The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has spent the past decade doing something cities don’t normally do so well: It has been making borders less important. Railways have become faster, bridges longer, ports smarter and intercity journeys easier. The region is now one of the world’s most densely connected urban economies, linking the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions with nine cities in Guangdong province and bringing together some of China’s strongest manufacturing, technology, financial and commercial capabilities.

But physical connectivity is only the beginning. The next question is more difficult: Can the region connect its different strengths well enough to become more than the sum of its partner cities? That is the real challenge as the national 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) kicks off. It is also a question Hong Kong should take particularly seriously.

The first stage of Greater Bay Area development was understandably dominated by infrastructure. Build the bridge. Build the railway. Improve customs clearance. Make it easier for people and goods to move. The next stage requires something less visible but potentially more consequential. It’s about connecting capital, talent, data, technology, professional services and rules. In other words, the region now needs less concrete and more coordination. This is where the region’s differences become an advantage.

Shenzhen has built an extraordinary technology ecosystem. Guangzhou combines research, commerce and advanced manufacturing. Dongguan and Foshan have deep industrial capabilities. Zhuhai, Huizhou, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing each bring their own industrial strengths, resources and development space.

They should not all try to become the same city. That may sound obvious, but regional development has a persistent temptation toward imitation. Every city wants an innovation hub, a tech cluster and a fashionable new economic sector. Yet the Greater Bay Area’s greatest competitive advantage may be precisely that its partner cities are different. The objective should be differentiation without fragmentation.

And this is where Hong Kong’s role becomes interesting. The city does not have the land to compete with its neighbors for large-scale manufacturing. Nor should it try. Its comparative advantages are elsewhere. They include international finance, common law, arbitration, intellectual property, professional services, international networks and increasingly, scientific research and innovation. That is not a supporting role. It can be a strategic one.

A factory in Dongguan or Foshan may have the manufacturing capability to produce a world-class product but need international financing, intellectual property protection, overseas compliance, branding, or dispute resolution to take it global.

A research team in Hong Kong may develop promising technology but need the industrial scale, supply chains and production ecosystem of the Chinese mainland to commercialize it.

The answer is not for one city to do everything. It is for the right city to do the right thing. This is why the idea of Hong Kong as a superconnector needs updating. A connector simply joins two points. A more useful Hong Kong would add value while connecting them. That means moving beyond the traditional role of bringing international capital into the mainland or helping mainland companies reach international markets. Hong Kong can help connect the rules and institutions that allow those transactions to happen more efficiently.

Consider what this could mean in practice. Hong Kong can provide financing, asset management, green finance and access to international investors for companies across the Greater Bay Area. It can help innovative enterprises move from research and production to global markets. Its legal and professional services can help companies navigate intellectual property, arbitration, accounting and compliance as they expand overseas. Its universities and research institutions can contribute fundamental research and international collaboration, while mainland cities provide the industrial scale needed to commercialize new technologies. Research in Hong Kong and commercialization across the Greater Bay Area could become a practical model rather than another slogan.

Then there is data and talent. The next generation of economic growth will depend heavily on artificial intelligence, digital commerce and cross-border data. Making it easier for qualified professionals, researchers and trusted data to move across the region could be more economically significant than another kilometer of highway.

None of this means pretending that the Greater Bay Area has one legal system, one market or one administrative structure. It does not, and it should not. The point is to make different systems work together. Integration does not have to mean uniformity. In fact, the Greater Bay Area’s competitive advantage may come from preserving institutional diversity while reducing the friction between those institutions.

This is particularly relevant to Hong Kong’s first five-year development plan, which places an emphasis on strengthening the city’s traditional pillars while building up its innovation and technology (I&T) capacities.

The 15th Five-Year Plan reinforces this direction by supporting Hong Kong’s role as an international financial, shipping and trade center, an international aviation hub and an international I&T center. These are not isolated labels. Together, they describe a city capable of linking the Greater Bay Area to the wider world. That opportunity extends beyond traditional finance.

The emerging economy of the Greater Bay Area will include AI, green finance, the space economy, low-altitude applications and other sectors where technology, capital and regulation increasingly overlap. Hong Kong can contribute by helping create the rules, financing structures and international connections that allow these industries to scale.

The Greater Bay Area does not need a single city trying to be everything. It needs partner cities that know what they are exceptionally good at, and a system that makes those strengths travel. The first decade was about connecting places. The next decade should be about connecting capabilities. And that may be Hong Kong’s most important opportunity. Not simply to connect the Greater Bay Area with the broader world, but to help the region become better connected to itself.

The author is chairman of the Asia MarTech Society and sits on the advisory boards of several professional organizations, including two universities.