Pro-Chancellor’s Seminar Series: Unlocking the GBA’s innovation potential
As highlighted in the “Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for the National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China” (15th Five-Year Plan), the nation seeks to consolidate and strengthen the role of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) as a key driver of economic growth. At the 6th seminar of the Pro-Chancellor’s Seminar Series, organised by City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), Professor Stephanie Gao from the College of Business emphasised that the GBA’s role as a global innovation cluster and a new model of economic growth for China.
In her seminar, titled “The GBA as a Crucible for the 15th Five-Year Plan: Pioneering Innovation and Regional Integration”, Professor Gao examined the region’s pivotal role in advancing technological innovation and cross-border integration. She noted that the unique strengths of the GBA lie in the complementary roles of its cities, with its competitive edge stemming from its integrated innovation capabilities, industrial collaboration and geographic proximity.
Professor Gao pointed out that while innovation traditionally follows a linear path from research to commercialisation, the GBA has fostered a feedback-based innovation network in which market demand generates research questions, manufacturing data improves algorithms, AI accelerates iteration, and industry and academia continually interact. This interconnected ecosystem enables faster innovation and more efficient technology translation.
She cited HK Tech 300, CityUHK’s large-scale flagship innovation and entrepreneurship programme, as an example of how universities can facilitate the transformation of research into commercial impact.
By providing funding, mentorship and industry connections to support research outcomes, patents and prototypes, HK Tech 300 has successfully incubated over 1,000 start-ups. Professor Gao noted that with Hong Kong serving as a base for research, fundraising and international connectivity, these start-ups can leverage the wider GBA’s engineering capabilities, manufacturing resources and supply-chain network to scale their businesses.
As Director of Executive Education Programmes and Co-Director of the EMBA (Chinese) Programme, Professor Gao said she has observed a growing number of entrepreneurs from robotics and AI-related industries among her students. She noted that AI agents are lowering barriers to entrepreneurship by providing start-up founders with on-demand support in areas such as business strategy, fundraising, talent management, compliance and market expansion, allowing them to commercialise their ideas more efficiently and scale their ventures more rapidly.
Professor Gao suggested that the GBA could further strengthen its development through a “triple helix” framework that brings together universities, industry and government. By building platforms and mechanisms that facilitate collaboration across research, capital, manufacturing and application scenarios, the GBA can reduce institutional barriers and reinforce its position as a highly integrated innovation ecosystem.
Professor Gao also noted that Hong Kong is evolving from a super-connector to a super value-adder. With its world-class capabilities in higher education, research and finance, Hong Kong connects capital and empowers industries through computing power and basic research, reinforcing a research-led, finance-enabled, computing-supported, manufacturing-based and regionally coordinated model in the GBA.
Leveraging on the extensive network and expertise of Professor Chung Shui-ming, Pro-Chancellor of the University, the Pro-Chancellor’s Seminar Series feature distinguished academics and professionals who share insights into cutting-edge developments in diverse fields.