City has a glut of public policy researchers, but US expert questions credibility of their work
BEN WESTCOTTben.westcott@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Monday, 03 August, 2015, 5:38am
UPDATED : Monday, 03 August, 2015, 9:01am
Legislator Ronny Tong Ka-wah (front centre) announces the launch of new think-tank and political platform "Path of Democracy" for democratic development at the Legco Complex in Tamar. Photo: Nora Tam
Hong Kong has the third largest number of think tanks per person in Asia, but not one is rated highly internationally, partly due to poor-quality research.
The city has more than four think tanks for every million people, according to data analysis by the South China Morning Post, vastly more than the mainland, where there are 429 serving a population of about 1.35 billion.
Only Armenia and the Maldives have more think tanks per person in Asia. Singapore has just one think tank per million people but three are ranked among the best in the world.
Despite a glut of public policy researchers, not one Hong Kong group has been rated highly by the internationally recognised think tank study programme at the University of Pennsylvania.
"If you want to be a leader and you want to create new and dynamic institutions, you have to adhere to basic standards," said programme director James McGann.
"You have to be open in terms of the process of the inquiry and in terms of access to data and methodology. Those things there are a general unwillingness to do [in Hong Kong]."
None of the city's 33 think tanks appeared in the University of Pennsylvania's 2015 Think Tank rankings, which are decided over nine months based on a number of criteria including quality of publications and ability to bridge the gap between policymakers and the public.
South Korea had five think tanks among the best in the world, while the mainland and Japan took home dozens of awards for best in the region and best specialised organisations.
Other criteria taken into account in the report were number of citations, diversity of funding, quality of public engagement and impact on society, among many others.
McGann said while political issues in Hong Kong certainly affected the quality of the city's think tanks, such as business ties to government and a lack of universal suffrage, some simple changes could quickly improve their rankings.
"Simple things in terms of translating the abstracts into English, all those things are key. If you want credibility you can't restrict access to methodology and to the data associated with the research," he said.
The director of the University of Hong Kong's Centre for Civil Society and Governance, Eliza Lee Wing-yee, said Hong Kong think tanks needed to provide better quality reports if they wanted to influence public policy.
Legco president, Jasper Tsang Yok-sing plans to form a new think tank next year. How will his "advocacy think tank" compare to Hong Kong's 33 existing teams? Photo: K.Y. Cheng"I think there are at least two things we need - one thing is funding, the other thing is people, expertise, policy experts," she said. "I don't think Hong Kong is producing these kind of experts, not in large enough numbers."
Despite his grim assessment of local think tanks, McGann said three new organisations, including those founded by outgoing lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah and Legislative Council President Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, could help to revitalise the city if they appealed directly to the public.
"Think tanks cannot be effective if they simply produce research - they now must engage and have a very effective public engagement," he said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1846020/hong-kong-has-third-most-think-tanks-capita-asia-not-one
