I&T opportunities abound in ASEAN

July 22, 2024

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Legislative Councillor for the Technology & Innovation Functional Constituency Duncan Chiu, will join Chief Executive John Lee’s delegation on a visit to three member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN - Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Mr Chiu said he will look at ways of addressing Hong Kong’s manpower shortage in the innovation and technology sector.

Legislative Council Member (Technology & Innovation) Duncan Chiu:
 (Out of) Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, I would say maybe we have actually quite a bit of connection with Vietnam in the tech sector. Previously, I think some companies, I know they have already outsourced some development work to Vietnam. The English standard of a lot of the younger generation in Vietnam has improved a lot, so that solves the previous big communication problem.

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He also pointed out that the local development potential is enormous. Whether it is Hong Kong startups seeking investment opportunities, companies developing and applying technology or high-tech firms looking at market expansion, Vietnam opportunities abound.

Legislative Council Member (Technology & Innovation) Duncan Chiu:
Outsourcing work is one thing. Expanding from Hong Kong into the Vietnam market is another possibility because they have almost 100 million population in Vietnam. As I mentioned, the economy is actually quite vibrant recently and that is actually a big opportunity for Hong Kong companies to export there, in terms of hardware or software products. I think Hong Kong has a lot of good technology products. If we understand how to market and package them, there is huge potential in these countries.

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Mr Chiu also noted that healthcare technology developed by Hong Kong’s universities, such as medical diagnostics and devices as well as artificial intelligence, could be further marketed in Southeast Asian countries that do not have the facilities to manufacture such technology.

Last year, Mr Chiu followed in the footsteps of the Chief Executive and visited Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. He believes these face-to-face interactions not only help build and strengthen business relationships but also enable the Hong Kong delegation to learn more about the local policies and regulations.

When Chief Executive John Lee visits Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam later this month, Legislative Councillor for the Technology & Innovation Functional Constituency Duncan Chiu will be part of his delegation.

Looking ahead to the visit, Mr Chiu highlighted that the total population of the three countries – each of them member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – exceeds 120 million, a figure that represents huge market potential. He said he hopes to use the visit to look at ways of addressing Hong Kong’s manpower shortage in the innovation and technology sector.

“We have actually quite a bit of connection with Vietnam in the tech sector. I think some companies, I know they have already outsourced some development work to Vietnam. The English standard of a lot of the younger generation in Vietnam has improved a lot, so that solves the previous big communication problem.”

He noted that the Vietnam’s local development potential is enormous, meaning that opportunities abound for Hong Kong firms focused on research and development and advanced technology.

“Expanding from Hong Kong into the Vietnam market is another possibility because they have almost (a) 100 million population in Vietnam,” he said. “The economy is actually quite vibrant recently and that is actually a big opportunity for Hong Kong companies to export there, in terms of hardware or software products. I think Hong Kong has a lot of good technology products. If we understand how to market and package them, there is huge potential in these countries.”

Mr Chiu added that healthcare technology developed by Hong Kong’s universities – from medical devices and diagnostics tools to solutions that adopt artificial intelligence – can be marketed in Southeast Asian countries that do not have the facilities to manufacture such technology on their own.

Last year, Mr Chiu followed in the Chief Executive’s footsteps as he visited Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. He said a Hong Kong delegation led by Mr Lee will be able to interact with top-level government officials to learn more about local policies, management and regulations.

He stressed that such face-to-face interactions will help to build and strengthen business relationships and friendships.