If Hong Kong wants to become an innovation hub, government needs to double research funding, task force says
Report suggests setting up council to oversee planning and policy, while increasing support for R&D
As Hong Kong seeks to develop itself into an innovation hub, a task force reviewing research funding has recommended doubling the government’s input and setting up a steering council to oversee planning and policy.
Presenting an interim report, chairman Professor Tsui Lap-chee said one suggestion was for the government to provide more support to R&D development with a view to doubling overall competitive research funding in Hong Kong from about HK$2 billion to HK$4 billion (US$509.7 million) a year by 2022.
He said this would include doubling funding by the Research Grants Council (RGC), which allocates finance to institutions, from HK$1 billion to HK$2 billion over the same period.
“We want to let the youth know that R&D is the future of Hong Kong,” Tsui said, adding he was confident the government could achieve the target since it was “a small amount”.
The report pointed out that the amount spent on R&D ranged between 0.72 per cent and 0.79 per cent of the city’s gross domestic product from 2011 to 2016. This was well below the world average of 2.2 per cent in 2015, according to World Bank data.