04 Feb The Hong Kong Startup Ecosystem Report
During the recently held StartMeUp Hong Kong Festival, the San Francisco-based research agency Compass and the University of Hong Kong presented a new research report; The Hong Kong Startup Ecosystem Report. This report analyzes the startup ecosystem in Hong Kong with its weaknesses and potential.
The research firstly point out the Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking 2015 also composed by Compass which ranks Hong Kong 5th as the fastest growing startup market and 25th as most important startup hub in the world. Compass also developed an Ecosystem Lifecycle Model, where it places Hong Kong in the category of an early growth phase called Activation.
The following aspects to this phase and apply to Hong Kong:
- Seed funding gaps: a low amount of active angel investors and the absence of high potential late-growth startups. However, a capital potential in Hong Kong is the knowledge of institutional investors to invest in startups globally.
- Talent gap: difficulties to find highly qualified technical talent. Top graduates still prefer to work for large corporations and don’t have experience in the startup industry. Also, current immigration policy limits the possibilities of foreign talent and talents from mainland China.
Furthermore, the report addresses the most important priorities for Hong Kong to unlock its potential and growth as a global startup hub:
- Incentivize global and technological know-how among the Hong Kong entrepreneurial community via accelerator programs.
- Attract foreign technical talent in combination with flexible immigration policies.
- Close the seed funding gap by increasing the amount of angel investors and the creation of long term investment funds focused on startups.
- The report mentions a particular industrial strength in Hong Kong of the Internet of Things and Fintech, which can be become a subsector with the help of investment strategies and specific programs.
Another important conclusion drawn from this report is that only the involvement of all (governmental) stakeholders and industry leaders, developing the right positioning strategies can improve the startup ecosystem of Hong Kong and give it a global relevance.
