Academics and business leaders on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong want the special administrative region to set up its own space industry office as more mainland space companies prepare to tap the city’s financial market and professional services, according to Executive Council convenor and lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee.

“We need an all-inclusive, one-stop office to cope with the ever increasing demand for cross-boundary coordination and cooperation,” she told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

Ip, who’s also founding chairperson of the New People’s Party, said an application to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing by a space enterprise based in Chengdu, Sichuan province, to go public in the city should be a “wake-up” call.

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Adaspace Technology -- China’s second-largest private space company -- filed for a Hong Kong listing on Aug 25. It’s reportedly “strategically poised in the burgeoning smart car technology sector” which comes under the new space economy category.

The new space economy refers to a dynamic frontier in commercializing the space below the low Earth orbit, and is driven mostly by the private sector.

Ip said with mainland space companies “knocking on the door” to tap Hong Kong’s financial market and professional services, the city should waste no time in creating a supervisory body for the new industry’s emerging activities.

She recalled her own experience of having come across frustrated aerospace company executives who complained about getting lost in a chain of visits to government offices without being able to figure out an overall space policy in the SAR.

“That’s why I’ve recommended that the government ought to establish a space office and be a coordinator, working with space institutions and companies from different jurisdictions.”

According to Ip, it’s time to “pull together various government agencies under the same roof” to serve a booming sector that mainland players aspire to globalize through Hong Kong’s role as a “super connector”.

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Fellow legislator Duncan Chiu Tat-kun, president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Joint Council, said Hong Kong’s space industry needs holistic comprehensive planning and a stable input from the government. “We hope leading aerospace enterprises will establish regional headquarters and high-end manufacturing bases in Hong Kong,” he said.

Academic and business circles, however, are focusing more on tangible revenue by tapping the city’s huge commercial potential in the new space economy in the low-altitude sphere which, in a sense, has nudged the aspirational outer space away from their consideration.

As the number and utility of low Earth orbit satellites soar, interconnected commercial activities related to these satellites drive innovation, investment, and collaboration across diverse sectors, according to Quentin Parker, director of the Laboratory for Space Research at the University of Hong Kong.

“If commercial activities emerge, the government will get ready and set up an agency to deal with it,” said Ip, who’s also the head and founder of the Savantas Policy Institute -- a think tank launched by a group of “policy aficionados” at Stanford University in 2006.

However, Ip’s vision of pushing Hong Kong’s economic frontier into space has drawn skepticism from members of the public who see her ideas as “unearthly and far-fetched”.

Nevertheless, potential investors have advocated keeping Hong Kong at the forefront of global trends. The World Economic Forum estimated last year that the space economy will go “from niche to ubiquitous” -- from $630 billion in 2023 to $1.8 trillion by 2035 -- making the mobile world increasingly connected.

Mahesh Harilela, family council convenor of the Harilela Group, has also proposed setting up a space office as soon as possible. “Since the new space is a promising area for the family office to consider, we need a place to understand the landscape, a framework that can connect with the Chinese mainland,” he said.

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Although an space office is still in the initial discussion stages, Ip, who has served in the Legislative Council for 17 years, envisions the office’s role in international rulemaking and data transaction.

While Japan has taken a leap forward in space regulation, Ip urged Hong Kong to be alert and move fast. “Hong Kong can also play a role because we have a very strong, robust, common law jurisdiction. We can certainly play a part in providing mediation and arbitration services,” she said.

Data collection and transaction are another promising sector in which Hong Kong can excel, according to Ip. “But, we need greater, better policy coordination by the government and regional cooperation by putting a space office in place as the first step,” she said.

“We can collaborate with mainland institutions, companies and experts under the Beidou satellite system to do intelligent aerospace technology. There’s a lot of room to go up.”

Contact the writer at jessicachen@chinahdailyhk.com