At the recent Light of Internet Expo of the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, the most consequential story was not that machines are becoming more impressive. It was that they are moving closer to doing useful work. Robotic pharmacies, flexible manufacturing systems and artificial intelligence-enabled devices point toward a new phase of technological development: One in which intelligence is judged not simply by what it can say but by what it can reliably accomplish.

For Hong Kong, this shift poses a strategic question. How can the city turn the Chinese mainland’s technological advances into stronger local businesses, new professional services, and international commercial opportunities?

The answer is commercialization. Hong Kong should position itself as a place where promising technologies become dependable business solutions — and where mainland innovators find the expertise and partnerships needed to serve overseas customers.

The Wuzhen expo brought together 671 enterprises and institutions from 54 countries and regions, showcasing more than 1,000 technologies and products. Its breadth extends from AI agents and advanced computing to embodied intelligence, satellite connectivity and 6G prototypes. Yet the sheer number of exhibits matters less than the direction they reveal. Technology providers are increasingly presenting systems that connect intelligence with action: processing an order, handling an object, inspecting a component or assisting a user. That creates opportunities for Hong Kong, provided the city focuses on the work between a successful demonstration and a successful business.

Start with the customer’s problem

The first opportunity is to improve the productivity of Hong Kong businesses. Rather than beginning with fashionable technology, companies should begin with a specific operational problem. Which administrative process consumes too much staff time? Where do repeated errors occur? Which customer requests could be handled faster without weakening service quality?

A logistics company might test AI assistance for shipment documentation. A hotel might trial a multilingual service assistant. A professional-services firm might explore document retrieval and drafting support. A warehouse operator might evaluate automation for a repetitive handling task.

These should be treated as controlled business experiments, not declarations of technological transformation. Each pilot needs a baseline, a defined scope and measurable results. The relevant questions are whether it saves time, reduces errors, improves service and delivers value after integration, training and maintenance costs are included.

The distinction matters. An exhibition demonstration shows that something can work under particular conditions. A commercial deployment must show that it continues to work when conditions change.

Hong Kong should therefore encourage partnerships among technology suppliers, local integrators and customers preparing to test solutions against genuine operating requirements. The objective should be neither the largest demonstration nor the quickest announcement, but a repeatable service that customers are willing to pay for.

Make trust part of the product

The second opportunity is to make governance and assurance part of technological adoption, rather than an afterthought. As AI systems gain the ability to take action, customers need more than assurances about model performance. They need to know what information a system can access, who is responsible for its decisions, when human approval is required and what happens when it makes a mistake.

Hong Kong already has a practical foundation. The Model Personal Data Protection Framework for Artificial Intelligence, issued by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, addresses governance, risk assessment, human oversight, implementation and stakeholder communication. Related guidance also identifies supplier responsibilities, data security and cross-border data transfers as procurement considerations.

These requirements should not be viewed as obstacles to innovation. They identify work that must be done before many customers can adopt a system responsibly.

Hong Kong businesses could develop services around supplier assessment, contractual responsibilities, privacy safeguards, testing and continuing oversight. In this model, trust is not a promotional slogan attached to a product. It is something built into its deployment and operation.

Nor should Hong Kong suggest that meeting local requirements automatically satisfies overseas rules. International expansion requires market-specific assessment. Helping companies navigate those differences is precisely where a carefully developed service offering could add value.

Build an international offering

The third opportunity is to help mainland tech companies move from overseas interest to sustained overseas business. An introduction to a buyer is only the beginning. A product may require language adaptation, integration with existing systems, revised contracts, technical documentation and credible after-sales support. Customers also need confidence that someone will respond when a system fails.

A useful partnership could therefore combine a mainland developer’s technology, a Hong Kong team’s integration and customer-service capabilities, a local reference deployment and a clearly defined overseas market. The emphasis should be on solving a particular customer problem — not claiming to serve every industry in every jurisdiction.

Wuzhen’s combination of technology launches and matchmaking provides a starting point for finding such partners. Hong Kong’s follow-up should bring selected suppliers together with buyers who have budgets, operating requirements and the authority to commission pilots.

Success should be measured by paid trials, contracts, repeat customers and continuing service revenue, rather than attendance figures or memorandums of understanding without implementation plans.

Be commercially disciplined

Not every technology displayed in Wuzhen is equally ready for widespread adoption. The exhibition includes 6G prototypes alongside more immediately applicable AI and automation systems. Hong Kong should distinguish between technologies worth monitoring, those worth testing and those ready for procurement.

That discipline would strengthen, rather than diminish, the city’s ambition. Hong Kong does not need to replicate every mainland capability. It needs to identify where it can make those capabilities more useful: integrating them into businesses, establishing accountability, supporting customers and adapting products for particular markets.

The real opportunity begins when the exhibition ends. If Hong Kong can turn technological promise into dependable services and lasting customer relationships, Wuzhen’s innovations can become more than a glimpse of the future. They can become a source of practical economic value.

The author is vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing and an adviser to the Film and TV School at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.