MIT established the Hong Kong Innovation Node in 2016 to bring Hong Kong to MIT and MIT to Hong Kong. Recently, MIT Associate Professor Brent D. Ryan from MIT’s School of Architecture + Planning and MIT Node’s Sunnie Lau, Director of Smart City Research and Industry Collaboration, brought together MIT graduate students and field research assistants in a Spring 2021 MIT course, to contribute to phase 2 of the Kowloon East Inclusive Innovation and Growth research initiative. The interdisciplinary academic group analysed barriers to inclusive economic growth in this second Central Business District (CBD) of Hong Kong -- Kowloon East – identifying in the process many projects and ingredients that may lead to inclusive economic growth in this unique area of the city. The Kowloon East Inclusive Innovation and Growth research initiative continues earlier MIT efforts such as the 1997 book, “Made by Hong Kong”, and is complementary to the recent creation of the HKUST-MIT Research Alliance Consortium funded by the HK Innovation and Technology Commission.