Hong Kong’s drive to dovetail with the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) demands far more than policy adjustments. It requires a fundamental change in how the special administrative region thinks about comparative advantages, time, strategy, market adaptation, and economic transformation. The change will likely be challenging, but necessary.
During this process, emerging sectors risk being overshadowed; many existing ones may be marginalized. NewSpace, a baby compared to others, is one of them. That would be a mistake.
The risk is not that NewSpace lacks relevance. The risk is that it gets lost amid the administrative complexity of Hong Kong’s transition to medium-term planning.
To avoid that, policymakers should embed NewSpace within the city’s broader economic strategy — linking it to finance, maritime services, climate initiatives, and cross-border innovation. They should treat space-enabled applications as infrastructure for the next decade, not as a scientific and academic curiosity. And they should ensure that Hong Kong’s first five-year plan includes clear, measurable objectives for space-related commercialization and applications.
Space-enabled technologies are no longer niche. Proper positioning will not only put Hong Kong in an enviable position to speed up the commercialization of space for the country, but will also help pull the rest of the industries into the next industrial cycle. This is because NewSpace cuts across all sectors and underpins climate monitoring, maritime navigation, insurance modeling, logistics optimization, and global communications; everything that Hong Kong needs to move to the next stage of paradigm shift in innovation. These innovations are central to the country’s national strategy, which places aerospace and satellite applications among the engines of “new quality productive forces”. And they align naturally with Hong Kong’s own strengths in finance, trade, maritime services, and common law.
From annual planning to long-term planning
For decades, Hong Kong’s public administration has been built around an annual budget cycle. Each year stands alone: Revenue is tallied, one-off relief measures are announced, and new initiatives are launched in near isolation. Sweeteners are offered to the loudest squeaks. Over time, square pegs are eventually forced into round holes, and the cycle continues next year. This sort of rhythmic dance has shaped and grown the city’s governance culture — short-term, incremental, and very cautious.
Five-year planning brings about a different mindset and habits. It requires trade-offs, continuity, prioritization, and the discipline to invest in long-term outcomes even when immediate returns are not visible. It demands cross-bureau coordination, data-driven modeling and data sharing, and a willingness to choose strategic sectors rather than spreading resources thinly across many sectors. This transition will not be easy. Hong Kong’s institutions are not yet designed for medium-term planning, and firewalls among departments are purposely set up to enhance privacy. The old planning process carries a fiscal philosophy that prioritizes prudence over investment. Its public expectations are shaped by annual “sweeteners” rather than multiyear commitments. Over the next few years, Hong Kong’s bureaucracy will have to learn how to interpret national strategic intent and translate that into local action.
In the past, the rhythm of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was set to a different tune. Going forward, Hong Kong needs to be more in tune with the Greater Bay Area, which is historically grounded in national five-year plans. Hong Kong needs to be competitive with its neighbors, such as Singapore, which is establishing a new space agency — the National Space Agency of Singapore — on April 1, and at the same time, be complementary to those of the Greater Bay Area. This author and many others, from academics to trade bodies, for over two years, have been calling for the establishment of a space commerce office for Hong Kong to coordinate the growing list of NewSpace activities in this neighborhood. More than 83 NewSpace companies have been established in the Greater Bay Area including Hong Kong, of which 24 are space tech and engineering companies in Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
People dislike change in general. When wars, markets and artificial intelligence are moving at cyberspeed these days, can the special administrative region government move just as quickly? The arrival of NewSpace in Hong Kong has caught many by surprise. This year, Hong Kong starts to see listings of Chinese mainland space companies. More will be coming. If Starlink can be valued at $1 trillion, how much would their counterparts from the mainland be worth?
a five-year plan demands cross-departmental coordination (and data sharing), multiyear commitments, clear key performance indicators and accountability, and a willingness to prioritize and deprioritize. A deep behavioral shift is expected and will drive change
Cross-industry enabler of NewSpace
NewSpace is not a stand-alone industry; policymakers should instead recognize it as a cross-industry enabler.
Satellite-derived climate data can strengthen Hong Kong’s ambitions in green and transition finance. Remote-sensing technologies can support green shipping corridors and the integration of Greater Bay Area logistics. Space-verified environmental, social and governance data can enhance the credibility of Hong Kong’s financial markets. Advanced positioning and timing systems can improve aviation and maritime safety. And as the mainland expands its aerospace capabilities, Hong Kong can serve as the preferred platform for capital markets, intellectual property protection, and international dispute resolution. Despite entering the national planning game late, Hong Kong can, in fact, jump the wait if we leverage the NewSpace economy. In other words, NewSpace is not a distraction from Hong Kong’s priorities — it is a multiplier of them.
As Hong Kong begins to adopt a five-year planning mindset, the city needs to identify sectors that deliver compounding benefits across multiple domains. NewSpace fits that profile. It strengthens finance, supports climate resilience, enhances logistics, and deepens integration into the Greater Bay Area. It also positions Hong Kong as a global node in a rapidly growing, strategically important industry. Hong Kong should focus on the commercial sector of space, and not on the militarization of space. Dual-use technologies may need to be downplayed while consumer and business applications are promoted worldwide from Hong Kong.
Hong Kong’s bureaucracy is founded on annual budgets, departmental silos, risk-averse decisionmaking, and a preference for incrementalism over transformation, while giving itself sufficient slack to move in a most chaotic world. Conversely, a five-year plan demands cross-departmental coordination (and data sharing), multiyear commitments, clear key performance indicators and accountability, and a willingness to prioritize and deprioritize. A deep behavioral shift is expected and will drive change.
Hong Kong is learning to think in five-year terms. As it does, it must not overlook the industries that will define the next five years. NewSpace is one of them — and it deserves a place at the center of the city’s long-term vision and innovation.
The author is a co-founder of the Orion Astropreneur Space Academy, a business strategist, a serial entrepreneur, and a visiting professor at the University of Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
