When Hong Kong police finished clearing the protest camps in Admiralty and Mong Kok, it signified an end to the longest and most disruptive political movement in Hong Kong's history - provided the city manages to pull together and learn from the experience.

Harcourt Road may have been cleared for free traffic flow again, but what about the direction the political and socio-economic development of Hong Kong will take? Is that road ahead as clear as the one in Admiralty?

After experiencing the most fractious social protest movement in decades, Hong Kong can no longer claim to be an apolitical city.

Although no one is predicting Hong Kong's demise as a result of it, investment risks associated with local politics are indisputably increasing. More than two months of street encampments have already tarnished the city's image as an ideal destination for investment, especially for mainland companies.

Given the deepening mistrust between the two sides, one asking for an unfettered general election of the Chief Executive in 2017 and the other advocating full adherence to the decision of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), the likelihood of another political confrontation between them remains, though probably not such a violent one as we have witnessed, necessitating the deployment of riot police and the use of force to quell violent protesters.

The competitive edge of Hong Kong might not disappear overnight, but its long-term prospects will inevitably face rising challenges from Singapore and mainland cities like Shanghai, where new rounds of economic liberalization and deregulation are taking place.

We certainly cannot remain complacent about our current dominance in providing banking and financial services, as Shanghai has been snapping at our heels for some time. Most importantly, we must explore our potential strength in other areas - even reviving our manufacturing industries if necessary - while simultaneously providing more job opportunities for our workforce, allowing them to prosper and giving them hope for a brighter future if they work hard as previous generations of Hongkong people would.

Hong Kong can easily lose the competitive advantages of its four key industries (financial services, trading and logistics, tourism, and various professional services) if it continues to get distracted by internal political turmoil.

The government, political parties, business sectors and the community must come together to heal the wounds and realize that we are in the same boat, and that we sail or sink together.

Political development is admittedly important for a free economy like Hong Kong. But there are also other equally important aspects that we need to pay close heed to. If it does not want to be downgraded to a second-tier city in the country, Hong Kong should concentrate on areas of far more strategic importance.

For example, there are opportunities in a low-carbon economy. As China's most energy-efficient city with one of the best public transportation systems in the world, Hong Kong has the potential to develop a low-carbon economy.

Underpinned by its highly developed financial system and considerable government revenues, the city has the capacity to incentivize the development of a green economic cycle. This should also greatly improve Hong Kong's attractiveness from the perspective of technological firms and industrial corporations, whose participation will definitely bring a new momentum to rebalance the city's economic structure and reduce its over-reliance on financial services.

Another sector that the government and the local business communities should develop is human capital.

Given the current pace of technological advancement, we are in a new type of knowledge economy, where creativity and innovation far outweigh other determinants of economic growth.

Significantly improved computing abilities, the availability of vast bodies of digital data, and new ways of interaction with computing devices point toward the replacement of conventional manual and white-collar labor by more efficient intelligent machines. So we must also start training a work force capable of capitalizing on such technological advancement to help Hong Kong achieve a wholesale economic upgrade.

We will still need human beings to deal with issues that require nuanced skills and experience. Human capital will inevitably be the decisive factor in the competency of a city, a region, or even a nation. The government of Hong Kong should create favorable policy instruments to attract talent and establish an environment in which creativity and innovation can be nurtured.

Today, however, creativity and innovation are hampered by ridiculously high real estate prices and a rigid education system that cries out to be modernized in order to be relevant in the new economy.

Hong Kong's struggle for democracy has not been easy and it will not get any easier in the future.

But the government and local business communities must pay full attention not only to democracy but to other important economic and technological trends to make the city survive and win.

The author is an seasoned observer of Asian affairs.

(HK Edition 12/22/2014 page8)