Innovation and Knowledge-Intensive Business Firms : Hong Kong's Engineering Consulting Sector

Based on my brief experience in studying innovation in Hong Kong, or anywhere else for that matter, I have noticed a phenomenon, which is the disparity in perception on what innovation is. That is the reason why a small section on definition of "innovation" is included in Chapter 1. Most people think of innovation as radical creation of some sort. Shooting a rocket to the moon would definitely be regarded as innovation, but by broadening the concept of innovation to embrace a larger range of activities as proposed in innovation studies literature, we have allowed much more room for development and growth for firms, industries, and, in turn, the economy as a whole. National governments worldwide have started to gear their efforts toward designing, steering, and coordinating public policies to enhance economic growth through innovation; and Hong Kong is no exception. In November 20, 2015, the Innovation and Technology Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government was formally established. The key mandate of the bureau is to oversee policy issues on the development of innovation and technology and information technology for the Hong Kong economy. This indicates the importance of innovation as perceived by policymakers. With this as the backdrop, it is evident that analyzing innovation along an extended assortment of dimensions can help identify areas in which improvement, and eventually competitiveness can be sought. The main thesis presented in this book is intended to serve such purpose. The dominant level of analysis of the case studies described in this book is on firms. The results of this study, however, have implications in industrial and/or sectoral underpinnings. Thus, the main contribution of this book is that the core concept of a societal initiative, to a certain extent, has been delineated; and, it is hoped that this motive can be carried forward not only in engineering firms, or knowledge-intensive firms more generally, but also in firms of other industries with different characteristics so that the concept of innovation can be continually explored and applied to aid economic growth.