CityU tech entrepreneurship base in Dongguan to turbocharge collabs

Professors from City University of Hong Kong have established a tech entrepreneurship base in Dongguan to promote industry-university-research collaboration in the Greater Bay Area. A Hong Kong enterprise joining the base believes it offers strong industrial support and access to research talent.

The XbotPark in Dongguan was co-founded in 2014 by professors from CityU and others, with the aim of becoming a global incubation platform for entrepreneurial teams.

The base provides funding, talent and technology, complemented by policy and financial support from the local government. It has nurtured over 80 tech companies, two of which have gone public.

A tech company founder from Hong Kong, who joined the base about two years ago, believes the Greater Bay Area has formed a well-developed industrial chain and offers advantages in talent supply. He says the entire supply chain is within half an hour’s reach, and the talent pool in Shenzhen is rich, making it convenient to recruit staff.

The base also collaborates with a number of universities, including the Dongguan campus of CityU, which was established around two years ago.

The vice president of the Dongguan campus says CityU is a comprehensive university, while the Dongguan campus focuses on science and engineering fields such as new energy and big data, catering to Dongguan’s development needs, and the two campuses can complement each other.

He also mentions the HKSAR government had sent a think tank delegation from the Northern Metropolis to the Dongguan campus, and expresses hope for future cooperation between the two sides.