Professor Chen is Chairman of HKU SPACE (School of Professional and Continuing Education), Distinguished Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Hong Kong, Honorary Professor of the Open University of Hong Kong, Chairman of the Advisory Council of Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research, and independent non-executive director of First Pacific Company, Delta Asia Financial Group, Hang Seng Qianhai Fund Management, and Wharf Company. He is the former President of Lingnan University in Hong Kong introducing liberal arts education, and former Chairman of the Consumer Council promoting competition policy in Hong Kong. He is also former Member of the Executive Council and the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. He served as President of the Qianhai Institute for Innovative Research in Shenzhen (2014 to 2017).

Professor Chen was educated at the University of Hong Kong and Oxford University. He is a pioneer in the study of Asia’s newly industrialized economies, and has particular research interest in regional cooperation and the economics of technological change. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Hong Kong, the Open University of Hong Kong and Plymouth University.