Hong Kong’s ambitions for artificial intelligence, technological innovation and high-caliber talent, as elaborated on in its first five-year plan, raise an important youth-policy question: How can young people gain not only the skills but also the practical experience needed to participate in the new economy?

This question is especially pressing when recent official figures have put the number of young people who are not in employment, education or training as high as 36,100. As AI reshapes industries and transforms entry-level work, helping more young people remain connected to meaningful economic opportunities has become an increasingly important policy priority.

The policy response is substantial. The five-year plan calls for stronger AI literacy, wider vocational skills training, closer integration between education and industry, more internship and exchange opportunities, and stronger support for youth employment and entrepreneurship. The 2026 Policy Address builds on this foundation through initiatives such as the proposed United Nations Youth Leaders Internship Programme, AI upskilling programs and the new 30,000 Youth Employment and Internship Programme.

Taken together, these initiatives reflect one of the five-year plan’s central themes: the integrated development of education, technology and talent. They also recognize an important reality. In the age of AI, employability depends not only on what young people know, but on whether they can apply that knowledge in real-world settings.

The challenge is not simply training. It is experience.

A scan of graduate and entry-level vacancies suggests that employers are placing a growing emphasis on workplace readiness, applied capability and the ability to contribute from day one. Employers do not simply need people who understand technology. They need people who can use technology to create value.

This trend reflects both post-COVID-19 pandemic productivity pressures and the rapid adoption of AI. Research by organizations such as PwC and the World Economic Forum suggests that AI is reshaping entry-level work and changing traditional routes into employment. As routine tasks become increasingly automated, employers are placing greater value on judgment, adaptability, communication and problem-solving capabilities that are often developed through practical experience rather than mere classroom learning.

As a result, many entry-level roles now require a level of workplace readiness that was once associated with more senior positions. While skills remain important, many young people face challenges in translating qualifications into the practical experience that employers increasingly seek.

This challenge is particularly acute for those who have struggled to gain a foothold in the labor market. A continuing implementation challenge is ensuring that opportunities are accessible to young people from diverse backgrounds, including those who have become detached from employment or education. Even highly motivated graduates can find themselves trapped in a familiar cycle: needing experience to obtain a job, but needing a job to gain experience.

Encouragingly, both the five-year plan and the 2026 Policy Address recognize the importance of practical experience. The plan commits to strengthening youth employment support and expanding work-experience opportunities, while the Policy Address introduces the 30,000 Youth Employment and Internship Programme and explicitly highlights the importance of helping young people accumulate practical experience in emerging fields.

The challenge now is implementation. These opportunities must be sufficiently numerous, structured and connected to sectors where future demand is likely to grow.

The plan’s proposal to use AI in employment services is also significant. Better job matching can help, especially if it provides young people with personalized recommendations on vacancies, training and career pathways. However, matching works only if meaningful entry points exist. AI-enabled employment services should therefore be complemented by employer commitments to offer structured junior roles, project placements and practical learning opportunities.

This points to a broader question: Should traditional employment remain the only pathway through which young people gain experience? The answer is increasingly no.

Across the Chinese mainland and other markets, AI is lowering the barriers to business creation. Individuals can now offer research, marketing, automation, design and content services with resources that previously required significantly larger teams. Participation in the AI economy may therefore take forms beyond conventional employment.

For some young people, entrepreneurship can serve as a practical route to building confidence, commercial awareness and real-world experience. The value lies not only in whether a venture succeeds, but also in what is learned through the process.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has an important role to play here. The five-year plan highlights employment, internship and entrepreneurship opportunities for Hong Kong’s young people across the region, alongside support from youth innovation and entrepreneurship platforms. These initiatives should not only help create future high-growth companies. They should also provide opportunities for young people to test AI-enabled services, build client portfolios, work on real projects, and gain market experience.

Entrepreneurship will not suit everyone, and business survival should not be the only measure of success. Even ventures that do not succeed commercially can provide young people with valuable experience in project management, customer engagement, business development, service delivery, financial planning and risk management. These are precisely the capabilities that many employers continue to value.

This is why stronger connections between training providers, employers, universities, nongovernmental organizations and entrepreneurship platforms will matter. Publicly supported AI and youth-employability programs should, wherever possible, include an applied component: an employer project, a micro-internship, a client assignment, a prototype, a community problem-solving initiative, or a supported microbusiness trial.

Such an approach would align closely with the five-year plan’s vision of integrating education, technology and talent. It would also help bridge the gap between acquiring knowledge and applying it.

The success of Hong Kong’s AI and youth-development agenda should therefore not be measured solely by the number of people trained, certified or enrolled in programs. It should also be measured by the number of meaningful opportunities created for young people to apply what they have learned.

Employment, internships and entrepreneurship should be viewed not as competing solutions but as complementary pathways for building experience. Hong Kong’s new initiatives provide a strong foundation. The next challenge is ensuring that young people can translate skills into experience, experience into opportunity, and opportunity into long-term participation in the economy.

The author is a senior lecturer at the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong and co-chair of the Advocacy and Policy Research Committee, the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.