Building a Global GenAI Innovation Ecosystem in Hong Kong: Opportunities and Pathways
- Jan 22, 2025
- 5 min read
In January 2025, CCF YOCSEF Hong Kong successfully hosted a forward-looking forum themed “Building Bridges for Innovation: Opportunities and Pathways for Hong Kong to Build a Global GenAI Innovation Ecosystem.”
The forum was hosted by the China Computer Federation (CCF) and jointly organized by CCF YOCSEF Hong Kong and the CCF headquarters. Dongping Liu, Vice Chair of YOCSEF Hong Kong (YOCSEF 香港副主席刘东屏), and Xingyu Yan, Co-founder and Chief Architect of Zhipu AI, served as Executive Chairs (智谱华章联合创始人及首席架构师).
As a sponsor of the event, Bricom was honored to join industry experts and attendees in exploring the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of generative AI.
01 | Forum Background: Generative AI and Hong Kong’s Opportunity
Generative AI is driving a new wave of technological transformation. According to Gartner, the global generative AI market was projected to reach $54 billion in 2024 and exceed $200 billion by 2027.
At the application level, generative AI is already delivering significant gains in marketing content creation, code generation, and enterprise decision-making. For example, marketing content production efficiency has increased by as much as 15x, code-generation accuracy has reached 85%, and enterprise decision-support efficiency has improved by 40%. Investment is accelerating as well: global venture capital investment in AI reached $125 billion in 2023, with more than 45% directed toward generative AI.
As a strategic bridge between mainland China and the global market, Hong Kong is uniquely positioned to capture this next wave of innovation.
According to Hong Kong’s Innovation and Technology Development Blueprint, the city has established a strong foundation in AI research, ranking third globally in terms of the citation impact and influence of related academic publications. Hong Kong is also home to five top-100 universities worldwide and 16 State Key Laboratories. Total R&D expenditure increased from HK$26.5 billion in 2020 to HK$35 billion in 2023.
Hong Kong is also strengthening its digital infrastructure. Its data center market ranks second in the Asia-Pacific region and is expected to reach 1.5 million square meters of total floor area by 2026, representing a compound annual growth rate of approximately 13%.
The city’s innovation and startup ecosystem is equally dynamic. More than 4,000 technology startups have been established in Hong Kong, around 25% of which are focused on AI. The city is also home to 12 unicorn companies.
Despite these advantages, Hong Kong faces several structural challenges. The AI talent gap continues to widen, with the shortfall expected to exceed 3,000 professionals in 2024. Cross-border data flows are becoming increasingly complex, with related compliance costs rising by approximately 40% over the past two years. Meanwhile, the rate of translating technological innovation into commercial applications remains below 35%.
Against an increasingly complex global landscape, the key question is how Hong Kong can leverage the unique advantages of “One Country, Two Systems” to build a globally influential generative AI innovation ecosystem.
02 | Forum Highlights: Exploring New Ideas Through Dialogue
The forum opened with remarks from Dongping Liu, Vice Chair of CCF YOCSEF Hong Kong, who shared the vision behind the event. He expressed the hope that AI would move beyond experimentation and become deeply embedded in real-world applications, with successful use cases that could be replicated across different scenarios.
Through a series of keynote presentations and expert discussions, the CCF YOCSEF forum explored the potential of generative AI to reshape global innovation and examined Hong Kong’s role as a strategic bridge connecting innovation ecosystems around the world.
Three speakers from diverse industries and professional backgrounds shared their insights on the following topics:
“Opportunities for Generative AI Amid the Reshaping of the Global Innovation Landscape”
Ai Li, Director of Product, AWS Hong Kong (李嫒，AWS 香港区产品部总监)
Ai Li provided an in-depth look at Amazon’s applications and practices in generative AI, including the capabilities and use cases of Amazon’s shopping assistant, as well as strategies for selecting and optimizing AI models. She also explored how Chinese companies can position themselves strategically and capture new opportunities in global markets.
“AI-Powered Global Service Innovation: Hong Kong Practices and Future Outlook”
Calvin, Technical Director, Bricom (雷辉，Bricom 技术总监)
Calvin shared insights into the applications and challenges of AI in the contact center industry, highlighting how AI can enhance service experiences, better address customer needs, and improve business operations. He also discussed emerging trends and the future direction of AI-powered customer service.
🔼 AI Applications: Scenario-Based Solutions for Service Providers
From a service-provider solution perspective, Lei Hui highlighted three common AI use cases:
From the perspective of service providers and real-world business scenarios, Calvin highlighted three common AI applications:
AI Agents & Self-Service
AI Agents leverage natural language processing and machine learning to provide automated customer service at scale, helping businesses respond faster while reducing the workload of human agents.
Agent Copilot
Designed to support human agents, Copilot provides real-time recommendations, contextual insights, and data support, enabling agents to respond to customer needs more efficiently.
Intelligent Classification & Insights
AI automatically analyzes and categorizes customer inquiries, turning interaction data into actionable insights that support data-driven decision-making and help optimize service processes.
During the forum, Calvin also highlighted how Canva has integrated a wide range of AI capabilities into its platform, including AI-powered design generation, image generation, text and writing assistance, intelligent translation, and AI video editing. These capabilities enable users to create content more efficiently and intelligently.
“Standards and Evaluation Frameworks for the Globalization of Large Language Model Applications”
Kehai Chen, Member of the Large Language Model Committee, Chinese Information Processing Society of China (陈科海，中国中文信息学会 大模型专委会委员)
Kehai Chen focused on standards for validating large language models in cross-border applications, exploring key evaluation dimensions such as model performance, security and compliance, multilingual capabilities, and cultural adaptability.
🔼 More highlights from the event
Looking Ahead
Overall, the forum provided a valuable platform for in-depth discussion and exchange, sparking new perspectives on the future of generative AI and, in particular, how Hong Kong can leverage its unique strengths to play a greater role in the global AI innovation landscape.
Bricom will continue to contribute to this journey, working alongside industry partners to accelerate the global adoption of generative AI and unlock new possibilities for intelligent service innovation.
Beijing Bridge Communication Co., Ltd (Bricom) is an AWS Partner Network (APN) Partner and a Zendesk Premier Partner. Bricom empowers enterprises in China and around the world to achieve digital transformation and continuous innovation, providing implementation capabilities for Amazon Connect and Zendesk, as well as lifecycle management services for Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS).
We offer one-stop integrated solutions for customer interaction data, effectively addressing data silo issues and facilitating the seamless deployment of AI applications for enterprises. By building a unified customer data platform, we realize omnichannel data aggregation and intelligent routing, empowering contact centers to deliver seamless service experiences and fully unlock the value of AI.
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