ENG-2017 — Page 153

Innovation and Technology

Nurturing Talent

Talent is crucial for developing I&T. To nurture and bring together technology talent, the government will launch a Technology Talent Scheme, which offers a Postdoctoral Hub programme to provide organisations undertaking ITF projects as well as incubatees and tenant companies of the HKSTPC and Cyberport with funding to engage postdoctoral talent for R&D work. The scheme also subsidises local enterprises on a matching basis to train their staff in advanced technologies.

At undergraduate and postgraduate level, an Internship Programme under the ITF supports organisations to recruit graduates from local universities as interns to help in R&D projects funded by the ITF or undertaken by incubatees and small and medium enterprises that are HKSTPC or Cyberport tenants. More than 3,000 internships have been approved, involving a total funding of some $650 million. The monthly allowances were increased in 2017 to $16,000 for graduates with a bachelor's degree and $19,000 for those with a master's or higher degree. The programme was extended to all I&T tenants of the HKSTPC and Cyberport in December.

Smart City Development

The government is committed to building Hong Kong into a world-class smart city, by making use of I&T to address urban challenges, enhance city management and improve people's quality of living. Following a consultancy study and two-month public consultation, the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong was published in December, outlining the government's vision and setting out the development plans under six major areas, namely 'Smart Mobility, 'Smart Living, 'Smart Environment', 'Smart People, 'Smart Government' and 'Smart Economy, for the next five years.

In 2017, the government continued to expand free public Wi-Fi coverage under the Wi-Fi Connected City Programme. A subsidy scheme was launched in March to fund non-profit- making organisations to provide free Wi-Fi at their youth service centres and study rooms. The government also carried out a pilot public-private collaboration arrangement by opening up government venues for service providers to provide free public Wi-Fi.

Re-industrialisation

Re-industrialisation, the development of high value-added industries or manufacturing processes, is a new area of economic growth for Hong Kong. It encompasses robotics, smart city and healthy ageing as strategic development areas.

In October, the Productivity Council established an Inno Space to nurture a start-up culture in Hong Kong and support re-industrialisation. The Inno Space provides workspace and technical support to help start-up entrepreneurs, students and graduates develop their innovative ideas into industrial designs, which may then be translated into products through prototyping. The Productivity Council also offers one-stop solutions, particularly to the manufacturing and related service industries, to encourage technology adoption and promote innovation and sustainable development. It also facilitates industrial upgrading and helps enterprises adopt high value-added production.

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