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Commerce and Industry

• developing creative clusters to generate synergy and facilitate exchanges; and

• organising major events to promote Hong Kong as Asia's creative capital.

In 2015, CreateHK's CreateSmart Initiative provided $123.5 million to support 66 promotional and educational projects for various creative sectors and to encourage wider use of design by SMEs.

Creative Events

CreateHK works closely with stakeholders to foster an environment conducive to the development of creative industries. In particular, it helps industry groups organise major creative events to engage the public and to attract enterprises, talent and academics in creative industries from around the world to visit Hong Kong. Initiatives and events in 2015 included:

• a'Friday Dress Hong Kong' to raise public awareness of local fashion design;

• an 'Entertainment Expo Hong Kong' co-ordinated by the HKTDC;

• a'Business of Design Week';

• a'Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism Architecture (Hong Kong)'; and

• a'Fourth Hong Kong Comic Camp, featuring comic artists from Hong Kong, Guangdong, Macao and Taiwan.

Support for Design

CreateHK funds a Design Incubation Programme to nurture design start-ups. By the end of 2015, the programme had admitted more than 170 start-ups since its launch in 2006.

Mainland, Taiwan and Overseas Promotions

CreateHK promotes the accomplishments of Hong Kong's creative industries to the Mainland, Taiwan and overseas countries and helps them explore new markets.

In 2015, Hong Kong film festivals were organised by the Hong Kong ETOs in major overseas cities to promote the territory as a film production centre. CreateHK also took part in major international exhibitions and events to promote location filming in Hong Kong. In 2015, CreateHK helped 29 non-local production crews carry out shooting in Hong Kong.

Funding was provided to creative establishments and industry and trade organisations for participation in major international exhibitions and events, targeting potential clients in strategic markets. For example, Hong Kong's publishing and printing sectors set up a Hong Kong pavilion at international book fairs in Bologna, Frankfurt and Taipei to showcase their achievements. Hong Kong designs were displayed at New York Fashion Week 2015 and Ambiente 2015 in Frankfurt. CreateHK also sponsored Hong Kong comic artists to exhibit their works in the 2015 Angouleme International Comics Festival in France, the largest comics festival in Europe.

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