Of all 35+ spaces that have opened since the original BootHK and The Hive (who we still hold as the gold standard that showed everyone how co-workspace is done here in Hong Kong) nothing has made us more excited about the possibilities of doing a startup in Hong Kong than Blueprint in TaiKoo Place, Quarry Bay.
Brought to life by Swire Properties and designed by PDM International mixes Swire’s deep footprint in Hong Kong (which also makes up a lot of the furniture found within culled from its many businesses like seats from airplanes and vintage Coca-Cola machines) with a well thought out workable and creative space puts many of the “property plays” that have been popping up around the city to shame. So from now on lets not focus on the amount of spaces we have in Hong Kong and focus on the ones that add value to the community.
The 20,000 square foot place over 2 floors in Cornwall House, Taikoo Place starts to put a focus on the east side of Hong Kong as a new startup hub (Sorry, Sheung Wan). Swire’s focus with this project is not to invest financially into the startups at first, but let them find traction through connections made within the Swire family – and we think any startup can tell you that getting a chance to sit down with the Cathay Pacific CMO or the Coca-Cola CTO in Hong Kong would do wonders for the development of any new business.
So beyond the big bucks Swire put into this project, they at least have thought it through and we think the most expensive thing they are investing is the time of their management; to put a stake in the ground in Quarry Bay and call it the new innovation hub in Hong Kong. Something only a public company could do and not the government by the way.
Our own Casey Lau recently participated in Blueprint’s first Mentor Day and had this to say:
An amazing space that feels both “corporatey” and “startupy” at the same time – Blueprint will definitely be raising the bar on the quality of co-work in Hong Kong and the region. I also thought that the Mentor Day Hilary Szymujko organised was a huge step in the right direction and I envy the teams in their first batch having this kind of support. No pressure Batch 1 – but it’s your game to lose now.
Of course its early days for this new venture, so we hope with the team leading it (see Applications For New B2B Accelerator ‘Blueprint’) that it becomes more than a vanity project for a big conglomerate and fulfils the promise of bringing innovation to the old school and push Hong Kong to the forefront in the region.
See a bunch of photos we took on our Facebook page and feel free to Like our page as well.
Henderson Land jumped in by sponsoring The Good Lab their space on Kowloon side; so we’re guessing the ball is now in your court: Hutchinson Whampoa, Cheung Kong, Jardine Matheson – even Jack Ma is putting some of his Alibaba money in to help Hong Kong startups.
Who’s next?
