For reasons both good and bad, finance is exciting to some people, especially students graduating from colleges and graduate schools.

The good reason is that finance, appropriately done, is essential for moving resources toward their most productive uses. The bad reason is that people make more money in finance and are treated like celebrities even though their newfound wealth does not benefit the world.

Some people in finance earn more money and are looked up to because they genuinely enable resources to be channeled toward more productive uses. Their role is crucial to the advancement of the economy and society.

The lousy reason why some people in finance earn vast sums and are lionized is that they move large chunks of other people’s money in ways that neither enhance productivity nor benefit the public while charging what appears to be a small percentage but is actually a very large amount given the enormous figures involved. Economists sometimes label this “rent-seeking” — the kind of activity that moves money to the benefit of those who move it but does not help direct resources toward their most productive use.

Hong Kong should champion productive finance and avoid unproductive finance. The best way to do this is to know what is likely to be productive. That means being directly involved in productive projects that need financing.

Technology is the activity that ultimately produces economic growth, not finance. People forget that finance is just a means and not an end in itself. Its ultimate purpose is only to facilitate the advance of technology and its applications. Technology is much more crucial and central to economic growth than finance. There would be no economic growth if there were only finance — even fintech — but no other technology.

To advance economic growth directly through technology and better understand what needs to be financed, Hong Kong must be heavily involved in and highly knowledgeable about technology. That means both the hard and the soft kind, from complex technologies such as mining, refining, energy production and distribution, and heavy manufacturing, to softer technologies, including those associated with the digital age and the links between them.

Hong Kong has some of the best technological universities in the world: the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong, and others. It would be a mistake to divert resources and class time from technology to finance at those universities. The productive kind of finance is different from what is taught in many finance courses these days. Many of those courses are devoted to theories and research, with much mathematical performativity but little practical use. Real finance — facilitating the direction of resources toward their most productive uses — is generally learned chiefly through practice and not in theory. And much of it requires the study not only of technology but of law.

With world-class electric utilities and energy consulting firms, Hong Kong is well-positioned to contribute to this better design. AI may even be a factor in designing and operating better energy systems. Hong Kong could try to excel in an area like that

Universities should help train students not only in developing new and improved technologies but also in presenting their developments to those who finance their practical applications, to people like venture capitalists, angel investors, and the general public — in other words, to promote effective communication.

However, the emphasis should be on nurturing and developing superior technologists. Because of Hong Kong’s space limitations, advanced design and small-scale precision manufacturing should be central to Hong Kong’s economic vitality, more so than finance. But the links to the Chinese mainland, especially the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and to the rest of the global supply chain mean that for technologies it specializes in, Hong Kong could be at the center of, or a crucial link in, a web of technological development.

When people think of technology, they tend to think of digital technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI). However, digital technology would not be possible without electricity, and electricity would not be possible without the materials and technologies required to produce them. These technologies need mining engineers, metallurgists, and material scientists — fields that unfortunately interest fewer students nowadays than seemingly more flashy and popular fields like finance and data science. However, an intensified need to develop more and better energy technologies will persist in modern civilization for decades to come. That also means a need for the resources and supply chains that those energy technologies will require. Much of the need will be for better design of energy systems. With world-class electric utilities and energy consulting firms, Hong Kong is well-positioned to contribute to this better design. AI may even be a factor in designing and operating better energy systems. Hong Kong could try to excel in an area like that.

In short, although many people are, for mistaken reasons, fascinated with finance, the genuinely fascinating future projects will be in technologies other than finance. Students and aspiring participants in developing future civilizations should be prepared to contribute according to changing requirements.

The author is an adjunct professor in the Division of Environment and Sustainability at HKUST and the author of numerous articles and two books on finance. He was also a co-founder and chief economist of a financial company that was sold to The Bank of New York.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.