Since October, local news about the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) has mainly focused on Hong Kong’s potential contribution to national development. The narratives have been communicated in vision-oriented terms with top priorities given to building a modernized industrial system and achieving greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, and rightly so.

But the micro aspects of the plan are equally significant to the general public. When I read the recommendations for the formulation of the next national blueprint, I couldn’t help but ask: What’s in it for me? Without addressing the individual’s priorities, pain points, or future well-being, it is challenging to enthuse everyone in the city about the plan. Hence, as an educator, to benefit my students who are about to enter the job market, I have made it my mission to translate the key focus of the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan into layman’s language for students to understand it not as political rhetoric but as a primer on where growth, investment, and high-value jobs will flow in the coming half-decade.

My business students have been taught the principle of the theory of planned behavior (TPB), which posits that people’s past behavior is a strong predictor of their future actions. Hence, I asked students to go through the tables of contents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s chief executive’s Policy Addresses for the past two years. A clear observation was that the documents were structured around how Hong Kong can develop the eight centers under the guidance of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).

In terms of results, Hong Kong has excelled in many aspects. First, enhancing the city’s role as a global financial, trade and logistics center and developing it into a regional information and communications technology hub were two of the key priorities prescribed for Hong Kong in the previous national plan. In 2025, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange reclaimed the global No 1 spot in fundraising, fueled by an unprecedented volume of AI-related initial public offerings. Second, the impressive tourism growth, aided by the mega events and the “tourism everywhere” initiatives, helped develop Hong Kong into an East-meets-West cultural-exchange hub. Third, Hong Kong enjoyed 15.4 percent export growth in 2025 due to the expansion of Association of Southeast Asian Nations markets, reducing the city’s reliance on traditional markets such as North America and Europe.

Remember the TPB principle? The chief executive has made it clear that Hong Kong will contribute to the national development and deepen international exchanges and cooperation by connecting with the Chinese mainland and the broader world. It’s now up to him and the administration to work with the business community to come up with locally relevant strategies. In line with the SAR’s proven track record of aligning with national strategy, the business community has already set their sights on the proposed priorities for the 15th Five-Year Plan, exploring, for example, how they can contribute to building a modernized industrial system, in order to design their next chapter of business growth.

The million-dollar question for the students was how to shape themselves into the kind of candidates that fit the future expectations of employers. My advice to students was to use the 15th Five-Year Plan as a research tool or reference. Use AI tools to analyze job ads with keywords drawn directly from the plan, benchmarking their skills against future market needs

With growth in their businesses, employers will naturally want to expand their talent pool. I was very honest in telling students that employers don’t just want to hire fresh graduates on the dean’s list. They want someone with a forward-looking mindset who is highly adaptable in this ever-changing business landscape. The million-dollar question for the students was how to shape themselves into the kind of candidates that fit the future expectations of employers. My advice to students was to use the 15th Five-Year Plan as a research tool or reference. Use AI tools to analyze job ads with keywords drawn directly from the plan, benchmarking their skills against future market needs. This process can shape the way curricula vitae are drafted. Instead of listing skills such as problem solving, communications, or technical competence, it is more useful to include a project or internship related to priority areas under the 15th Five-Year Plan, such as “green trade”, “digital infrastructure”, or “cross-border services”. They are also encouraged to seek experiences that involve the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area innovation chain or the mainland’s expanding digital economy.

So, what’s in it for me? In simple terms, becoming future-ready is the key to career or business survival, and the 15th Five-Year Plan provides a clear direction on how students should equip themselves before they graduate. As new policies and initiatives will take time to crystallize, there may not be tons of jobs immediately available; however, slowly but steadily, they will come. Remember the days when we did not even know what AI could do for us? That was not so long ago. Today, a significant portion of jobs will require candidates to be at least AI-literate. The same logic can be applied, and those who have proved to be most useful for employers to tap into the future business opportunities under the 15th Five-Year Plan will be in a very good position to be headhunted by multiple employers.

This is just a snapshot of my attempt to let students understand why the 15th Five-Year Plan matters to their future. Should there be other organizations doing the same for their respective audiences, clients, members, constituents, and the general public? Who’s going to pay for this? I hope that the SAR government will fund chambers, industry associations, professional bodies, higher education institutions, and nongovernment organizations to study the 15th Five-Year Plan and come up with the most relevant priorities, pain points, and future survival of the respective sectors. Such widespread, sector-specific translation of the plan is perhaps the most effective way for Hong Kong to answer every resident’s question: What’s in it for me?

The author is a senior lecturer in the Department of Marketing, the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.