LEAP East Lands in Hong Kong: A Two-Way Channel for Middle Eastern Capital and Asian Technology

Last week, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre witnessed the debut of LEAP East. This tech event, originally born in Riyadh, chose Asia for its first foray outside the Middle East, and its scale far exceeded expectations—25,000 participants, 450 exhibitors, 300 startups, and 600 investors representing over $6.5 trillion in assets under management. Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha met with Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee, Financial Secretary Paul Chan, and other officials, and visited companies such as Tencent, SenseTime, and Sony AI. For a new exhibition making its Asian debut, a turnout five times larger than typical new events in Hong Kong is itself a signal: an unprecedented direct channel is forming between Middle Eastern capital and Asian technology.

Hong Kong is undergoing a redefinition of its identity. After the national security law, the international community had doubts about its status as a financial center, but the arrival of LEAP East offers a new narrative: Hong Kong is no longer merely a bridge between China and the West, but a "tri-directional platform" connecting mainland China, the Middle East, and the global market. The wave of economic diversification driven by Saudi Vision 2030 structurally complements Hong Kong's mature capital markets, rule of law environment, and its advantage of being backed by the Greater Bay Area's industrial ecosystem. The three-year strategic cooperation announced during the conference means that Hong Kong has officially become the only Asian stop for LEAP East. This is not a short-term marketing effort, but a key piece in the Gulf capital's long-term layout in Asia.

In terms of tangible results, the conference was far from an empty networking event. Three startups—Finland's ROTOBOOST, Saudi Arabia's Uvera, and Hong Kong's Meinong Robot—each received $100,000 in non-dilutive funding through the flagship competition "Rocket Fuel." Such small but unconditional grants often reflect the vitality of the ecosystem better than large investments. Meanwhile, investment arms under Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund PIF held closed-door matchmaking sessions with the Hong Kong Science Park and several unicorns. Capital is no longer flowing in one direction: Hong Kong helps mainland companies "go global" to the Middle East while providing Saudi family offices with a low-friction entry point into the Chinese market.

The success of LEAP East is not an isolated case. The landscape of global tech summits is being reshaped: CES remains strong, but Middle Eastern players are attracting Western and Asian innovators through their own platforms (such as LEAP and DeepFest). Hong Kong's advantages lie in its international conference infrastructure, high English proficiency, and tolerance for diverse visas—which is still rare among first-tier cities in mainland China. More importantly, Hong Kong's "one country, two systems" framework allows Saudi companies to align with Chinese standards while maintaining a flexible structure that meets international governance requirements. The in-depth dialogues between Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Tencent Cloud, and SenseTime suggest that Middle Eastern smart city projects may extensively adopt Chinese technology solutions, with Hong Kong serving as an ideal testing ground for solution validation and capital arrangements.

Over the next three years, LEAP East will be held annually in Hong Kong every December.For the next three years, LEAP East will be held annually in Hong Kong each December. This is not only a new trump card for Hong Kong's convention and exhibition industry but also a geoeconomic laboratory — testing how Middle Eastern oil capital, reliant on the dollar system, can integrate with Asia's renminbi-denominated innovation industrial chain through Hong Kong. If successful, this model is likely to be replicated in other industry summits, thereby upgrading Hong Kong from a "super-connector" to a "super-integrator." For global investors, the trajectory of LEAP East is worth tracking: it serves both as a weather vane and a thermometer, gauging the financial and cultural ice layer melting between the Middle East and Asia.