Hong Kong’s five-year plan puts social research in focus

Hong Kong’s first five-year plan could give the city’s universities an opportunity to demonstrate how research can contribute to public policy, according to the supplied source material. The plan sets out ambitions relating to technology, regional development and international cooperation. Those priorities will require decisions about institutions and the effects of policy on people’s lives, the material says.

It argues that social scientists should be involved in shaping those decisions from the beginning, rather than being brought in only after policies have been designed. Their work could help assess how proposed measures affect institutions and communities. The blueprint specifically addresses public governance.

Areas mentioned include civil service performance, coordination between departments and the use of digital administration. The supplied extract ends while discussing provisions in the plan and does not provide further details about those measures, the universities involved or any official response. It therefore establishes the case being made for a stronger role for social science, but does not set out a detailed implementation programme or identify specific research projects.

The central argument is that the plan’s technological and regional ambitions are also questions about governance and society. On that basis, the material calls for universities and social scientists to help inform decisions at the outset.