Keeping up with the wave of Web 3.0 development and creating new momentum for Hong Kong’s economic growth
At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation represented by network information technology is reconstructing the global innovation map and reshaping the global economic structure. Web 3.0 as the third generation of the Internet, relying on the block chain technology, distributed ledger technology and yuan universe technology, with higher decentralization, transparency and security, using the rich scene, contains great development potential, is undoubtedly the future of a new round of Internet technology revolution and business model subversion leader. Since 2023, The Hong Kong SAR Government has been committed to promoting the development and application of Web3.0: In January, Hong Kong Cyberport established the “web3 base”, Both in providing support for local innovators, Also hope to attract international web 3.0 enterprises to settle down; In February, In the 2023–24 Fiscal Budget, the Hong Kong SAR Government proposed to “allocate 50 million yuan” to accelerate the development of the Web 3.0 ecosystem; In April, Jointly launched by a number of Chinese-funded institutions based in Hong Kong and Hong Kong universities, The Hong Kong Web 3.0 Association was established on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange; At the end of June, this year, The Hong Kong SAR Government announced the establishment of a third Generation Internet (Web 3.0) Development Task Force, And is chaired by the Financial Secretary; The above measures, It fully demonstrates Hong Kong’s determination to develop Web 3.0. So what does Web 3.0 mean and why does Hong Kong develop?
1.What does Web 3.0 mean?
A readable-Write-Owable network. Compared to the content provider-centric “read-only” network of Web 1.0, That is, the Internet is mainly composed of static web pages, Users mainly browse the web page information, Less interactive; And Web 2.0’s “Read-Witable” network, shared platform-centric, That is, users can communicate and interact with each other on the network platform, Become a content creator, Social media and Internet media have emerged; Web 3.0 is a “readable-written-owned” network, With the characteristics of decentralization (no longer relying on large Internet platforms) and focusing on individual users, To delegate power from Internet service providers to users, A new network for all users to jointly build, co-govern and share value, Users can own property (digital assets on the chain), data, identity (digital identity) and platform, It means that the users of Internet creation can get more value allocation.
Detrust and machine trust. On the one hand, in the era of Web 3.0, there is no need to rely on service providers to operate, and there are no trusted third party intermediaries such as banks, brokers and agents, users can interact and facilitate transactions. On the other hand, on the other hand, Web 3.0 builds a trust network between machines, that is, to generate smart contracts based on blockchain technology, stipulating the agreement of the participants (establish contracts); when the preset conditions are met (the contract becomes effective), the blockchain system will automatically execute the contract terms according to the agreement of the parties, which means the transaction will be more convenient, direct and efficient.
Asset tokenization — — The digital asset era is coming. As an application of blockchain technology, asset tokenization is a process of transforming real-world assets (chattel, real estate and property rights) into digital assets by using blockchain technology. Its core is to split and quantitative, about the reality inseparable property whole, through the form of tokens to assets ownership into several parts, such as property, commodities into digital tokens, so more investors can hold digital assets through this form, and according to the share trading gains, it will no doubt have a huge impact on the whole financial market and the real economy. In addition, the impact of NFT (non-homogeneous tokens) on digital collections cannot be ignored.
2.Why should Hong Kong developing Web 3.0?
Long-term reliance on the traditional four pillar industries, the economic growth is weak. Internationally, from the late 1960s to the early 1990s, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, China became the “Four Asian Tigers” by seizing the opportunity of industrial transfer and attracting a large amount of capital and technology from developed countries, and quickly became the “Asian Tigers”. However, the gap between Hong Kong and the other tigers has gradually widened, and South Korean GDP is far ahead. In 2022, South Korea’s GDP was $1.6733 trillion, about 4.6 times that of Hong Kong; Singapore’s GDP surpassed Hong Kong for the first time in 2010, and its per capita GDP exceeded Hong Kong as early as 2004. Domestically, the GDP of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in 1995 was less than half of Hong Kong’s GDP. In 1995, when Hong Kong returned in 1997, its GDP accounted for about 18% of China. Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou exceeded its GDP in 2009,2011,2018 and 2020 respectively. To some extent, this shows that Hong Kong’s economic growth is weak and in urgent need to foster new economic growth points.
“The Internet” and “technology” are the biggest variables of economic growth since the 21st century. Historically, Hong Kong has missed the development opportunities of Web1.0 and 2.0; in 2000 “Silicon Port Plan” in 2000 led to the biggest economic growth variables “Internet” and “technology”, the Hong Kong innovation has been depressed for many years, not a well-known Internet technology leading enterprise has been born. On the other hand, the mainland has seized the Internet wave around 2000, and has developed Internet giants such as Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu, as well as Internet upstarts such as Jingdong, Meituan, Didi and Toutiao are ready to go. It is worth mentioning that, from the 2022 Hong Kong, China and the mainland rich List released by Forbes, Hong Kong ranks in the top 10 is still “Old Money” and “old rich”, that is, the rich born by traditional industries such as real estate development and management; in contrast, the mainland presents “New Money” and “new rich”, which is the rich relying on the Internet and technology, which shows the difference between the two “make rich”.
3.Some thoughts on developing Web 3.0 in Hong Kong
First, in terms of top-level design, we should draw on the experience of the UAE and Saudi Arabia to formulate the development blueprint of Web3.0 in Hong Kong and clarify the development strategy. At the same time, we will encourage the existing Web3.0 development Task Force to follow the example of the Mainland Development and Reform Commission, lead the formulation of medium-and long-term development plans and industrial policies for Web3.0 in Hong Kong, and promote the construction of major projects.
Second, make full use of the advantages of “relying on the motherland” to make up for the lack of technology and experience. Technically, strengthen the collaboration with Shenzhen and other technology innovation centers, explore “Shenzhen technology + Hong Kong application”, lay a good technology base for Web3.0 development; experience, learn from the development experience of international and domestic leading Internet enterprises, explore and promote mainland BAT enterprises (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) to boost the development of Web3.0 in Hong Kong.
Third, on the premise of developing Web3.0 core technologies, actively expand application scenarios. Web3.0 is essentially a technological revolution, strengthening the cultivation and introduction of Web3.0 talents and the development of key technologies, encouraging the issuance of special work visas to top talents proficient in Web3.0 technology, and actively exploring more application scenarios in business and retail, healthcare services, copyright protection and personal privacy.
