Hong Kong to set up company this year to fast-track San Tin tech hub as firms eye move

Hong Kong authorities will set up a company this year to accelerate the development of an innovation hub near the border, with firms already expressing interest in moving into the San Tin Technopole, a senior tech official has said.Permanent Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Kevin Choi Kit-ming also told the South China Morning Post that some companies might soon be able to transfer data and biological samples across the border once tailor-made measures were introduced later this year.“We hope to establish the company [for the technopole] by the end of this year, with plans to appoint a chief executive officer and form a board of directors in the second and third quarters,” he said, adding that authorities would wholly own the firm.The chief executive officer, according to Choi, should have a background in innovation and technology (I&T), as well as a basic understanding of property development and commercial operating models.The new company would also be required to report its progress to the Legislative Council regularly, he said.To attract more long-term private investment in the technopole, the company could also set up a subsidiary in which the government might provide land as an asset or hold a stake in the firm, according to preliminary ideas being considered by the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau.