‘Scaling Hong Kong to the Nordics’ Concludes its Delegation Visit to Finland, Sweden and Denmark, Meeting Local Companies and Investors to Explore Business Opportunities in Nordic Markets
HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 24 May 2022 - “Scaling Hong Kong to the Nordics”, co-organised by Cyberport and the Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (FinnCham Hong Kong) and sponsored by Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong SAR), led a delegation of a number of Hong Kong-based digital entertainment and game development companies to visit renowned Finnish, Swedish and Danish game companies last week, after organising a series of seminars and matching activities.
The delegates also participated in Sweden’s Nordic Game, an annual major event for the global game industry, in order to help the Hong Kong game industry tap into the Nordic markets.The Hong Kong delegates set up a booth for Nordic Innovation House Hong Kong to showcase their games and digital entertainment solutions at Nordic Game and identify potential business partners and investors in the region.
The delegation visited Helsinki, Finland; Malmö, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark between 15 and 20 May. They visited well-known, large-scale Finnish game developers Supercell and Rovio, and joined the tours of Arcade 5, a Finnish co-working campus designed for digital entertainment and game development start-ups, as well as Game Habitat DevHub, Sweden’s co-working community for game developers, exchanging views with representatives of the game studios in the community. The delegation also visited the headquarters of Business Finland to learn about the local market and the business opportunities there. In addition, the delegates showcased their games and digital entertainment solutions at the Nordic Game conference in order to meet potential business partners and investors in the region.
Explore Collaboration Opportunities Between Nordic and Hong Kong Companies
Eric Chan, Chief Public Mission Officer of Cyberport, said, “The digital entertainment & esports industry has been developing rapidly around the globe. As the key promoter of the sector in Hong Kong, Cyberport strives to support industry development and diversification. At Cyberport, there are over 150 relevant start-ups and companies with businesses including game development and publishing, platforms for broadcasting tournaments and related multimedia content, and respective content management. Many have an eye on overseas markets. The delegation’s visit allows Hong Kong industry players to learn about the Nordic region’s digital entertainment and gaming industry development experience. The company visits and business meetings we arranged would facilitate collaborations with Nordic counterparts and help Hong Kong digital entertainment companies further expand their businesses internationally.”
Victor Tsang, Head of CreateHK, thanked Cyberport and FinnCham Hong Kong for organising “Scaling Hong Kong to the Nordics” during the pandemic, and for successfully leading a delegation formed by Hong Kong digital entertainment and game start-ups and scale-ups to visit the Nordic region after several postponements, which would help them explore the markets in that region.
Binh Johansson, Community Director of Nordic Innovation House, the supporting organisation which led the delegation, said, “There are tremendous business opportunities between the Hong Kong and Nordic gaming markets. Nordic game enterprises can introduce Hong Kong companies’ games to Nordic markets, co-develop new games, and invest in promising game companies. Meanwhile, Hong Kong game publishers, with their international business acumen and extensive networks, can help Nordic companies explore Asian markets. Other important factors are also the creative cultural exploration, talent and idea exchanges that this trip bring. Nordic Game is just the right platform to offer these great opportunities for industry players in the two regions to communicate face-to-face, and to understand each other better.”
Jeremy Lam, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of PIXIO, one of the delegates, said, “In visiting the offices of different local game companies, we learned about their corporate cultures and how they conduct their affairs, an inspiring experience. In addition, the Finnish and Swedish governments are very supportive of the game industry’s development. We expect the governments to formulate targeted policies to facilitate Hong Kong companies’ entry into Nordic markets. Looking forward, we will also take advantage of the support of the Nordic governments to invite local talent to Hong Kong and help our company further develop.”
“Scaling Hong Kong to the Nordics” is a one-year programme. To enhance the opportunity for successful collaboration, the organisers held a series of advance webinars prior to the delegation visit, providing the participants with a deeper understanding of the ecosystem and the latest developments and needs of the digital entertainment industry in the Nordic countries, which include Finland, Sweden and others. The programme also arranged pre-delegation business matching with Nordic companies and investors for the participants based on their respective business and development needs.
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About Cyberport
Cyberport is an innovative digital community with over 800 on-site start-ups and technology companies. It is managed by Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR Government. With a vision to be the hub for digital technology, thereby creating a new economic driver for Hong Kong, Cyberport is committed to nurturing a vibrant tech ecosystem by cultivating talent, promoting entrepreneurship among youth, supporting start-ups, fostering industry development by promoting strategic collaboration with local and international partners, and integrating new and traditional economies by accelerating digital transformation in public and private sectors.
For more information, please visit www.cyberport.hk
#Cyberport
About FinnCham Hong Kong
FinnCham Hong Kong connects Finnish companies, and companies with close ties to Finland, through business networking, knowledge sharing and market visibility. As an independent non-profit organisation, one of the main focus areas of FinnCham Hong Kong is to enforce its position as a reliable platform through which companies can better explore opportunities in the South China market. FinnCham Hong Kong enables companies to gain access to relevant and up to date information and connections, and provides its members value adding assistance when setting up their operations in Hong Kong and in the Mainland China.
About CreateHK
Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) is a dedicated agency set up by the Hong Kong SAR Government in June 2009. It is under the Communications and Creative Industries Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau and dedicate to spearheading the development of creative industries in Hong Kong. Its strategic foci are nurturing talent and facilitating start-ups, exploring markets, and promoting Hong Kong as Asia’s creative capital and fostering a creative atmosphere in the community. CreateHK sponsors the Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (FinnCham Hong Kong) to co-organise the “Scaling Hong Kong to the Nordics” with Cyberport to promote Hong Kong’s digital entertainment industry. Website: www.createhk.gov.hk
Disclaimer: The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) are those of the project organizers only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Communications and Creative Industries Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Create Hong Kong, the CreateSmart Initiative Secretariat or the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee.