Hong Kong’s annual business and tech events at the digital forefront

In light of the global pandemic, Hong Kong saw a range of its annual events turning virtual this year with great success, illustrating the importance of digital transformation as well as global networking.

From July 6 to 10, 2020 the virtual StartmeupHK Festival brought together startups, investors, industry leaders, academia and Government for the first time since the start of the corona pandemic. While tackling the COVID-19 crisis was a recurrent theme throughout the festival, it came apparent that problem solving and innovation are the catalyst for startups.

Through its digital platform, startups as well as investors and corporates shared their insights into the latest industry developments concerning smart cities, retail technology, digital lifestyle and global startup trends. The Festival was attended by 181,770 people from 97 countries and regions worldwide. Almost 200 exhibitors and 471 speakers joined the event which summed up to 166 hours of valuable content.

The beginning of November saw another annual signature event in Hong Kong going digital. From November 2-6, 2020 the Hong Kong FinTech Week enabled investors, visionaries and entrepreneurs to attend the event from every corner of the world. A three-day conference program with five livestream channels concentrated every topic and trend that is relevant to the global fintech community. Special attention was paid on how fintech can drive positive change and growth, especially in the post-pandemic world. As part of his opening speech at the “Connected Retail Experiences” conference, Mr Eddie Yue, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, talked about Hong Kong’s fintech strategy which embraces many positive and innovative developments, such as virtual and smart banking.

Participants also took the chance to learn about business opportunities in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area as China’s “Silicon Valley”. Moreover, the Global Fast Track Programme was successfully launched and enabled entrepreneurs to showcase their smart innovations to executives of the largest financial institutions in Hong Kong.

All eyes were on Hong Kong again from November 30 to December 1, 2020, when senior government officials and business leaders from countries and regions along and beyond the Belt and Road exchanged insights on multilateral cooperation and explore business oportunities at the fifth Belt and Road Summit.

The two-day conference program covered a wide range of topics from sustainable and inclusive development, international infrastructural cooperation, innovation and technology, to challenges and opportunities in the post pandemic era. The Summit this year was adopting a full online mode, with all events including the opening ceremony going virtual for the first time ever. All plenary sessions were broadcasted live and in addition, online business matching meetings and virtual exhibitions were held concurrently.

Despite the physical distances, the Summit gathered more than 6,000 distinguished government officials and business leaders from about 80 countries and regions around the globe, and facilitated over 700 one-to-one business matching meetings. At the virtual exhibition more than 30 Hong Kong companies showcased their service strengths or investment opportunities.