[Wuhan Pneumonia] IT industry urges government to push 10 bailout measures

Politics

Written by: Chen Xiaoyu

2020-02-21 23:01

Various industries are affected by the new coronavirus pneumonia. In addition to the retail and catering industries, the information technology industry is also affected. The Hong Kong Science Park Kepei Network's survey of enterprises under its entrepreneurial cultivation plan found that more than 80% of enterprises believe that the epidemic has a great impact on industry business. Copey Network President Li Zhiwei pointed out that about 65% of the respondents believed that the epidemic had caused the overall market to shrink and operating costs to rise.

Seven IT associations including the Internet Professional Association, Cope Network, the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, and the Hong Kong Youth Federation Technology Association made 10 suggestions to the government, including setting up a "repayment holiday" for loan guarantees and "non-repayment of interest". Science and technology voucher funding is capped at 600,000. Examination-free emergency assistance and interest-free loans are established.

Li Zhiwei said that 63.9% of the respondents in the survey said that the overall market was affected by the epidemic, 63.1% believed that the operating costs had increased, 51.6% believed that the epidemic had reduced the image of Hong Kong and the company, lost investment confidence, and 44.3% had forgotten to finance the Mainland It decreased, and 39.3% thought that overseas financing also decreased. He said that because many companies require employees to work from home, it increases management and other operating costs, and uses more materials and arranges meetings. The survey also showed that 70% of the members think that the epidemic situation has a chance to last for one year before they can reply.

Li Zhiwei said that some scientific research projects have been suspended or shelved due to the epidemic situation. For example, during the research and development of AI, it is necessary to download videos, while working at home will download videos at a slower speed and reduce efficiency due to network speed issues.

Entrepreneur Li Jiajun said that the service sales period of Techtronics is relatively long. One customer needs to sell for at least half a month to one year. It is estimated that under the current circumstances, the industry may not have new customers by the end of the year. It's hard to miss customers. I believe that if the epidemic continues, many companies will go out of business or need to reduce staffing. I hope that the government will take concrete measures in the short term.

Senior investor and president of the Internet Professionals Association, Han Handi, pointed out that the funds of many technology companies generally do not exceed 12 months. Seeing the government ’s launch of a 30 billion anti-epidemic fund, I hope to provide more support to the industry. Rent is far from enough.

Qiu Dagen, chairman of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, said that their seven IT-related associations made a total of 10 suggestions, including loan guarantees "repayment holidays" and "interest repayment but not principal repayment", increasing the technology voucher funding limit to 600,000, Increase the matching investment ratio of I & T funds, launch IT-related contract-based positions, establish examination-free emergency assistance and interest-free loans, increase the purchase of I & T technologies and services, increase the SME market promotion fund to 1 million, and accelerate And simplify the application procedures for various funding schemes, provide internship subsidies for local employers, and launch a special round of "Continuous Contracting Agreements for Quality Information Technology Professional Services".

Member of the Legislative Council of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) Ge Fanfan said that since the explosion of the science and technology stock bubble in 2000, many people have decided not to take information technology courses. This has transformed Hong Kong's innovation talents from leading to degenerate. People are interested in the development of IT. I believe that if a new wave of technology companies goes bankrupt, it will cause the loss of technology talents in Hong Kong.

Ge Yanfan also said that technology companies have experienced a wave of layoffs since last year. They have heard that companies have been forced to fire 10 technology experts with a monthly salary of 100,000 yuan due to operating difficulties. She hopes that the government's measures will take a multi-pronged approach, such as increasing the funding limit for technology and technology to activate the market.