Prof. Alfred Wong
Recently, Prof. Alfred Wong, Associate Professor at the University of Macau and the Executive Director in the Smart City Alliance Association, was invited to talk about the future smart city development of Macau on a TDM commentary program. He said that Macao is not very likely to overcome the cross-border legal restrictions to build a cross-border e-commerce zone like those in mainland. However, we can harness the development opportunity of Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin and make new attempts.
He suggested that we could develop new industries such as health tourism in Hengqin. High-tech and large scaled medical equipment is difficult to fit in Macau due to its geographical limit, whereas we could utilize the spaces of Hengqin to store and operate such equipment, shortening patient’s treatment time from traveling back and forth. At the same time, they could also utilize their time to enjoy other travel services.
In addition, the host also asked: “How to solve the problem of the lack of human resources in Hengqin?” Prof. Alfred replied: “How do we attract talents from Macau? Firstly, we must satisfy citizens’ basic need of having a place to live, such as through government’s new neighbourhood plan, as well as the establishment of hospitals, schools, etc. In this way, young people could live in Hengqin with their children. That forms a trend attracting talented individuals to live there.” He added that government could introduce measures, such as tax reductions, for leading enterprises to attract talents to base in Hengqin. As time goes by, Henqin will gather a talent pool.