Hong Kong - When asked why he chose Hong Kong to be the first overseas market of his smart medical device firm, Finnish businessman Ville Lindström simply retorted, "Why not?"

"I believe I can find partners here for both research and development as well as funding," Lindström said at his booth at the 18th Asian Financial Forum (AFF).

By its conclusion on Tuesday, the forum had sent out an unequivocal message that Hong Kong is well-placed to nurture game-changing drivers of growth.

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"Hong Kong's universities and research institutions can well spur innovation and industrial upgrade," said Lin Yifu, dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University.

Global firms thronged the city as it fostered such emerging sectors as artificial intelligence (AI), biotech, fintech and new materials. The number of companies in Hong Kong with overseas or Chinese mainland parent companies climbed to a historic 9,960 in 2024, while that of start-ups jumped to a record 4,694, both up 10 percent from the previous year, local data showed.

Noting that Italy is home to leading firms in areas like environmental protection and super computing, Davide Michele De Rosa, president of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Macao, looks forward to closer cooperation between Italian companies and firms in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) to the benefit of both Chinese and Italian economies.

Economists at the forum believe Hong Kong has an even bigger role to play when it comes to green transition, because it is a leading green and sustainable finance hub.

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In 2023, the value of green and sustainable bonds arranged in Hong Kong accounted for 37 percent of Asia's total. As of last September, Hong Kong had issued some 230 ESG funds, with assets under management of over $175 billion. The value is up over 50 percent from three years ago.

In one of the latest steps to consolidate its global status in green financing, Hong Kong launched a roadmap towards the full adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards -- Sustainability Disclosure Standards (ISSB Standards) in December last year, requiring large publicly accountable entities to fully adopt the ISSB Standards no later than 2028.

Demand for sustainable financing in such regions as Southeast Asia and the Middle East awaits Hong Kong to tap in the near future, said Ma Jun, chairman and president of Hong Kong Green Finance Association.