The Government, as part of its strategy under the Hong Kong Innovation & Technology (I&T) Blueprint, will earmark $10 billion to launch a scheme to promote new industrialisation in the city.

Chief Executive John Lee made the announcement while delivering his Policy Address, stressing that the Government promulgated the blueprint for developing Hong Kong into an international I&T centre last December.

To further implement the blueprint, he said the Government will set up the New Industrialisation Development Office that will promote new industrialisation, support strategic enterprises to develop their businesses, assist the manufacturing sector in upgrading and transformation by making use of I&T, and provide support for startups.

In an effort to facilitate the research and development (R&D) of microelectronics, Mr Lee pointed out that the Government will establish the Hong Kong Microelectronics Research & Development Institute next year to lead and facilitate collaboration among universities, R&D centres and the industry.

It will also expedite the establishment of a supercomputing centre to foster the development of artificial intelligence with a view to supporting the huge demand for computing power from R&D and relevant sectors and promoting industry development.

The Chief Executive explained the reason behind the Government’s decision to set up a $10 billion New Industrialisation Acceleration Scheme.

“To promote the downstream development of new industrialisation, we will provide financial assistance for enterprises in the fields of life and health technologies, AI (artificial intelligence) and data science, advanced manufacturing, and new energy technologies. 

“These include providing funding support for the set-up of new production facilities on a one (Government) to two (company) matching basis, subject to a funding ceiling of $200 million.”

He added that to promote cross-boundary data flow, the Government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mainland in June to foster secure cross-boundary flow of Mainland data within the Greater Bay Area (GBA). 

“We are liaising with the Guangdong Province to adopt an ‘early and pilot implementation’ approach in the GBA to streamline the compliance arrangements for the flow of personal data from the Mainland to Hong Kong. 

“This will facilitate the provision of cross-boundary financial and medical services within the GBA.”

He stated that the Government will initiate preparations next year for the establishment of the third InnoHK cluster focusing on advanced manufacturing, materials, energy and sustainable development.

Regarding 5G development, Mr Lee revealed that the Government will enhance the coverage of 5G networks by expediting the expansion of mobile network infrastructure in rural and remote areas through subsidies, and supplying more spectrum to mobile network operators by auctions.

International cultural exchange

As part of his policy blueprint, Mr Lee noted that the Government is dedicating more than $4 billion as it strives to actively promote the cultural and creative industries.

“The Culture, Sports & Tourism Bureau will promulgate and implement the Blueprint for Arts & Culture & Creative Industries Development before the end of this year. We will also inject a total of $4.3 billion to the Film Development Fund and the CreateSmart Initiative to provide incentives for attracting private sector capital and expanding new markets.”

Other measures include establishing the Cultural & Creative Industries Development Agency to promote the development of arts, culture and creative industries and strengthening the efforts of Economic & Trade Offices on cultural promotion.

He pointed out that on the topic of developing the film market, the Government will launch the Filming Financing Scheme for Mainland Market to support Hong Kong and Mainland cultural enterprises to invest in the productions of Hong Kong directors for release in the Mainland market. It will also launch the Hong Kong Europe Asian Film Collaboration Funding Scheme to sponsor film projects co-produced by Hong Kong filmmakers and their Asian and European counterparts.

Furthermore, the Government will launch the Signature Performing Arts Programme Scheme to nurture world class performing arts productions and international cultural brands that are representing Hong Kong. It will offer a subsidy capped at $10 million and an additional $5 million matching fund to match private sector funding.

Organising Hong Kong Fashion Design Week and launching a Pilot Scheme on the Use of School Venues by Arts Groups were also mentioned in the Policy Address.

Intellectual property trading centre 

Mr Lee revealed that as part of its objective, the Government will leverage its advantages in legal, taxation and professional services to develop Hong Kong into a regional intellectual property (IP) trading centre. 

This, he emphasised, calls for measures that include enhancing the IP legal regime, implementing the “patent box” tax incentive, planning for regulatory arrangement on patent agent services and boosting the trading of local original works.

Legal, dispute resolution services

While highlighting key Policy Address matters, Mr Lee outlined the Government’s ongoing efforts to develop Hong Kong into a centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region.

He stated that doing so requires extending the adoption of Hong Kong law and usage of Hong Kong’s dispute resolution services by Mainland enterprises.

“We will strive for the extension of the measures of ‘allowing Hong Kong invested enterprises to adopt Hong Kong law’ and ‘allowing Hong Kong invested enterprises to choose for arbitration to be seated in Hong Kong’ from Qianhai, Shenzhen and Pilot Free Trade Zones in the Mainland to the whole GBA.

“We will also strive for state-owned enterprises’ prioritisation of adopting Hong Kong law as the applicable law for their contracts, or choosing to use Hong Kong’s dispute resolution services for resolving contractual disputes.”

The Chief Executive added that the Government will work with the Supreme People’s Court on the establishment of a standing interfacing platform next year so as to address issues arising from the differences in the legal systems.