Hong Kong has issued its first five-year economic and social development plan, placing artificial intelligence governance, fintech infrastructure and technology commercialization among the government’s priorities through 2030.
The plan announced on September 16 sets 105 indicators across economic and social policy. Its technology agenda calls for three major innovation parks and five research institutions, broader support for startups and new industrialization, and a Northern Metropolis hub for AI, robotics, microelectronics and health technology.
The government is pairing the five-year framework with annual policy measures and budget decisions. Many of the initiatives have target dates or require consultations, legislation and funding before they take effect.
AI rules and deployment
The accompanying 2026 Policy Address says Hong Kong will create a Commissioner for AI post under the Digital Policy Office. The office will help coordinate work on seven areas, including deepfakes, protection of minors, AI ethics, application safety, liability for AI-related accidents, AI agent management and employment effects.
The government plans to study legislation addressing deepfake-enabled crimes and consult the public later this year on a legal framework intended to improve the detection and removal of fraudulent online content, including material generated through the misuse of AI. Public departments selected for a pilot will require suppliers of public-facing AI services to follow government guidelines and submit safety and ethics declarations. The government also plans society-wide AI agent safety-management guidelines in 2027.
Deployment measures cover finance, healthcare, law, construction, transport, social welfare, tourism and media. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s generative AI sandbox has been expanded beyond banking to securities, wealth management, insurance and retirement funds, with testing for a new group of use cases due to begin this year.
Hong Kong also plans to allocate HK$300 million ($38.5 million) for an AI for Welfare Lab to fund pilots in social services. More than 200 training courses and activities are planned under the AI for All program by the first quarter of 2028, while an 18-month workplace training campaign is expected to reach about 40,000 employees from the first half of 2027.
Fintech and startup financing
The financial measures include plans to allow regulated stablecoins to trade on licensed virtual-asset platforms and be used to settle tokenized money-market funds. The HKMA aims to introduce central bank digital currency settlement and round-the-clock operations under EnsembleTX around the end of 2026.
Other measures include regular digital-bond issuance, tests using tokenized Exchange Fund Bills and a digital-asset platform from CMU OmniClear. The Securities and Futures Commission plans a digital-asset custody surveillance system in the second half of this year, followed in 2027 by big-data market and anti-money-laundering surveillance components under its CrypTech initiative.
For startup financing, the government expects the Innovation and Technology Industry Oriented Fund to launch this year after preliminarily shortlisting about 20 fund managers. It has also earmarked another HK$1 billion for an enhanced Innovation and Technology Venture Fund program.
Research and industrial capacity
The plan groups the Hong Kong section of the Hetao innovation zone and San Tin Technopole, Science Park and Cyberport into a north-central-south network. Five public research bodies will focus on commercialization in areas including AI, microelectronics, life sciences and advanced manufacturing.
The government said the Hong Kong Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Institute is expected to begin operating this year. It also plans a medium- to long-term roadmap for high-technology, high-value-added industrial development and a center that would match public and private deployment needs with technology providers.
The Northern Metropolis is intended to connect this system more closely with Shenzhen and the wider Greater Bay Area. Its San Tin university town is designated for medicine, life and health technology, AI, robotics and microelectronics. The area is planned to support about 650,000 jobs when fully developed, according to Reuters.
The broader plan seeks to raise domestic research and development spending from 1.63 percent of gross domestic product in 2024 to 3 percent after 2030, AP reported. Progress will depend on future budgets, implementation reports and the outcome of the consultations and legislative work set out in the policy address.