Bulletin No. 2, 2024

Hong Kong: a pillar of GBA research Hong Kong plays a significant role in the GBA’s growth as a research and innovation powerhouse in China. It accounted for about 28% of total research output from the region, where roughly 16% of active researchers, numbering 66,900, were affiliated with institutions in the city, the report finds. impact and contribution by the Chinese University of Hong Kong”, starts off by examining megatrends that drove research impact in the GBA between 2018 and 2022 and examines the impact across a range of key metrics spanning citations, knowledge exchange potential and research collaborations, before zooming in on CUHK’s performance. Elsevier uses bibliometrics from its abstract and citation database Scopus, which consolidates information from more than 7,000 international publishers. The findings show that, on the whole, research and development in the GBA recorded compound annual growth of 17.9% in those five years, higher than the growth rates of China and the world. Its research output doubled from just under 74,000 publications in 2018 to nearly 143,000 in 2022. “This report demonstrates the GBA’s phenomenal growth as a research and development powerhouse,” Professor Sham added. “If the GBA is going to take the next step and contribute to the development of the New Quality Productive Forces, this report is a powerful reminder that a strong research sector will be essential to that endeavour.” The term “new quality productive forces” refers to China’s emphasis on scientific and technological innovation. Both Hong Kong and the overall GBA published extensively in the subject fields of computer science, chemistry, materials science, and engineering. In addition, Hong Kong researchers were also productive in subfields such as civil and structural engineering, and renewable energy, sustainability and the environment. These are not dominant subjects in the overall GBA region, where electronic, optical and magnetic materials and condensed matter physics were more present instead. 35