Mission to Hong Kong
Released On 31st Mar 2023
About Tech West England Advocates
Tech West England Advocates is a not-for-profit organisation and a licensed branch of Global Tech Advocates, an inclusive network around the world with tens of thousands of Tech Entrepreneurs, Investors and Experts. Together we support Start Ups, Scale Ups and established Tech companies to connect across our international Tech eco-systems.
Our Purpose
‘We are the go-to network for West England Techs to Scale Up and to Grow Globally, connecting and enabling Tech innovation from West England to reach international markets to meet the challenges of tomorrow.’
Our Values
• Connect
• Collaborate
• Create
Join us and connect with our LinkedIn community.
3 2. Introduction
Thank you for taking an interest in our Mission to Hong Kong – Your Tech Gateway to Asia Pacific.
We began working on our Tech mission after conducting a series of Roundtable events during 2022 where we invited Tech Founders, Investor and stakeholders across West England to come together to share their challenges for scaling up to grow globally.
We presented our finding at our official launch during Bristol and Birmingham Tech Festivals in October 2022. One of the key challenges from Techs we listened to, was access to soft landing opportunities to expand into new international markets. This became a driving force to organise our first Tech West England Advocates trade mission.
We are delighted that Russ Shaw CBE, Founder of Tech London Advocates & Global Tech Advocates and Yiannis Maos MBE, Tech West England Advocates Ambassador for Birmingham will accompany our Mission to Hong Kong.
We invite you to join fellow Tech Founders and Investors to explore Hong Kong’s exciting Tech ecosystem as a platform into the Asia Pacific region.
3. Support Partners
In addition to our Global Tech Advocates community, we are grateful for the following partners:
United Kingdom
• British Consulate
• Department for Business and Trade
• Institute of Directors
• Birmingham Tech
• TechSPARK
• West of England Institute of Technology
• South West Institute of Technology
• Bristol & West of England China Bureau
Hong Kong
• InvestHK
• Hong Kong Trade & Development Council
• Hong Kong Science & Technology Park
• Cyberport
• Hong Kong British Chamber of Commerce
4. Why Hong Kong?
Hong Kong, Asia’s most vibrant city, is the ideal place to do business. Ranked the world’s freest economy for 25 years by the US-based Heritage Foundation, its excellent infrastructure, pro-business policies and strategic location make it the preferred destination for businesses large and small, and the best gateway to opportunities in mainland China and the rest of Asia.
Besides its enduring commercial advantages, Hong Kong’s legendary spirit of enterprise and its boundless energy create the perfect environment for starting a business. The local startup ecosystem is supported by a strong network of incubators and accelerators, a pool of experienced angels and venture capitalists, and a welcoming community of startups knit together by dozens of networking events, seminars and associations.
It should come as no surprise that Hong Kong is Asia’s most dynamic startup destination, home to 8 unicorns and a rapidly growing number of startups in areas as diverse as CleanTech, AI, Robotics, FinTech, RegTech, RetailTech, HealthTech, IoT, Smart City technologies and many more.
• The Economist Intelligence Unit 2021 Safest Cities Index ranks Hong Kong #8 in the world
• 5 Universities in Hong Kong are ranked among the top 100 universities Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings
• Hong Kong is #1 ranked World’s most economically-free jurisdiction Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Report 2021
• 28% of the startup founders has their country of origin outside Hong Kong InvestHK’s 2021 Startup Survey
As a highly liveable international city, Hong Kong has a mature legal system with strong patent protection and a sophisticated financial system, creating ideal conditions for businesses to thrive. The upcoming large-scale Northern Metropolis Development Strategy will further deepen cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, creating a more comprehensive I&T ecosystem.
Hong Kong has well-established air, sea and land logistics infrastructure that connects the city to the rest of the world. It also offers reliable electricity and robust telecommunications facilities, topping global rankings for mobile and household broadband penetration rates. Its public healthcare system is highly efficient and plays a key role in secondary and tertiary healthcare.
As Asia’s financial hub, Hong Kong has a mature financial system that hosts one of the largest stock exchanges in the world. A wide range of I&T-focused funding is available from public and private stakeholders for every stage of the business lifecycle.
Businesses in Hong Kong are supported by an internationally renowned professional services industry. There are also numerous forums, events, incubators, accelerators and coworking/co-living spaces for industry players and researchers to network and collaborate.
