創造的經濟價值。英國的國家科學、技術和藝術捐贈委員會（NESTA）(i) 的設置最接近於香港的創新科技署。它以英國政府的名義，通過投資中長期的項目承擔風險，並結合英國政府的相關創新政策，鼓勵蓬勃發展創新的文化。其結果是：英國技術創新的政策，成功地包含了所有的創新活動和經濟發展。
有人建議香港特區政府扮演促進經濟增長的"良性生態"創造者的角色。實際上，"良性生態"這個觀念有一個佛教源頭，也叫因陀羅網，常常被描繪成由點點水滴寶珠所結成的"蜘蛛網"，品質的高低依賴於觀察者的智慧。這個比喻是特別適用於香港在中國"十二五"規劃中的有可能產生的作用。突顯出香港的"軟實力"和細微的促進角色，這角色並沒有與香港的市場主導觀念和國家發展戰略有所衝突（參見本文6.6 中建議的香港政策措施清單）。
"十二五"規劃對香港來說、不應是"自上而下"的指示。它不是一個靜態的東西，而是一個香港應該可以協助和不斷發展的國家發展目標。香港也需要藉此機會提升自己的經濟基礎設施，否則可能導致與內地經濟和世界其他經濟體脫節。
龍家麟
亞太知識資本中心
2011年3月
(i) 英國的國家科學、技術和藝術捐贈委員會（NESTA）的既定目標是改革英國的創新能力。
上述並不一定代表本會的意見。
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