Hangzhou tech leaders join Hong Kong top advisory council

The Hong Kong Special Administration Region government announced the appointment of 34 new members to the Chief Executive's Advisory Council on June 27.

They included two rising stars from the dynamic tech scene in Hangzhou — Wang Xingxing, founder of Unitree Robotics and Han Bicheng, founder of BrainCo.

Their selection is viewed as highlighting Hong Kong's growing focus on advanced technology.

As part of the second cohort of advisors serving until June 2027, they join global figures such as Nobel laureate Michael Spence and former IMF Deputy Managing Director Zhu Min. The council is tasked with advising on Hong Kong's strategic development, with this new term placing greater emphasis on economic transformation and tech-driven growth.

Wang and Han represent the new hard tech force from Hangzhou, with their companies — leaders in humanoid robotics and brain-computer interfaces — emerging from the city's innovation hub known as the "Hangzhou Six Little Dragons".

Their inclusion is said to mark a shift from traditional business leaders to younger, innovation-led voices in the advisory group.

The move follows Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu's visit to Hangzhou in April. During the trip, he toured both Unitree and BrainCo, expressing strong interest in their technologies and encouraging their expansion into Hong Kong.

Their appointments signal deeper integration between Hong Kong's global platform and Hangzhou's innovation capabilities.

As Hong Kong seeks to reposition itself as a global innovation hub, the inclusion of two tech leaders underscores a clear step towards fostering cross-border collaboration in frontier fields like robotics and neural engineering.