Hong Kong’s startup ecosystem to unlock potentials for German businesses

From fintech to food – Hong Kong is the place to be for tomorrow’s startups from all over the world: arond 30 per cent of all startups in Hong Kong in 2021 are foreign, among which 60 per cent are from Europe. On October 7, Mr Edward Yau, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the HKSAR Government, discussed Hong Kong’s unique business opportunities for German and other European startups at a webinar. The online event, titled “Startup Ecosystem in Hong Kong: Unlocking the Potentials”, was organised by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Berlin (HKETO Berlin) as a satellite event of the AsiaBerlin Summit 2021. Mr Bjoern Lindner, President of the German Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong, shared his personal insights into Hong Kong as a prominent launch pad for doing business in Asia Pacific. The webinar was also supported by Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.

Secretary Yau highlighted the wide rage of support programmes provided by the HKSAR Government for startups to unlock their potentials, taking advantage of Hong Kong’s open and competitive economy, its unrivalled connectivity with the Greater Bay Area and as a gateway to Mainland China. Mr Yau supported his comments with numerous rankings from major international institutes such as Canada’s Fraser Institute, which has named Hong Kong the freest economy worldwide year after year since 1996; the World Bank Group’s Doing Business 2020 Report, which ranked Hong Kong third globally in the category “Ease of Doing Business”; the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s “World Investment Report 2021”, which placed Hong Kong as the third largest recipient of foreign direct investment in 2020. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, Mr Yau pointed out that the startup ecosystem in Hong Kong has shown strong resilience and high adaptability to changes. Hong Kong has been a perfect testing ground and launch pad for startups, with everything a startup needs: funding, markets, infrastructure, talent, a simple tax regime and a business-friendly environment.

Mr Lindner underlined the Secretary’s remarks with numerous illustrative examples from his first-hand knowledge on both the German and Hong Kong businesses and startup communities. He also invited German startups interested in coming to Hong Kong to get in touch. For more local information on Hong Kong’s vibrant startup ecosystem, please visit the online platform StartmeupHK, an initiative by InvestHK that aims to help founders of innovative and scalable startups from overseas to start or expand in Hong Kong.