Eric Kuo, a 29-year-old Hong Kong entrepreneur, travels between Hong Kong and its neighboring city of Shenzhen once a week and spends most of his time working in Shenzhen.
Before graduating with a master’s degree from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kuo came to Shenzhen and was determined to start a business here.
In 2017, based on his expertise in information engineering, Kuo founded a startup making smart suitcases and bags in Qianhai — a Shenzhen-Hong Kong pilot cooperation zone in Shenzhen.
“It is difficult for us to get funding in Hong Kong,” Kuo said. “In Shenzhen, however, we can be offered startup capital and enjoy preferential treatment in terms of office rental, taxes and housing.”
Qianhai has even organized entrepreneurship workshops to improve participants’ knowledge of finance, laws and intellectual property, he said.
According to a guideline unveiled by the Central authorities two months ago, Shenzhen is tasked with taking the lead in China’s socialist development, which has injected more confidence in Hong Kong entrepreneurs working in the trailblazing city of China’s reform and opening up.
The guideline on building Shenzhen into a pilot demonstration area ensures that the people from Hong Kong and Macao working and living in Shenzhen receive the same treatment as local residents.
“I hope Shenzhen, as a partner city to Hong Kong, can create synergy with my hometown and support us with wider openness,” he said.
Kuo’s team has expanded from its initial three members to 16 in less than two years and the company has obtained 12 patents, earning it a market valuation of more than 100 million yuan (US$14.15 million).
“We take advantage of the complete industrial chain in the Pearl River Delta to turn our concepts into products and introduce them to the world through Hong Kong, which is internationally renowned for its trade services,” said Kuo, who has positioned his assembly centers in Huizhou and Dongguan, which are among the nine cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
According to statistics from the Qianhai administration, the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub, home to Eric Kuo’s company, had incubated 388 venture teams by the end of June, with 173 teams from Hong Kong.
In a promotional activity jointly held by Qianhai and Hong Kong in 2016, Winson Kuo, a Hong Kong resident who used to work for a consulting company, encountered Zhao Junjian, who was developing competitive combat robot products in Qianhai. Inspired by their common goal, Winson Kuo joined Zhao’s Shenzhen-based startup.
Now, apart from participating in the company’s production and sales, Winson Kuo is also striving to introduce their robots to Hong Kong.
In the first half of this year, more than 600 young people from Hong Kong and Macao were attracted to take internships in Qianhai. Meanwhile, the Qianhai administration held job fairs in Hong Kong, offering more than 500 posts for Hong Kong job-hunters.
The administration also introduced 36 preferential policies to support Hong Kong and Macao youths in their internships, employment, innovation and entrepreneurship in Qianhai, said Wang Jinxia, deputy director of the administration.
Another such area, the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop, which occupies a strategic location on the border of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, has become the base for many Hong Kong startups to leverage the competitive advantages of the two cosmopolises in innovation and technology.
Given the potential of the new cooperation zone, Hong Kong entrepreneur Peter Ding set up his high-tech company in the area. His daily commute between Shenzhen and Hong Kong takes only 40 minutes thanks to the convenient inter-city transport system.
According to Shenzhen’s development plan, the city will accelerate the construction of the area and facilitate the flow of talent, capital, technology and information between Hong Kong and the mainland market.