How well have you been supporting the Innovation and Technology Budget over the years?

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po delivered the latest "Budget" last week. In his speech, he emphasized that Hong Kong needs to give full play to its advantages as an "international innovation and technology center" and introduced a number of measures to promote the development of local innovation and technology, including the allocation of 6 billion yuan in funding Universities and scientific research institutions set up life science and technology research institutes, set aside 3 billion yuan to promote the construction of basic research in frontier technology fields such as artificial intelligence and quantum technology, prepare for the establishment of a microelectronics research and development institute, and expand the "technology enterprise investment" of science and technology park companies. Fund" and the "Enterprise Acceleration Program" funding scope, launch of the "Digital Transformation Support Pilot Program" and the Smart Life Start-up Incubation Program through the Cyberport, and accelerate the development of the Web3 ecosystem. Business Center" and "Artificial Intelligence Supercomputing Center" to conduct feasibility studies.

Undoubtedly, the SAR government has invested more and more resources in the field of innovation and technology development. For example, the Bureau of Innovation, Technology and Industry (formerly known as the Bureau of Innovation and Technology), established at the end of 2015, was directly included in the relevant administrative budget expenditures of the "Innovation and Technology" program , it has increased from 28.7 million yuan in the 2016-17 "Financial Budget" to the current 221 million yuan, which is more than seven times.

As for the Innovation and Technology Commission, which was established earlier, its total estimated expenditure on the two programs of "promoting technological entrepreneurship activities" and "planning innovation and technological development" has also increased by more than six times from $26.2 million in 2001-02 to the current Nearly 167 million yuan, the increase is still about three times larger than the increase in the overall expenditure budget for the same period.

Even though it cannot be ruled out that this is just a base effect, at least judging from the absolute amount of funding, the Hong Kong government is indeed increasing its efforts to promote innovation and technology development.

Sun Dong, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, attended a press conference on measures related to the "Budget" today (24th).

(Photo by Lin Aiyi)

The threshold is too high, the support information is unclear

However, the continuous increase in the amount of resources allocated by the government does not mean that the industry and society will benefit extensively.

Just like the "Technology Enterprise Investment Fund" under the Science and Technology Park Corporation has repeatedly expanded its capital. Although it has been arranged every other year since the 2019-20 Budget, it has been criticized by outsiders for its strict qualification restrictions and narrow funding targets.

The new "Budget" announced the smart life start-up incubation plan. A total of 215 applications were received and processed, and only 41 of which received less than 20% of the funding. The outside world generally believed that it was due to the high threshold set by the principal officials, complicated document requirements and complicated procedures.

At the same time, the variety of various funding schemes and unclear explanations from those in charge often make it difficult for companies to easily determine how to choose or how to apply.

Take the "Digital Transformation Support Pilot Program" to be implemented by the Cyberport as an example. Its intention is similar to the "Technology Voucher" that was launched in 2016 and will be regularized in 2019. In fact, this year's "Budget" speech There are also direct parallels between the two, and some industry organizations expressed that they did not understand the difference between the two.

Furthermore, official support policies and measures are always assigned separately to the Innovation and Technology Bureau, Science and Technology Park, Cyberport and other organizations. They have different standards and directions for supporting the industry, which will also consume time and cost for external reference and measurement .

Even if it cannot be simply integrated into a "one-stop" processing, the authorities should actually reduce the difficulty for qualified enterprises to obtain relevant information, so that the allocation of funds can effectively fall into the hands of the institutions.

Land supply to be increased project efficiency is slow

In addition to appropriating funds to enterprises, the financial budget also spends a lot on hardware facilities.

In the "Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Development Blueprint" published at the end of last year, the authorities acknowledged that Hong Kong faces many factors that restrict the development of innovation and technology, including high land costs, tight supply, lack of enthusiasm for business participation, and balancing other demands. This has led to "limited land supply allocated for the development of innovation and technology" in Hong Kong for a long time.

Regarding the issue of land supply for innovation and technology, the new "Financial Budget" confirmed that "Xintian Science and Technology City" under the "Northern Metropolitan Area" includes 150 hectares of land, and will take the lead in promoting the planning and engineering research of the project. In the second quarter, consultations will be carried out on the development plan and land planning and layout, with a view to launching the first batch of land leveling projects in the coming year.

However, it may be too early to judge whether the relevant land is fully sufficient for the development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong.

Even though the land may be sufficient, the efficiency of executing related construction projects is too slow.

The "Hetao-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone", which has been dragged on for many years, needless to say, the secretary still said that the first batch of three buildings will not be completed until the end of next year in this "Budget" speech.

As for the second "Advanced Manufacturing Center" that is about to be launched, the authorities have invited the science and technology park to conceive and build it as early as 2021, but the park has not yet completed the feasibility study.

Compared with the first "Advanced Manufacturing Center" opened in April last year, it was originally originated from the review of the positioning of industrial villages by the Science and Technology Park in 2014. It was announced in the 2016-17 "Budget" that it seems to indicate that similar projects Instead of being accelerated by previous experience, the efficiency may be further reduced in reverse.

The Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC) built by Hong Kong Science Park in Tseung Kwan O Innovation Park officially opened on April 22.

(Photo by Lu Yiming)

What's especially confusing is that even smaller projects seem to take us a long time to build.

The example of the "Advanced Manufacturing Center" in Tseung Kwan O just mentioned took eight years before and after, and finally only provided about 100,000 square meters of floor space.

In contrast, Shenzhen, which is close to us, announced the "Spatial Layout Plan of 20 Advanced Manufacturing Parks" last year. The goal is exactly to "form a group of advanced manufacturing bases with global influence and domestic demonstration effect" in eight years. The specific location involves The land area is as high as 60 square kilometers, and special support facilities have been specially prepared for "speeding up project implementation".

The recent bidding document for the feasibility study of the "Artificial Intelligence Supercomputing Center" also mentioned that the study itself needs to be carried out for at least half a year, and also requires consultants to evaluate the computing power demand after seven years, indicating that the entire project is likely to take eight years. Compared with the Tencent Yangtze River Delta Supercomputing Center, which has been put into production one year after its launch, and the Hengqin Supercomputing Center, which is expected to be completed in the third phase of this year, it can be said to be far behind.

In general, although the latest "Budget" has proposed a series of new measures to promote innovation and technology development, but after careful examination, it can be found that there are still problems of "lifting off the ground" or "sighing slow speed" behind them, and often It is contrary to the spirit of bold innovation and pursuit of speed required by the development of innovation and technology itself. It is expected that the officials in charge will lead by example in this regard and lead Hong Kong on the road of innovation and rapid development with practical actions.

More importantly, the "Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Development Blueprint" at the end of last year also pointed out factors such as "lack of diversification in the economic and industrial structure", "high cost of living, especially high housing rents" and "insufficient motivation for the transformation of scientific research achievements". It will constrain the development of local innovation and technology, and the relevant obstacles also need to be overcome by Hong Kong rulers, so that the development of innovation and technology can truly spread its wings and flourish.

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