HK gov't to set aside 258 mln USD for inno-tech fund

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said on Wednesday that the government would set aside 2 billion HK dollars (about 258 million U.S. dollars) to set up an Innovation and Technology Venture Fund to co-invest in local start-ups with private venture capital funds on a matching basis.

Delivering his annual policy address, Leung said that the move will encourage investment from venture capital funds in local innovation and technology start-ups.

He said the government will set aside 500 million HK dollars to set up an Innovation and Technology Fund for Better Living to finance projects that make use of innovation and technology to improve people's daily lives.

The government will also set aside more than 100 million HK dollars a year to support research and development collaboration in a wide range of disciplines between Hong Kong and Chinese mainland's six Hong Kong branches of the Chinese National Engineering Research Centers and the 16 Partner State Key Laboratories in Hong Kong.

Leung noted that the recently established Innovation and Technology Bureau (ITB) would support, co-ordinate and complement Hong Kong's innovation and technology development.

The world-renowned Karolinska Institute of Sweden would open its first overseas research facility at Science Park, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology would establish its first overseas Innovation Node in Hong Kong, he added.

Leung said the government will also review the functions and composition of the Advisory Committee on Innovation and Technology, and step up efforts to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and encourage students to pursue the study of these subjects. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.75 HK dollars) Endit