By Dr. Kevin Lau
Rankings come and go, but some merit more than a passing headline. The white paper "Inside Asia's Fast-Track to Global Tech Scale," jointly released on 31 August 2026 by the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) and CB Insights, is one of them. Hong Kong's innovation and technology ecosystem scored 370 on CB Insights' proprietary Mosaic index, ranking first in Asia and fifth globally, ahead of Taipei, Singapore and India. The index, which assesses business momentum, financing capacity, market potential and leadership strength, is widely used to identify high-potential ventures and future unicorns. This is not a promotional claim by a local body grading itself; it is a data-driven assessment by a respected technology market intelligence firm. It should be read carefully—not as a trophy, but as a mandate.
The deeper significance of the study lies in its diagnosis of how Asia innovates. Silicon Valley grew as a single, all-in-one hub. Asia, by contrast, is evolving into a distributed network of specialist clusters, each optimised for a different stage of the innovation journey. The Chinese mainland dominates frontier technology and manufacturing scale. In 2025, robotics attracted US$26.1 billion and AI infrastructure US$21.4 billion, outpacing generative AI and fintech. China also accounted for close to 100 per cent of deals in emerging segments such as humanoid robot foundation models and autonomous driving models. Singapore tests new business models with real customers; India leads commercialisation across fragmented markets; Japan accounts for half of the region's acquisitions. Within this division of labour, Hong Kong's role is precise and irreplaceable: it is the primary financial bridge connecting mainland and Asian innovation to global capital, international governance and cross-border buyers. As CB Insights puts it, "as Asian companies target global markets from day one, Hong Kong functions as an essential gateway rather than an optional exit route."
The capital data bear this out. Foreign investors participated in 81 per cent of Hong Kong's equity deals and channelled 84 per cent of their regional capital through the city, while 55 per cent of unique equity investors in Hong Kong originated from outside Asia. In an era of geopolitical fragmentation, these figures show that Hong Kong's rule of law, free flow of capital and trusted regulatory framework remain the connective tissue between Asia's technology engine and the world's capital markets. The region's rise makes this role increasingly consequential: Asia's share of global R&D expenditure surged from 24 per cent in 2007 to 45 per cent in 2024, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization, and Asia's GDP reached 48.6 per cent of the global total in 2025, according to the Boao Forum for Asia. The gravitational centre of innovation is shifting eastward, and Hong Kong sits at its gateway.
Yet a gateway must have substance behind it, and this is where policy has quietly done its work. The SAR government has spent recent years building an innovation value chain that runs from the laboratory to the market. Launched in October 2023, the HK$10 billion Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme (RAISe+) provides matching funding to at least 100 university research teams with strong start-up potential, offering HK$10 million to HK$100 million per approved project. Three batches have already been awarded, with the third alone committing more than HK$1 billion. The 2024 Policy Address added the HK$180 million Pilot I&T Accelerator Scheme, designed to attract professional start-up service providers to establish accelerator bases in Hong Kong. It also introduced a HK$10 billion I&T Industry-Oriented Fund, structured as a fund of funds, to channel market capital into strategic industries. Meanwhile, HKSTP itself has matured into an ecosystem orchestrator, with more than 2,600 technology companies from 26 countries and regions, 14 unicorns nurtured, and more than 17,000 research professionals across its parks. Its Shenzhen branch further anchors cross-border collaboration in the Greater Bay Area. The Mosaic ranking is, in effect, the market's confirmation that this relay—research, financing, commercialisation—is functioning.
Praise, however, is no substitute for vigilance. Rankings measure potential, not permanence. Hong Kong's score reflects a concentrated pool of scale-ready ventures; concentration is strength, but breadth is resilience. To convert today's lead into tomorrow's durable advantage, three priorities deserve sustained attention. First, the midstream remains the bottleneck. Hong Kong must keep expanding mechanisms such as RAISe+ so that more of its world-class university research crosses the valley of death into investable companies, rather than migrating to other jurisdictions at the point of commercialisation. Second, talent must flow as freely as capital. The research professionals powering the city's parks must be replenished through deliberate attraction and retention policies, particularly in physical AI, life and health technology, and microelectronics, where regional growth is fastest. Third, the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone must move from construction to operation with urgency. It is there that Hong Kong's gateway function and the mainland's manufacturing engine can be fused into a seamless corridor.
I have long argued that Hong Kong must recognize and play to its distinctive strengths. The CB Insights study now offers external, empirical affirmation of what those strengths are: Hong Kong is the region's translator of innovation into the language of global capital, and its internationalisation hub for technologies born across Asia. The study's most important message is not that Hong Kong has arrived, but that Asia's innovation system is being rewired—and Hong Kong is wired into its centre. The task before policymakers, universities and industry alike is to keep the relay baton moving: turn research into industry, turn advantage into capability, and turn today's lead into a position that no competitor can easily replicate. That would be the most fitting answer to a well-earned ranking.
The author is the Founding Convenor of the Hong Kong Global Youth Professional Advocacy Action, a specialist in radiology, Master of Public Administration, Master of Public Health of the University of Hong Kong, and an adviser of the Our Hong Kong Foundation.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Kevin Lau:
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