HKU UCL Conference: Competition Law, Innovation and Growth: Connecting the Dots
HKU Faculty of Law | CLES@UCL | Inclusive Competition Forum
Welcome (9.15): Honouring Valentine Korah
Professor Ioannis LIANOS, Co-Director, Centre for Law, Economics and Society, UCL
Faculty of Laws, Member, UK Competition Appeal Tribunal
Dean Hualing Fu, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong
Winston Ka-Sun CHU, UCL Alumnus and Honorary Fellow, Founding Partner, Winston
Chu & Company Solicitors
Panel 1 (9.45 – 11.40): Innovation Concerns in Competition Law: Towards a New Innovation-centric Paradigm?
Competition law has evolved dramatically in its approach to innovation, shifting from viewing
innovation as a potential source of market power to recognizing it as a crucial driver of consumer
welfare. This panel will examine this complex relationship across three key dimensions of
competition law: anticompetitive agreements, abuse of dominance, and merger control. The
discussion will trace the progression from initial tensions between innovation and competition
law to a more nuanced understanding of their synergies, focusing on how innovation concerns
have been framed, the establishment of regimes addressing technology transfer, assessment
methodologies, and operational concepts such as innovation markets and technology markets.
Case studies will include SEPs and competition law, the treatment of R&D agreements, and
innovation theories of harm in digital mergers and abuse of dominance cases.
Building on this foundation, the panel will also delve how innovation considerations in
competition law are being reshaped by the growing emphasis on Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) and responsible innovation frameworks.
This reconceptualization broadens the scope of innovation considerations, emphasizing not just
levels of innovation but also its quality, variety, and directionality. The discussion will engage with
emerging operational concepts — dynamic capabilities, technological trajectories, and
innovation ecosystems — that challenge the traditional structural focus of competition law. By
analyzing doctrines such as the “innovation defense” and the interaction between competition
policy and national innovation systems, with a particular emphasis on Asian jurisdictions, the two panel will investigate how competition law enforcement might evolve if innovation promotion
becomes a central objective.
Central questions include: How might competition authorities evaluate and weigh innovation
quality alongside traditional competitive metrics? What methodological and practical challenges
arise when incorporating broader societal goals into competition analysis? How can competition
law frameworks evolve to better support responsible innovation?
Agency Round Table (12.00 -13.00): New Objectives Innovation and Sustainability Shaping Competition
Policy
Panel 2 (14.00 – 16:00): Scale, Growth and Competition Policy: from Conglomerates to Digital Ecosystems
The panel will examine how economic growth considerations have shaped competition policy
and enforcement since competition law’s foundations, though often operating implicitly rather
than explicitly. The discussion will focus on the way scale has been taken into account in
competition law enforcement, by looking to the examples of competition law enforcement
towards conglomerates and more recently towards digital platforms in ecosystems. The
discussion will explore the tension between promoting efficient business scale and preventing
anti-competitive concentration, from traditional conglomerate enforcement to modern
challenges posed by digital platforms operating across multiple markets. This analysis will reveal
how competition authorities have adapted their approaches to balance growth-enabling
efficiencies with competitive market structures, especially as technology enables new forms of
scale and market power through ecosystem dynamics.
Panel 3 (16.20 – 17.50): Competition and Industrial Policy: Reimagining the Field
The panel will examine the evolving relationship between industrial policy and competition law
enforcement through detailed case studies, exploring both tensions and potential
complementarities between these two regulatory domains. Through analysis of specific
enforcement decisions and policy frameworks, it will evaluate how competition authorities
navigate industrial policy objectives while maintaining competitive market structures.
The discussion will address the critical question of whether and how industrial policy and
competition law (particularly competition law remedies and sanctions) can operate
synergistically rather than at cross-purposes. Special attention will be given to the emerging
divide between techno-nationalist approaches, which prioritize domestic technological
capabilities and strategic autonomy, and techno-globalist perspectives that emphasize
international cooperation and open innovation ecosystems. This analysis will illuminate how
different jurisdictions balance domestic industrial development goals with maintaining
competitive markets and international economic integration.
Enquiries: Flora Leung at aiiflhku@hku.hk (mailto:aiiflhku@hku.hk)
Organizing Institutions: HKU Faculty of Law and CLES@UCL | In cooperation with the Inclusive Competition Forum
About the Speakers
Advisor, Office of the Chief Economist, Asian Development Bank
Professorship for Civil Law, Commercial Law and Competition Law, Department of Law, University of Mannheim
Associate Professor of Law, Keio University Japan
Associate Professor at Shanghai University of Finance & Economics
Professor of Competition Law, Director of the Economic Law Division, and Director of the Coase Center for Law and Economics at KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; (AIIFL Fellowship: 4 December 2025)
Hong Kong Competition Commission
Associate Professor, University of Leeds
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and Deputy Director, AIIFL
Kyoto University
China University of Political Science and Law
University College London
Philippine Competition Commission
University College London
Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Chinese The University of Hong Kong
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law
Competition Commission Singapore
Professor, the Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University (AIIFL Fellowship: 30 January 2026)
Zhejiang University