In the wake of the triple whammy of sociopolitical unrest, the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical upheaval, the past few years have not been easy on Hong Kong. Some have suggested the city is struggling to find its way amid heightened Sino-US rivalry, stiff competition from regional rivals and critics pouring cold water on its international reputation.

They might be right in their observations about the present situation, yet premature in their conclusions about the future. There is no reason to feel fatalistic about the city’s trajectory. New industries can lead Hong Kong’s revival, as long as we commit to undertaking long-overdue steps towards substantive economic diversification.

At the recently concluded “two sessions”, Premier Li Qiang called on Hong Kong to deepen its international exchanges and cooperation. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has made attracting talent a core component of his economic strategy. Straddling both areas is the core pillar of education, which could well become our most promising growth sector if we play our cards right.

One priority is to bolster the higher education sector’s international competitiveness and impact. While some might champion the fact that Hong Kong has five of the world’s top 100 universities in the Times Higher Education rankings, a more fundamental strength lies in the city’s proximity to, yet distinctiveness from, the mainland. This duality of unbound access and academic openness is our greatest comparative advantage, and we must maintain it.

The Hong Kong government should work with leading local universities to establish joint research ventures featuring top universities in Europe, North America and Southeast Asia. We could take a leaf from the Stanford and Yale centres in Beijing and aim to strategically purpose these institutes for research, dialogue and knowledge exchange in areas of significance that might not be possible elsewhere.

Select projects could even evolve into fully fledged, degree-granting universities, modelled after successful pioneers such as Duke Kunshan University in China or New York University’s campus in Abu Dhabi. With expansive outreach networks, these institutions can admit students with potential from all over the world.