Alibaba start-up competition: Hong Kong officials tout city as ideal launch pad – Technologist

“Being the only economy in the world where the growth advantage and the China advantage come together, Hong Kong continues to maintain our uniqueness as one of the most liberal and easiest places to do business in the world,” Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau Ying-wah said.

Rong Yu, director of the Language And Science AI Lab at Alibaba’s Damo Academy, also praised Hong Kong’s position between China and international markets. He discussed the academy’s recent SeaLLMs project, which seeks to localise large language models for Southeast Asian markets.

“Especially if you are [targeting] the South[east] Asia region, I think the cultural diversity of Hong Kong is very advantageous, because this cultural diversity will lead to innovations,” he said. “The culture for the local region is very important, and in Hong Kong maybe you can find cultural experts more easily than in other regions.”