Support to Innovation and Technology Sector

Hong Kong’s start-up ecosystem has proved attractive to many entrepreneurs, and initiatives such as StartmeupHK help fledgling businesses from overseas set up or expand in the city by making introductions and hosting networking events. Government initiatives additionally include incubation and accelerator programmes, including the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific and SOW Asia’s i2i (“Incubation to Investment”) programme, Hong Kong’s first accelerator built exclusively for social enterprises. There are plenty of other schemes offering funding, including the SME Export Marketing Fund (EMF), Youth Development Fund, and CreateSmart Initiative (CSI).

Many start-ups base themselves at Cyberport or the Hong Kong Science & Technology Park (HKSTP), two of the region’s largest business parks. The former houses six unicorn companies, including game software firm Animoca Brands and virtual lending platform WeLab, while HKSTP supports the R&D of more than 1,100 partner companies. It also manages three industrial estates across the region, along with the InnoCentre, which supports design businesses.

To further attract enterprises, the Government sets aside HK$30 billion to establish the Co‐Investment Fund in 2022, which will encourage enterprises to set up in Hong Kong and invest in their businesses.