Institutional reform

With tech commercialization and the Greater Bay Area's coordinated development, institutional revamping is the third lever.

"There remain significant gaps in knowledge transfer that the government and universities must address to transform Hong Kong's world-class basic research into viable products. Hong Kong universities trail behind in the flexibilities and options of institutional IP policy, stifling the IP mobilization and thus hindering knowledge transfer and research commercialization," Shui tells China Daily.

Across a broad range of knowledge transfer indicators, such as the number of patents granted, the cumulative number of active spin-off companies, and the combined total income from IP rights, universities in Hong Kong are behind their foreign peers, such as the University of Oxford, Harvard University, Stanford University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says think tank OHKF.

Shui urges universities in Hong Kong to implement transparent guidelines and flexible policies on patent ownership and buyouts; for example, determining the buyout price based on registration and attorney fees. The researcher advocates for universities to adopt more generous proprietary terms in revenue-sharing policies, and consider more flexible financial terms to support spinoff companies, such as accepting a smaller share of equity as licensing fee payment. He also suggests flexible practice regulations such as expanding the hours available for knowledge transfer activities, at least during holidays and annual leave.

The University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology have announced that the patent income share for inventors has been raised to 70 percent.