Science and Public Policy August 2006 0302-3427/06/070505-14 US$08.00  Beech Tree Publishing 2006 505 Science and Public Policy, volume 33, number 7, August 2006, pages 505–518, Beech Tree Publishing, 10 Watford Close, Guildford, Surrey GU1 2EP, England Hong Kong An examination of recent developments in Hong Kong’s innovation system: 1990 to the present Naubahar Sharif This paper provides a broad-based background to the major innovation-related organizations, policies and institutions that have shaped Hong Kong’s innovative landscape over the past dec- ade and a half and determined the trajectory of its innovation system. The examination reveals three key issues: First, the Asian Financial Cri- sis was the major catalyst for change in the de- velopment of Hong Kong’s innovation system. Second, the ecology of Hong Kong’s innovation system grew in an unprecedented manner follow- ing 1998. Finally, this growth in the elements of the system indicates promising directions in which to drive future in-depth research. Naubahar Sharif is Assistant Professor, Division of Social Sci- ence, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR; Email: sosn@ust.hk; Tel.: +852 2358 7826; Fax: +852 2335 0014. HE INNOVATION SYSTEMS (IS) concept is widely used in Scandinavia and Western Europe, both in academic contexts and as a tool for policy-making. 1 Although the IS concept has been widely applied to economies in the industrial- ized world (see, for example, chapters in Nelson, 1993; chapters in Larédo and Mustar, 2001; Lemola, 1994; Vuori and Vuorinen, 1994; Edquist and Lund- vall, 1993; Dalum, 1994; Capron and Meeusen, 2000; Goyer, 2001; Drejer, 2000), it is only recently being applied to industrializing economies (see, for example, Intarakumnerd et al (2002) on Thailand’s innovation system; IDRC (1997) on China’s innova- tion system; Cimoli (2000) for Mexico’s innovation system). This line of study — applying the IS con- cept to industrializing economies — extends to the ‘newly industrializing economies’ (NIEs) of Korea, Taiwan and Singapore (Hou and Gee, 1993; Kim, 1993; Wong, 1996; 2003; Chung, 2001; Chang and Shih, 2004). Conspicuous by its absence, however, is scholar- ship that attempts to understand Hong Kong’s econ- omy by explicitly employing the IS perspective as its primary analytical lens. This paper aims to fill this lacuna within innovation studies by applying the IS perspective to Hong Kong’s innovation system. 2 It provides a broad-based background to the major innovation-related organizations, policies and insti- tutions that have shaped Hong Kong’s innovative landscape over the past decade and a half and determined the trajectory of its innovation system. I relied on four data sources for the material con- tained in this paper. First, I examined the scholarly literature pertaining to the development of Hong Kong’s innovation system and economy. Second, I performed an in-depth analysis of official T