A rainbow appears in the air over the city of Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, Oct 3, 2016. (PHOTO / VCG VIA CHINADAILY.COM.CN)
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is an “amazing test bed” for people from different industries to explore what new businesses the world will need in the future and the feasibility of their new ideas, a Hong Kong architect and entrepreneur said on Tuesday.
The 11-city cluster provides space and resources that enable people from different industries, including transportation, health, education, commerce and design, to “push the fields to the limit”, said James Law, founder and chief executive officer of architecture design and consulting company James Law Cybertecture.
The 11-city cluster provides space and resources that enable people from different industries, including transportation, health, education, commerce and design, to “push the fields to the limit”, said James Law, founder and chief executive officer of architecture design and consulting company James Law Cybertecture
Given that different cities with different geographic locations and cultures need to be linked up in the Bay Area, Law said he believes some incredible new designs for housing, transportation and logistics will come up and be generated from the region.
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The veteran architect made his remarks at a panel discussion on the second day of the fifth Belt and Road Summit held by the Hong Kong government and Hong Kong Trade Development Council.
Six startups and young business leaders from Hong Kong, Malaysia and the United Kingdom participated in the online session.
Looking back into history, Law said human beings always benefit from big urbanization centers driven by economic growth, such as London and Venice, while the Bay Area has potential to become a next such urbanization center.
“As far as I see, the Greater Bay Area potentially could be the world’s biggest proof of concept for urbanization in the next hundred years,” Law said.
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“It’s really like a reactor of all of these new ideas and opportunities which can be sold to the rest of the world,” he said.
Law also said he thinks the Belt and Road Initiative provides an opportunity for the Bay Area to release its potential and push the whole world’s urbanization forward.
“We will see some amazing designs, technologies and new commerce sprout from the Greater Bay Area and be exported in a proven way to all of the new markets (along Belt and Road countries and regions),” he said.
At the panel discussion, Keenan Kwok, founder of GetLinks, Asia's leading tech talents community, agreed that the Bay Area is a great experimental ground, as smart ideas, money, talents converge in the area.
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Noting Hong Kong plays an important role as a corridor between the mainland and overseas countries and regions, and the city can trigger many things to happen in the Bay Area, Kwok said he can feel he’s in a “once in a lifetime opportunity” here.
