Recent policy developments have added new momentum to the Northern Metropolis development. The 2026–27 Budget, heavily aligned with the 2025 Policy Address, and the move to formulate a five-year development blueprint aligned with the national 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–30) underscore the growing strategic importance of the Northern Metropolis as a core platform for innovation and technology (I&T) development as well as integration within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Indeed, among the many exciting projects in which Hong Kong is currently involved, the Northern Metropolis is undoubtedly the one with the highest potential. It is more than a planning blueprint; it is Hong Kong staking its future on a bold vision of spatial renewal, economic transformation, and regional integration. The budget reaffirmed the priority given to this massive project: It is, in effect, intended as a new engine of growth and a bridge to the Greater Bay Area. What was promised is ambitious; what is required to fulfill it is structural courage, institutional reform, and disciplined execution.
Recent events have also underscored why long-term planning, which will be embodied in the city’s first five-year plan, and institutional capacity matter so deeply for projects of this scale. The deadly Tai Po fire last November was a sobering reminder that urban development must go hand in hand with safety, governance, and accountability. The response that followed, including swift emergency action, public communication and the launch of independent review mechanisms, demonstrated Hong Kong’s ability to confront challenges openly and systematically. These same attributes will be essential to the success of the Northern Metropolis, where speed must be balanced with quality, innovation with responsibility, and ambition with public confidence. A city capable of learning from adversity is also one capable of executing transformative projects with confidence and credibility.
The 2026–27 Budget has added definite momentum to the Northern Metropolis by translating long-term vision into near-term fiscal commitment. The budget increased overall I&T-related expenditure, with multibillion-Hong Kong-dollar allocations earmarked for research infrastructure, innovation platforms, talent admission programs and smart-city applications, many of which are explicitly designed to support development in the Northern Metropolis. Funding support for AI research, data infrastructure, life sciences and advanced manufacturing aligns closely with the Northern Metropolis’ objective of generating high-value employment and attracting innovation-driven enterprises, while continued incentives for cross-border collaboration reinforce its role as a gateway within the Greater Bay Area.
At the strategic level, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s leading role in formulating the five-year plan is expected to inject further momentum to the Northern Metropolis development. Early policy signals suggest the Northern Metropolis will prioritize I&T-led development, regional integration and productivity enhancement, positioning itself to host large-scale I&T clusters, university-industry collaboration zones and tech-intensive industrial parks. This coordinated approach strengthens its role not only as a housing and land-supply solution but also a long-term I&T corridor linking Hong Kong more closely with Shenzhen and the wider Greater Bay Area.
As per the data provided by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, the Northern Metropolis, with a total area of 30,000 hectares (about one-third of the total area of Hong Kong), is one of the main sources of future housing land supply, integrating quality of life, industry development, culture and leisure, and promoting a better home-job balance and green living.
The Northern Metropolis is close to Shenzhen’s metropolitan core and the base of the I&T industry with the greatest development momentum, and with seven land-based boundary control points, it will forge an essential platform for Hong Kong’s cooperation with other Greater Bay Area cities. The entire area will eventually accommodate about 2.5 million residents and provide about 650,000 jobs.
Recognizing its strategic weight, the government has established a Committee on Development of the Northern Metropolis, chaired by the Hong Kong chief executive, and created three working groups. These will cover development and operation models for industrial parks, the planning and construction of a university town, and end-to-end supervision of planning and implementation. Dedicated legislation will be introduced to streamline statutory procedures, removing bureaucratic bottlenecks and giving the government more leeway to act swiftly. The working group on development and operation models is to adopt an “industry-linked two-envelope approach”, where technical proposals and development plans matter more than merely highest monetary bids. Meanwhile, preferential packages of land grants, tax incentives, subsidies and reduced premiums will be deployed to attract high-value firms. In short, the government is signaling that this is not a standard real estate play but an attempt to build a high-tech, innovation, research and education cluster.
The Northern Metropolis is a test of Hong Kong’s ability to transform itself in the era of innovation, and a strategic move to reorient the city’s role in national development, and a reimagining of its future in the Greater Bay Area synergy
It’s in this context that digital finance, fintech experimentation, tokenization of assets, innovation platforms and digital infrastructure can be deeply embedded in the project from day one. Just as modern city projects must be “smart from the ground up”, a future campus, industrial park, or residential precinct in the north should embed digital identity, blockchain-based land-title records, green energy platforms, sensor networks, data connectivity, regulatory sandboxes, and embedded financial ecosystems. The Northern Metropolis should integrate digital finance from the first blueprint, rather than grafting it on later.
For example, one could imagine tokenized real-world assets (buildings, energy credits, green infrastructure), municipal bonds issued via digital ledger, smart contracts managing energy, water, waste, mobility payments — all operating across Hong Kong and Shenzhen nodes. These innovations could also help attract fintech and Web3 firms as first movers in the Northern Metropolis. If Hong Kong persists in its ambition to become a hub for digital assets and tokenization, placing pilot zones or sandbox areas within this area would be a powerful message.
And this is all possible thanks to Hong Kong’s legendary prowess in finance and innovation. Indeed, Hong Kong ranked third globally in the 2025 Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) Report. Also, in the 2025 Global Innovation Index released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster ranked first worldwide, reflecting Hong Kong’s emergence as a rising center for technology, research, and creativity.
Hong Kong is also positioning itself as a leader in fintech, green finance, and Web3. Its “Fintech 2025” strategy signaled a more flexible regulatory environment for digital assets, while its push into green bonds and environmental, social and governance products shows an ability to align with global financial trends. The city’s AI potential, supported by the Chinese mainland’s tech strength, adds another layer to its evolving identity.
Hong Kong is also becoming not only an AI hub but also a digital assets hub. The government recently released its Policy Statement 2.0 on the Development of Digital Assets in Hong Kong, outlining the next phase of its digital finance strategy. Building on the original 2022 framework, the new document offers a more structured plan for positioning the city as a credible and forward-looking hub for digital assets.
Moreover, none of this would make sense without Hong Kong’s integration in the Greater Bay Area, which offers myriad opportunities to all partner cities since it allows them to combine their strengths. The Greater Bay Area, with a combined population of over 86 million and a GDP of around $1.9 trillion, has been called “China’s Silicon Valley”, and not without reason. Suffice it to say that the region has the potential to bring both economic growth and new jobs and therefore prosperity. The Northern Metropolis development will exactly facilitate Hong Kong’s integration into the Greater Bay Area.
Each of the cities in the region will play an important role based on its respective strengths. For example, Hong Kong will play a key part as a financial center, while Shenzhen — where cutting-edge technology companies like Huawei and Tencent are domiciled — will leverage its tech prowess. Hong Kong will also play a very important role in technology since it is also becoming an important AI hub.
The Northern Metropolis is a test of Hong Kong’s ability to transform itself in the era of innovation, and a strategic move to reorient the city’s role in national development, and a reimagining of its future in the Greater Bay Area synergy. If Hong Kong gets it right, the northern part could become the locus of a new economic cluster, a magnet for talent and startups, and an enduring bridge across the Shenzhen border.
The author is a fintech adviser, a researcher and a former business analyst for a Hong Kong publicly listed company.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
