New think tank launched to bridge talent gap in Hong Kong studies

A group of scholars, professionals and former government officials has formed a new think tank in Hong Kong that aims to fill what it calls a talent gap in the shrinking field of local studies.The newly established Hong Kong Future Economy Institute also pledged to conduct studies on housing planning, population policy and impact assessments of policymaking.Michael Bolin Wong, founding director of the institute and an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) business school, said few scholars at the city’s institutions were interested in studying local topics, leading to a shortage of talent in policy research in the area.“Hong Kong universities are continuing with internationalisation and so are their teachers. But when they increasingly focus on topics with more international attention, fewer people are researching Hong Kong,” he said in a media briefing last week.“Universities may not be able to address such a shortage … so we need a new model to offer the policy research that Hong Kong requires.”Among various policies, Wong highlighted the need for the government to devise more housing policies friendly to young people, whom he said received less support from authorities compared with previous generations.