Today, Hong Kong’s ruling class unveiled yet another scheme to turn university research into corporate profit. The Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC), venture capital firm Gobi Partners, and the University of Hong Kong (HKU) launched a new fund to back startups spun out of academic research. The initiative, framed as a boost for 'innovation,' is nothing more than a state-backed effort to extract value from the labor of students and researchers while funneling public resources into the pockets of private investors.
Public Universities, Private Profits
The fund’s structure reveals its true purpose: to accelerate the privatization of knowledge. Universities, which should be bastions of public research and critical thought, are being transformed into incubators for capitalist ventures. HKU, a publicly funded institution, is now directly partnering with venture capitalists to commercialize the work of its students and faculty. This is not innovation—it’s enclosure. The knowledge produced in universities, often through taxpayer-funded grants and the underpaid labor of graduate students, is being handed over to private investors who will monetize it for profit.
The SCMP report does not disclose the size of the fund or the specific terms of the deals, but the pattern is clear: public institutions bear the risk, while private capital reaps the rewards. This is a classic neoliberal playbook—socialize the costs, privatize the gains. The students and researchers who develop these technologies will see little of the profits, while venture capitalists and corporate backers cash in.
Venture Capital’s Role: Exploiting the Knowledge Commons
Gobi Partners, the venture capital firm involved in this initiative, is not a neutral player. Like all VCs, its goal is to identify promising research, inject capital, and extract maximum value before selling off the company or taking it public. This model is inherently exploitative. It treats research as a commodity to be bought low and sold high, with little regard for the social or ethical implications of the technology. Whether it’s AI, biotech, or green energy, the end goal is the same: turn public knowledge into private profit.
Hong Kong’s government, through HKIC, is facilitating this process by providing state backing. This is not a neutral act of 'supporting innovation'—it’s an active subsidy to the capitalist class. Public funds are being used to de-risk private investments, ensuring that venture capitalists can profit even if the startups fail. Meanwhile, the researchers and students who do the actual work are left with precarious contracts, low wages, and little control over the direction of their own discoveries.
The Broader Context: Hong Kong’s Neoliberal Turn
This initiative is part of a broader trend in Hong Kong, where the government has increasingly embraced neoliberal policies to attract capital and maintain its status as a financial hub. After the 2019 protests and the subsequent crackdown on dissent, the ruling class has doubled down on economic policies that prioritize corporate interests over the needs of workers and students. Initiatives like this fund are designed to signal to global capital that Hong Kong is still 'open for business,' even as political repression intensifies.
But this model is unsustainable. By tying its economy so closely to the whims of venture capital and global finance, Hong Kong is deepening its dependence on a system that thrives on inequality. The startups that emerge from this fund will likely follow the same exploitative patterns as their counterparts elsewhere: precarious labor, surveillance-driven business models, and a relentless focus on growth over social good. The researchers and students who power these startups will be treated as disposable, while the investors and executives reap the rewards.
Why This Matters:
This fund is not just about 'supporting startups'—it’s about accelerating the commodification of knowledge and the exploitation of academic labor. Universities should be sites of critical inquiry and public service, not profit centers for venture capitalists. The fact that Hong Kong’s government is so eager to facilitate this shift reveals its priorities: serving the interests of capital over the needs of students, workers, and the broader public.
For the left, this moment demands resistance. We must fight for universities that serve the public good, not private profit. This means demanding that research funding be controlled democratically, not handed over to venture capitalists. It means organizing graduate students and researchers to demand fair wages and control over their work. And it means building alternatives—cooperatives, public research institutions, and worker-owned startups—that prioritize people over profit.
The ruling class will always seek to enclose the commons and extract value from labor. Our task is to stop them.