I&T a policy priority

November 28, 2018

Chief Executive Carrie Lam:
To ensure Hong Kong's primacy as an innovation leader, my Government has placed a policy priority on innovation and technology. Encouraging technology startups is central to that commitment. Hong Kong Science Park, which I understand the Royal Technology Mission visited yesterday, provides significant support to startups. Its incubation programmes offer financial support, subsidised office space and shared facilities, technical, marketing and development assistance, and perhaps most important, access to angel investors and venture capitalists through investment-matching events.

Then we have the Cyberport, our ICT (information and communications technology) flagship, which works with digital technology startups in many ways. These include the Cyberport Incubation Programme and Creative Micro Fund and Accelerator Support programmes. Cyberport also features Smart-Space, a co-working space of more than 140,000 sq ft.

To expand on that good work, my Government has allocated an additional US$1.3 billion to Science Park and close to US$40 million to Cyberport recently. Part of that will be used to expand support for their tenants and incubatees.

To take the lead in encouraging innovation, we will be introducing a pro-innovation government procurement policy next year. This will involve changes in the tendering and sourcing of goods and services as well as in the tender evaluation.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam

Hong Kong, among the world's most connected centres - the business bridge between East and West - is one of the best places to do business. Our ranking in World Bank's latest Doing Business Report has risen from the fifth to the fourth. We are also flourishing as an Asian hub for innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. That includes our startup scene, among the top five fastest-growing and one of the world's top 25 startup centres. Last year, the number of startup companies here rose to over 2,200, an increase of 16% over the previous year. The establishment of Nordic Innovation House will surely boost those numbers long down the innovation road.

To ensure Hong Kong's primacy as an innovation leader, my Government has placed a policy priority on innovation and technology. Encouraging technology startups is central to that commitment. Hong Kong Science Park, which I understand the Royal Technology Mission visited yesterday, provides significant support to startups. Its incubation programmes offer financial support, subsidised office space and shared facilities, technical, marketing and development assistance and, perhaps most important, access to angel investors and venture capitalists through investment-matching events.

Then we have the Cyberport, our ICT (information and communications technology) flagship, which works with digital technology startups in many ways. These include the Cyberport Incubation Programme and Creative Micro Fund and Accelerator Support programmes. Cyberport also features Smart-Space, a co-working space of more than 140,000 sq ft.

To expand on that good work, my Government has allocated an additional US$1.3 billion to Science Park and close to US$40 million to Cyberport recently. Part of that will be used to expand support for their tenants and incubatees.

To take the lead in encouraging innovation, we will be introducing a pro-innovation government procurement policy next year. This will involve changes in the tendering and sourcing of goods and services as well as in the tender evaluation.

Our doors are wide open and welcoming to entrepreneurs and startups from Nordic countries. And Nordic Innovation House can only accelerate your connections to Hong Kong opportunity. That, ladies and gentlemen, means China opportunity as well, particularly the fast-emerging Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam gave these remarks at the Inauguration of Nordic Innovation House Hong Kong on November 28.