Ryan Whalen et al on The institutional dynamics of inequality for women inventors who break with conventional thinking (PNAS)

"The institutional dynamics of inequality for women inventors who break with conventional thinking"
Tara Sowrirajan, Ryan Whalen, and Brian Uzzi
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
Published online: April 2026

Significance: The gender innovation gap—where women’s inventions are less likely to be patented or pursued—raises concerns about its potential to slow scientific progress. Our analysis of millions of patent applications reveals that the gender gap in patenting is not uniform across conventional and unconventional patents. Rather, it manifests for women inventors who attempt to patent unconventional inventions—innovations that combine knowledge in unfamiliar ways. We find the USPTO’s practices overassign women inventors to women examiners who are relatively inexperienced and more likely to reject unconventional inventions due to their inexperience, not due to gender stereotypes. By identifying these institutional barriers, we propose that organizational policies can complement gender bias explanations and may more immediately address the gender innovation gap.

Abstract: Though women comprise a growing share of the scientific workforce, the gender innovation gap in patenting between men and women inventors persists, potentially limiting innovation output and equity. We study millions of scientific and technological innovations and find that the innovation gap faced by women is not universal. No gap exists for highly conventional innovations, which combine ideas in familiar ways. Rather, it exists when women inventors attempt to patent unconventional inventions, which combine ideas in surprising ways and drive scientific advancements. Our data suggest that rather than deliberate bias, a confluence of institutional practices lower women inventor’s chances of patenting unconventional innovations. We find that women examiners relative to men have less of the on-the-job experience needed to appraise unconventional innovations. Additionally, women examiners are overassigned to women applicants, reducing their odds of successfully patenting unconventional inventions. Lastly, traditional explanations weakly account for this innovation gap because men examiners grant comparably more unconventional innovations to women inventors than do women examiners. These institutional barriers reveal new factors that slow innovation, but at the same time can be more directly addressed than deeply rooted gender norms.

Hualing Fu interviewed on Innovating Legal Education at HKU (Hong Kong Lawyer)

"Innovating Legal Education at HKU"
Doris Yu
Hong Kong Lawyer
October 2023

As Dean of the Faculty of Law at The University of Hong Kong, Fu Hualing is keenly aware of the importance of innovation in legal education. His job is important in guiding and shaping the next generation of legal professionals. Effectively doing this requries hiring high quality professors, restructuring curricula and incorporating technology into course work that allows both faculty and students to keep up with new emerging practice areas and the changing demands on the legal profession. The past few years have been marked by change, and those that lead the education of legal professionals have to adapt to the new environments, the confluence of Chinese law and common law, new technologies and new ways of working for the legal profession...Click here to read the full interview.

New Book by Thomas Cheng: The Patent-Competition Interface in Developing Countries (Oxford University Press)

The Patent-Competition Interface in Developing Countries
Thomas Cheng
Oxford University Press

Published in December 2021

Overview:

• Proposes a development stage-specific approach to the patent-competition interface in developing countries, taking into account their technological capacity
• Offers a detailed illustration of the approach with a wide range of patent exploitation practices, including analysis of the relevant theoretical issues and a survey of the relevant case law from the US, the EU, and select developing countries
• Provides an in-depth study of the meaning and relevance of innovation in developing countries and its implications for competition law regulation of patent exploitation practices

Book Description: This book proposes an approach to the patent-competition interface for developing countries. It puts forward a theoretical framework after canvassing relevant policy considerations and examines the many reasons why patent protection is not essential for generating innovation incentives in developing countries. These include the tendency of the patent system to overcompensate innovators, the availability of other appropriation mechanisms for innovators to monetize their innovations, and the lack of appropriate technological capacity in many developing countries to take advantage of the incentives generated by the patent system. It also argues that developing countries with a small population need not pay heed to the impact of their patent system on the incentives of foreign innovators. It then proposes a classification of developing countries into production countries, technology adaptation countries, and proto-innovation countries and argues that dynamic efficiency considerations take on different meanings for developing countries depending on their technological capacities.

    For the vast majority of developing countries bereft of meaningful innovation capacity, foreign technology transfer is the main vehicle for technological progress. The chief dynamic policy consideration for these countries is hence incentives for technology transfer instead of innovation incentives. There are three main means of voluntary technology transfer: importation of technological goods, foreign direct investment, and technology licensing. Competition law regulation of patent exploitation practices interacts with these three means of technology transfer in different ways and an appropriate approach to the patent-competition interface for these countries needs to take these into account.

     Distilling all these considerations, the book proposes a development stage-specific approach to the patent-competition interface for developing countries. The approach is then applied to a number of patent exploitation practices, including unilateral refusal to deal, patent tying, excessive pricing for pharmaceuticals, reverse payment settlements, and restrictive licensing practices.

Interview with Dora Chan, Inventor of the “E-package of DIY Residential Tenancy Agreement” (CLIC)

The online Community Legal Information Centre (CLIC) recently uploaded an e-package of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Residential Tenancy Agreement.  The package includes a tenancy agreement template in English and Chinese which tenants and landlords can use to structure their legal relations.  Principal Lecturer Dora Chan, Adjunct Associate Professor Edmund Cham, and their team of students/graduates developed the templates along with a set of guidance notes with the assistance of the HKU Knowledge Exchange Fund.  HKU Legal Scholarship Blog caught up with Dora to find out more about her project.

1. What motivated this project and what is its aim?

Currently, if members of the public want to enter into a tenancy agreement on their own, the most common means is to buy a sample tenancy agreement from a stationery shop or to download a sample agreement from the internet. All these samples are not satisfactory as they are not prepared and reviewed by persons competent in tenancy law. In one of the stationery shop sample, one of the clause refers to legislation from 1952 which had been repealed and some of the terms used in samples are archaic. If the public use inappropriate samples for renting their residential homes, it may result in disputes and problems between the landlord and tenant which can have significant impact on their daily lives. In many cases, the public may not want to engage a lawyer to prepare a residential tenancy agreement as it can be costly and time consuming. 

     The aim of the E-package is to provide the public with a properly prepared residential tenancy agreement template. Members of the public can enter into a proper residential tenancy agreement using the E-package without the need and costs to engage a lawyer or an estate agent. 

2. Who are the targeted beneficiaries?

Any member of the public who would like to enter into a residential tenancy agreement on his or her own. 

3. Can this substitute for the assistance of a lawyer or only supplement?

Depending on the individual circumstances, if the transaction is a simple letting of a residential flat, the public can use the template tenancy agreement by filling in the essential details of name of parties, rent, term of tenancy and deposit and they can have a workable tenancy agreement. For complicated transactions, they may still need to engage a lawyer.

4. Is there a purpose to having a bilingual agreement? 

It would give a choice to the public as to whether they want the tenancy agreement to be in Chinese or English.

5. Why should someone use this new “E-package of DIY Residential Tenancy Agreement”? 

The public can have free online access to a residential tenancy agreement properly prepared and vetted by the students and staff of the Faculty of Law, HKU who have competent legal knowledge on HK tenancy law. The guidance notes also provide a comprehensive guide to the public on how to stamp and register timely a residential tenancy agreement to avoid incurring late fees and penalty.

6. How is this related to HKU's goals to promote knowledge exchange and experiential learning? 

In the course of preparing the E-package, the law students in the E-package team gained the valuable experience in applying their legal knowledge and English and Chinese drafting skills in preparing the E-package which is beneficial and useful to the general public. The practical experience gained by the students in producing the E-package would be most advantageous to them as future lawyers and would also serve the worthy purpose of knowledge exchange between HKU and the society. 

7. Why is this project unique?

As far as I am aware, the E-package is the first online website which provides a properly prepared residential tenancy agreement template and comprehensive guidelines on stamping and registering a residential tenancy agreement.

8. Who can access the free agreement package? And, where?

Any member of the public can have free access to the E-package from the HKU CLIC website. The URLs are as follows in the three languages (English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese):-

http://www.clic.org.hk/en/topics/DIY_Residential_Tenancy_Agreement

http://www.clic.org.hk/tc/topics/DIY_Residential_Tenancy_Agreement

http://www.clic.org.hk/sc/topics/DIY_Residential_Tenancy_Agreement​

9. What if the users encounter problems when using the e-package? Who can they contact? What can they do?

The E-package is intended to be a self-explanatory document. If the public finds the E-package does not suit their specific needs, they would have to seek legal advice from a lawyer.

Ryan Whalen on Boundary Spanning Innovation and the Patent System (Research Policy)

"Boundary spanning innovation and the patent system: Interdisciplinary challenges for a specialized examination system"

Ryan Whalen

Research Policy
Published on April 19, 2018

Abstract: This article discusses the importance of boundary spanning innovation, demonstrates the drawbacks of popular metadata based boundary spanning measures, and proposes a new full text semantic similarity measure of boundary spanning. It subsequently uses the semantic distance boundary spanning measure to demonstrate that boundary spanning innovation has become more common in recent decades, and show that these boundary spanning inventions pose challenges for the traditional specialized-examiner patent examination model. Examining the applications for inventions that span technical boundaries takes longer and requires more back-and-forth with the patent office than their comparatively simple peers. Finally, this article discusses potential reforms to the patent examination system to help address these challenges.

Ryan Whalen on the Office of Alternative Medicine and the Endorsement Effects Innovation Policy (Science and Public Policy)

"Research funding’s ‘endorsement effect’ on scientific boundary work and research production: government legitimization of alternative medicine"

Ryan Whalen
Science and Public Policy
Published on 24 April 2018

Abstract: This article demonstrates how science and technology policy can have an ‘endorsement effect’ that legitimizes and increases the salience of scientific research areas. The validation and increased attention provided by state funding policies can support the discursive boundary work of interested parties as they seek to situate research fields within mainstream science. Increased validity and attention can subsequently lead to increased research activity, above and beyond that funded by the state. This article demonstrates the endorsement effect by examining how the founding of the NIH’s Office of Alternative Medicine affected both the discourse surrounding the legitimacy of alternative medicine, and the production of alternative medicine-related patents. The existence of this endorsement effect suggests that policymakers should consider both the direct effects that innovation policy might have on researchers’ incentives as well as the endorsement effects it can have on the research system.

Hong Kong Team Wins at the Global Legal Hackathon (NYC, 21 April 2018)

L-R: Alison Li, Edelweiss Kwok, Sally Yiu

@DecodingLawHK #GLH2018 @hkuniversity

Congratulations to the winning Hong Kong team, Decoding Law, at the Global Legal Hackathon, held in New York City, 21 April 2018.  Fourteen teams competed on the stage and only four winners were recognised.  The Hong Kong team won in the public service category for their innovative project that uses machine learning and AI technologies to make reading legislation easier for the ordinary person including unrepresented litigants.  

The team comprises of HKU and CUHK law students, software developers and data scientists. The three HKU team members, Alison Li, Edelweiss Kwok, and Sally Yiu are currently studying in Year III of the combined law and business degree programme (BBA(Law) & LLB).  In her interview for the ABA Journal, Ms Yiu said she was "impressed to see so many talented minds collaborate and come up with feasible solutions to solve certain legal problems in society."  For other news stories of the event, see New York Law Journal and Artificial Lawyer.  This was the first ever Global Legal Hackathon to be held.  The other three winners were from the United States and Hungary.  The official press release can be viewed here.

Hong Kong Law Students Win First Round of Global Legal Hackathon

HKU BBA(Law) & LLB Year 3 students, Alison Li Pui Wun, Edelweiss Kwok Yuet Yi and Sally Yiu Man Ki together with two CUHK LLB students and four computer science/information technology experts won the Hong Kong round of Global Legal Hackathon. They will represent Hong Kong in the next round of the competition, with a chance to head to the finals in New York in April.

     The Global Legal Hackathon 2018, which took place on 23-25 February 2018, was co-organised by various legal-tech companies including IBM Watson, Global Legal Blockchain Consortium and Integra, and is one of the largest legal hackathons taking place in over 20 countries and 40 cities. It brought together stakeholders in the legal industry, including legal professionals, technologists, business strategists and law students in an intense sprint of legal tech education, creativity and invention. Each team was required to create a technological solution for improving the legal industry worldwide under a tight schedule. A video for the event can be viewed here.

     The winning project "Decoding Law" is a machine learning powered browser plugin that helps people read and understand legislation. It finds the relevant section(s) of legislation by identifying keywords in questions entered by users, explains defined terms for easier navigation and breaks down complex legislative drafting into simple language, which is particularly useful to unrepresented litigants. If you are interested in knowing more or want to support the team, please like and follow their Facebook page.  They need as many likes as possible to get to the final round.
     Alison, Edelweiss and Sally are newbies to hackathon. Edelweiss said, "the competition is an eye-opening experience that provides lots of different insights for legal tech that I have never imagined before." Alison said, "the GLH is a great platform for us to meet legal and tech talents and exchange and even realise our innovative ideas. It is indeed inspiring to see different teams' approaches and solutions, which is unprecedented but feasible." Sally said, "I am indeed impressed to see so many talented minds collaborate and come up with feasible solutions to solve certain legal problems in the society."  For more information, read Brian Tang (curator of the event)'s coverage in Asia Legal Business.

Photo with the judges and the organiser

(First row left 2: Edelweiss Kwok; first row left 3: Alison Li; first row left 4: Sally Yiu)

Law students team photo

(Left 2: Sally Yiu; Middle: Alison Li; Right 2: Edelweiss Kwok)

Ryan Whalen on Complex Innovation and the Patent Office (Chicago-Kent J of IP)

"Complex Innovation and the Patent Office"

Ryan Whalen

The Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property,
2018, Volume 17, Issue 1

Abstract: As the universe of available information becomes larger and innovation becomes more complex, the task of examining patent applications becomes increasingly difficult. This Article argues that the United States Patent Office has insufficiently responded to changes in the information universe and to innovation norms. This leaves the Patent Office less able to adequately assess patent applications, and more likely to grant bad patents. After first demonstrating how innovation has been responsive to contemporary innovation norms for hundreds of years, this Article uses information and data science methods to empirically demonstrate how innovation has drastically changed in recent decades. After empirically demonstrating the changed innovation system and the inadequate response to these changes by the USPTO, this Article concludes with policy prescriptions aimed to help the Patent Office implement examination procedures adequate to assess 21st century innovation. These prescriptions include more granular crediting for the time spent by examiners assessing applications, an increased focus on teamwork at the Patent Office, improvements to the inter partes review process, and alterations to the analogous art doctrine.

New book by Yahong Li: Patents and Innovation in Mainland China and Hong Kong (CUP)

Patents and Innovation in Mainland China and Hong Kong: Two Systems in One Country Compared

Editor: Yahong Li
Cambridge University Press
October 2017, 286 pp

Description: How do patents affect innovation in Mainland China and Hong Kong? How can two patent systems operate within one country and how is innovation affected by the 'one country two systems' model? For the first time, this book links these challenging issues together and provides a comprehensive overview for government officials, law-makers, academics, law practitioners and students to understand the patent systems of Mainland China and Hong Kong. Themes examined include the interaction between the two distinctive patent regimes, the impact of patents on innovation in China's specific industries such as green tech, traditional Chinese medicines and telecommunications, the role of utility models in inflating low-quality patents and the application of good faith principle in enforcing FRAND in Mainland China, patent system reforms in Hong Kong, and the impact of these changes on innovation in the two vastly distinctive yet closely connected jurisdictions.

• The first detailed study of the links between Mainland China and Hong Kong in the area of patents and innovation
• Describes the establishment of Hong Kong's indigenous patent system and how it was reformed after the handover to China
• Analyzes in depth the role of patents in China's individual industries such as green tech, traditional Chinese medicines and telecommunications

Chapters were contributed by some of the students and graduates of the Faculty of Law's research postgraduate programme including Dr Chen Yifu, Dr Gao Li and Miss Yu Limeng.

Advance Praise

'In the international IP community a knowledge gap exists with regard to the fact that China employs two different, but complementary patent systems. The book giving deep comparative insight into both systems and furthermore promotes additional, valuable knowledge concerning other territories of 'Greater China'.' 

Heinz Goddar, European and German Patent and Trademark Attorney

'With uncertainties about the Unified Patent Court and system in Europe and the disruptions of long-standing expectations by the Supreme Court in the United States, China promises to emerge as the primary place where researchers and investors can vindicate their faith in the future of intellectual property. In that new emerging world of IP, knowledge of Chinese IP law and practice will be at a premium. Chinese IP has an additional point of attraction: it is actually two systems - one on the mainland and one in the traditional Asian economic powerhouse of Hong Kong. This book by Professor Li opens the door to both systems and increases insight into both by comparison. As China continues to emerge as the center pole holding up the tent of IP, Professor Li's book will teach ways to use that tent and its center pole to protect the world's IP assets.' 

Judge Randall Rader, Principal, The Rader Group; former Chief Judge, US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

HKU Law Welcomes Two New Assistant Professors Specialising in IP, Innovation & Jurisprudence

We warmly welcome Dr Ryan Whalen, who joins us from Dalhousie University, and Mr Alex Green, who joins us from University College London, to the HKU Faculty of Law.

     Ryan Whalen’s research takes a data-driven approach to understanding the law and legal systems, with a particular focus on intellectual property law and innovation policy. This approach unites traditional doctrinal analyses with empirical techniques drawn from diverse fields including machine learning, natural language processing, network analysis, and data science.

     His work has appeared in a wide variety of journals including the Northwestern University Law Review, the Yale Law Journal Forum, the Michigan State Law Review, and the Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society. 

     Ryan holds a BA(hons) from Saint Mary’s University (Canada), an MA from National Chengchi University (Taiwan), a JD from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, and a PhD from Northwestern University. While at Northwestern, Ryan served as the editor-in-chief of the Northwestern University Law Review. 

     Ryan joined the Department of Law in July 2017 and will be teaching classes on Intellectual Property and Information Technology, Patent Law, and Administrative Law.

     Alex Green joined the Department of Law in August 2017 as an Assistant Professor. His current research, which has been funded by the Modern Law Review, concerns the moral nature of legal statehood and its role in determining the content of public international law. More broadly, he is interested in legal and political theory, moral philosophy, private law, public international law and human rights. Alex will be teaching LLB and JD Tort Law and is Deputy-Director of the Outgoing Exchange Programme.

Jingyi Wang on the Need for Research and Development Tax Incentives in Hong Kong (HKLJ)

"Losing Out in Powering Innovation: The Necessity of Introducing Research and Development Tax Incentives in Hong Kong"
Jingyi Wang
Hong Kong Law Journal
2017, Vol 47, Issue 1, pp 143-170

Abstract: The Global Competitiveness Index reveals that Hong Kong’s relative underperformance compared to Singapore is because it has lagged behind in boosting local innovation and performed less satisfactorily in technological advancement. This can be regarded as a result of inadequate government support. The Hong Kong government’s stubborn belief in its tax system prevents it from making a timely response to the changing environment. A global trend of providing generous tax incentives has made the tax system in Hong Kong less competitive in boosting and attracting investment into innovation. What can Hong Kong learn from experience elsewhere? This article explores the necessity of adopting research and development (R&D) tax incentives to spur innovation and achieve the technological advancement the Hong Kong government desires. The introduction of the R&D tax incentives in Hong Kong proposed in this article may present an opportunity for Hong Kong to keep up with the global trend of prioritising innovation.

Li Yahong Partners in HK$1.44M ARC Project on Digital China

The Australian Research Council has awarded a HK$1.44M Discovery Project to Professor Michael Keane of Curtin University of Technology for the inter-disciplinary project "Digital China: from cultural presence to innovative nation". The project investigates how digital platforms and technologies are enabling Chinese culture and ideas to reach the world. It argues that while China's global cultural presence has increased it is yet to be seen as an innovative nation. The project examines how the Chinese government’s internet+ strategy is changing power dynamics among political institutions, commercially motivated digital companies, and online communities. Through investigating internationalisation strategies and consumption of Chinese culture on digital platforms in China, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea the project contributes to understanding the implications of China's digital ascendency and the lessons for Australia in the post-resources boom era.  Li Yahong is a partner investigator to this project which involves institutions from Australia, Hong Kong and Mainland China.  The project will run for five years starting from 2017.

HKU Class of 2015 Graduates (Law PhD, SJD and MPhil)

Congratulations to our 7 PhD, 4 SJD and 1 MPhil graduates who will have their degrees conferred upon them at the 194th Congregation on 3 December 2015 at the University of Hong Kong. The newest members of our RPG alumnae family include the following:

1. Dr. Man Ho AU (PhD). Rethinking access regulation from the transaction cost economics perspectives : a comparative analysis of the legal and policy developments for first and next generation access networks in the US, the UK, Australia and Hong Kong.  Supervisor: Richard Wu.  Examiners: Mark Williams (University of Melbourne), Kevin Pun (HKU), Felix Chan (HKU).

2. Dr. Shan CHI (PhD).  Chinese inventiveness criteria and their impacts on industry : inspiration from bio-patents.  Supervisor: Yahong Li.  Examiners: Benjamin Liu (John Marshall Law School), Yun Zhao (HKU), Haochen Sun (HKU).

3. Dr. Li GAO (PhD).  Promoting the development of green technology in China : using patent law as an environmental instrument.  Supervisors: Yahong Li and Jolene Lin.  Examiners: Bryan Mercurio (CUHK), Michael Ng (HKU), Shahla Ali (HKU).

4.  Dr. Evan Corby GIBSON (PhD).  Managing financial stability and liquidity risks in Hong Kong's banking system : what is the optimum supervisory model?  Supervisors: Douglas Arner and Lee Aitken.  Examiners: Michael Taylor (Moody's), Berry Hsu (HKU), Emily Lee (HKU).

5. Dr. Peng HAN (PhD).  An analysis of the changing nature of law and social solidarity in contemporary China : the application of Durkheim's theory of solidarity to Chinese society. Supervisor: Scott Veitch.  Examiners: Zheng Ge (Shanghai Jiaotong), Albert Chen (HKU), Hualing Fu (HKU).

6.  Dr. Jieying LIANG (PhD).  Party autonomy in contractual conflict of laws: a Chinese perspective on the adjudication of the enforceability of choice of law clauses.  Supervisor: Michael Tilbury.  Examiners: Brian Opeskin (Macquarie), Anselmo Reyes (HKU), Xianchu Zhang (HKU).

7.  Dr. Herman Yung Sing TO (PhD).  Microfinance in China - the postal bank and credit cooperatives as key players.  Supervisor: Douglas Arner.  Examiners: Zhou Zhongfei (Shanghai University of Political Science and Law), Say Goo (HKU), Xianchu Zhang (HKU).

8.  Dr. Ida Kwan Lun MAK (SJD).  Institutionalizing the effective use of ADR for the resolution of shareholder disputes in Hong Kong.  Supervisors: Katherine Lynch and Shahla Ali.  Examiners: Kun Fan (CUHK), Yun Zhao (HKU), Anna Koo (HKU).

9.  Dr. Xiao PAN (SJD).  Private non-enterprise institutions in China in an era of charity law reform.  Supervisor: Say Goo.  Examiners: Wei Shen (Shanghai Jiaotong), Douglas Arner (HKU), Hualing Fu (HKU).

10.  Dr. Xue PENG (SJD).  Corporate governance of Chinese privately owned enterprises listed in Hong Kong : an empirical study of three levels of agency problems.  Supervisor: Douglas Arner.  Examiners: David Donald (CUHK), Say Goo (HKU), Xianchu Zhang (HKU).

11.  Dr. Zhongyi TAO (SJD).  Fair use regime in China : findings from an exploration into judicial experiences.   Supervisors: Yahong Li and Po Jen Yap.  Examiners: Irene Calboli (Marquette), Hualing Fu (HKU), Alice Lee (HKU)

12.  Ms Yuchen SONG (MPhil).  Exploring derivative action in Japan and China.  Supervisor: Guanghua Yu.  Examiners: Hui Huang (CUHK), Douglas Arner (HKU).

Seminar on Regulating Financial Technology (FinTech) Innovation (Video Available)

The University of Hong Kong

Asian Institute of International Financial Law

RGC Theme-based Research Scheme Project:

“Enhancing Hong Kong’s Future as a Leading International Financial Centre”

FinTech Hong Kong

Regulating FinTech Innovation: A Balancing Act

Wednesday, 1 April 2015

12:30 – 1:30 pm

Academic Conference Room, 11/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower

The University of Hong Kong

Click here to view the seminar.
The event was covered in two stories in the International Financial Law Review ('Why regulators must adapt to fintech'; 'Chinese deposit insurance to prompt fintech innovation')

Within an ever more digital economy, the speed at which innovation is rolled out is increasing. The financial industry is one of the most recent sectors to witness a wave of new technology being applied and delivered to retail and institutional clients. Intermediating or managing money is an activity that is of particular importance to consumers, regulators and politicians alike. As a result, the emergence of a financial sector which increasingly uses technology to provide products and services to retail as well as institutional clients will necessarily attract certain forms of regulation or guidelines.

     This Seminar will initiate a reflection regarding the extent to which innovation within the Financial Technology (FinTech) sector can and should be regulated. The case will be illustrated with examples of the UK and EU market (e.g. the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s Project ‘Innovate’ and the European Commission’s Single European Payment Area (SEPA)) and the implications for innovation will be discussed. This will be complemented by introducing an Asian perspective as to the capacity of specific jurisdictions to frame and catalyse innovation, focusing on specific challenges and opportunities in Mainland China and Hong Kong.

    The speakers will discuss:

Can regulators innovate? Recent developments from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Pro-active or re-Active regulation of innovation: Where is the threshold?

The regulatory add-value of the FinTech sector: the benefit of data transparency

Challenges and opportunities for FinTech innovation in Mainland China

Hong Kong’s role as an emerging regional FinTech hub

     Speakers:

• Professor Douglas W. Arner is a Professor in the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong and Project Coordinator of a major five-year project funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council Theme-based Research Scheme on “Enhancing Hong Kong’s Future as a Leading International Financial Centre”. He works with the Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other international organisations on issues relating to financial regulation and development and is a member of the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council.
• Janos Barberis is a Research Fellow of the Asian Institute of International Financial Law at the University of Hong Kong. He was previously involved in the establishment of a new retail bank in the United Kingdom. He now supports the development of Hong Kong as a leading FinTech hub. Janos produced Hong Kong’s first FinTech report and is the founder of FinTech.HK.