The Faculty will offer a Minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the coming academic year.

As the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and the world economy evolve, new demands and opportunities will arise, and the Faculty is responding to these changes by launching a new curriculum. It will focus on developing students with an entrepreneurial mindset and equipping them with knowledge and skills that are crucial for effective problem-solving.

The development of the GBA region into a global innovation and technology hub will require a vibrant ecosystem with complementary activities in investments and financial services, logistics, and R&D activities, among others. Despite the difficult economic conditions recently, private investment in innovation and entrepreneurship (IE) has remained at a healthy level, as has employment growth. This environment favours individuals with both technological expertise and business acumen.

Current global challenges, such as climate change and ageing populations, call for future leaders with a worldwide outlook and good problem-solving skills. In particular, there is a strong demand for individuals who have the principles and pragmatism to adapt to constantly shifting business environments, and who combine deep specialist knowledge with an ability to communicate across professional boundaries. IE education can train such individuals for careers in social entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, business advice or consulting, business analysis, business development, commercial/project management, innovation leadership, product development, and technology transfer.

Innovative and entrepreneurial skills are valued by organizations searching for potential employees. In particular, the public sector and the banking and finance, real estate, marketing, engineering, and food and consumer products industries are increasingly looking for individuals with IE skills to help them navigate and avoid treacherous business environments.

The Master of Science in Accounting and Finance Analytics (MSc AFA) was launched in 2019, in the context of a growing demand for digital transformation and the positioning of Hong Kong as a global financial technology (fintech) hub. It produces digital-savvy accounting and finance professionals capable of exploiting opportunities offered by big data-driven industries and contributing to the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) into an innovation and financial hub. 

MSc AFA combines instruction in advanced data analytics skills and technology with the imparting of core knowledge on accounting and finance, and thus enables its graduates to tackle complex issues in the digital age.

In more than half of the AFA courses, students are exposed to data analytics and advanced technology applications. They also take part in enrichment activities, including workshops and visits. For example, in technology workshops, students obtain insights from professionals and gain an understanding of the latest developments and applications of technologies. Analogously, in company visits, students interact with corporate management and executives, which familiarizes them with the demands and opportunities of the modern business environment. 

MSc AFA graduates are employed in data analytics-related roles in a range of businesses, including fintech firms, investment banks, private equity investment funds, audit firms, and high-tech companies. Approximately 45% of them are currently employed in businesses within the GBA and 5% are pursuing a PhD. The distribution of the first cohort of graduates is as follows: investment banks 29%, the Big Four audit firms 24%, big technology firms / technology regulators 14%, investment groups 14%, commercial banks 10%, and real estate developers 5%.

Digital transformation, which involves integrating digital technology with data analytics, is crucial for capturing opportunities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSc BA) is a mixed-mode programme with most of its full-time students coming from the Chinese mainland. They live in the GBA or other provinces and take this programme at PolyU to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills to build a career in Hong Kong or the GBA.

MSc BA was first offered in 2019 and teaches managers with approximately seven years of work experience on acquiring knowledge of the emerging area of business analytics. It emphasizes the utilization and application of big data for supporting management and marketing decisions in the business world. The curriculum covers areas such as sophisticated methods of data analysis, a wide range of data sources within and outside business organizations, generation of useful information, and solidification of corporate strategies. It also covers specific application domains such as market intelligence and decision modelling.

Compared with the programmes hosted by engineering and statistics departments, MSc BA is less technically based and places greater emphasis on the generation of information, using data mining software and statistical tools, to facilitate better business decision-making. It thus assists managers, HR consultants, government officials, logistics analysts, and market intelligence analysts to meet international standards in business analytics, and enables them to manage related projects in their organizations.

There are 12 fellowships sponsored by the UGC, to the value of HK$120,000, which are available to local students admitted in the 2022–2023 academic year.

MSc BA graduates apply business analytics and develop their careers in various industries.

Jerry Yin Zeyu completed his dissertation on the property market in China. He highly recommends that BA students do a dissertation as business today depends heavily on the analysis of various kinds of data. Business analytics is the practice and art of using quantitative data for decision making, and thus enables the effective use of big data to solve a wide range of problems.