With the successful conclusion of the nation’s two sessions, the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) has unequivocally reiterated its support for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Leveraging its unique advantages under the “one country, two systems” framework, the plan calls on Hong Kong to solidify and enhance its status as an international financial, shipping, trade, and innovation and technology center — the city’s “four centers”. Crucially, it also explicitly tasks Hong Kong with developing into a “global hub for high-caliber talent”.

Talent is the bedrock of development. Without a steady pipeline of skilled people, the goal of bolstering the “four centers” is unattainable. Amid economic restructuring, the effect of artificial intelligence on the labor market, and intensifying global competition, building a talent hub is not just an expectation from the central government but a necessity for Hong Kong’s sustainable development.

Building a successful talent hub requires equal emphasis on attracting global talent and cultivating local potential. With its world-class universities and international environment, Hong Kong already possesses strong fundamentals for drawing talent from around the world. However, amid a global race for talent and rapid technological transformation, the essence of a talent hub must be to ensure that the city’s talent structure and skillsets evolve in lockstep with the needs of future industries.

The 2026-27 Budget, with its “AI+” theme and push for citywide AI training, echoes the national strategy and represents an important step for Hong Kong to seize the technological initiative. To turn these measures into a lasting foundation for talent development, Hong Kong must, on the one hand, deepen government-industry-academia-research-investment collaboration to cultivate innovative talent. On the other hand, it must promote citywide digital empowerment to upskill the workforce and seize the opportunities of the “AI+” era.

The Northern Metropolis is a pivotal platform for Hong Kong’s integration into the national development strategy and a vehicle for deepening multiparty collaboration. The HKSAR government’s plan to establish the Northern Metropolis University Town will not only expand the capacity of the higher education sector but, more importantly, should be leveraged to strengthen the synergy between government guidance, industry demand, academic research, technological innovation, and investment.

The university town should focus on key national strategic sectors such as AI, life and health sciences, fintech, advanced materials, and new energy. It should attract top-tier universities and enterprises from the Chinese mainland and overseas to establish joint programs, laboratories, and incubators. At the same time, it must strengthen ties with the San Tin Technopole and other innovation and technology parks to support an integrated education-technology-talent ecosystem. Only then can Hong Kong’s strong basic research capabilities be more precisely aligned with the nation’s modernized industrial system, attracting global talent and truly achieving the synergistic effect of such collaboration, while providing the talent needed to develop the “four centers”.

The 2026-27 Budget proposes upgrading the Employees Retraining Board into “Upskill Hong Kong”, accelerating workforce transformation and promoting digital empowerment for all. As AI reshapes industries, the mission of this new entity is not to turn everyone into an AI expert, but to ensure that professionals master the fundamentals of AI applications, enabling them to navigate industrial change with confidence.

By deepening collaboration across government, industry, academia, and investment, and by empowering the entire workforce with new skills, Hong Kong can gather and harness the world’s best talent, better integrate into and serve the nation’s overall development strategy, and contribute its unique strengths

This transformation aligns with the grand vision of the 15th Five-Year Plan to “comprehensively advance digital and intelligent technologies”, “fully implement the ‘AI+’ action to empower all sectors”, and “promote integrated development of the digital economy and the real economy”. The plan also calls for large-scale vocational training and stronger employment promotion mechanisms, areas where Hong Kong must consider how best to complement national efforts.

To achieve this, “Upskill Hong Kong” should proactively analyze the future skills needed by industries within the “four centers”. It needs to identify how jobs will shift in the AI era, which jobs are more vulnerable to automation, and which new skills — such as human-machine collaboration and data interpretation — will become essential. Training programs should be designed in tiers: for the general public, the focus should be on AI literacy and practical tools; for professionals, it should be on industry-specific applications, such as AI risk assessment or internet of things data analysis. By offering targeted courses developed in close partnership with industry, the restructured “Upskill Hong Kong” can equip the “four centers” with a future-ready workforce, helping the nation unlock the value and potential of data and accelerate innovation in digital and intelligent technologies.

The 15th Five-Year Plan’s vision for Hong Kong to become a “global hub for high-caliber talent” is both an affirmation of the city’s unique position and an impetus for its future development. By deepening collaboration across government, industry, academia, and investment, and by empowering the entire workforce with new skills, Hong Kong can gather and harness the world’s best talent, better integrate into and serve the nation’s overall development strategy, and contribute its unique strengths.

The authors work in various capacities for the Our Hong Kong Foundation.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.