Month: July 2025

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

     To actively support Hong Kong and Mainland enterprises to generate benefits in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and global markets through effective protection and use of intellectual property (IP) rights, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development Office organised a seminar on Creating Business Value through Intellectual Property in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in Guangzhou today (July 10). The seminar was attended by over 250 business representatives from Hong Kong and a number of Mainland cities.
 
     In her opening remarks, the Commissioner for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Ms Maisie Chan, said that the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area states that to fully leverage the advantages of Hong Kong in IP protection and related professional services, and support the development of Hong Kong as a regional IP trading centre, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has rolled out a series of policies, including the Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme, to promote the transformation and commercialisation of research and development outcomes, the introduction of the “patent box” tax incentive to alleviate the tax burden on enterprises and the expansion of the original grant patent system to cover frontier fields such as AI. The HKSAR Government also promotes the creation and trading of creative IP through the CreateSmart Initiative, as well as capitalising on Hong Kong’s unique advantage of being connected to the Mainland and the world to establish Asia’s first cross-border IP licensing platform, the Asia IP Exchange portal, which facilitates efficient trading of cultural and creative IP in the international markets.
 
     Today’s seminar featured keynote speeches by three distinguished experts, who introduced the IP systems in Hong Kong and the Mainland from a practical perspective, as well as the support provided by the IP professional services sector in Hong Kong to enterprises exploring global markets. The seminar also arranged two roundtable discussions with six corporate IP executives who shared their strategies and successful experiences in transforming various forms of IP into commercial value.
 
     After the seminar, Ms Chan remarked that today’s event attracted a large number of participants and fostered lively discussions, fully reflecting the industry’s strong enthusiasm for the effective use of IP rights to generate economic benefits and foster the development of the national and international dual circulation economy. Hong Kong will continue to strengthen its function as a regional IP trading centre and contribute to the high-quality development of the GBA.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The Lands Department (LandsD) today (July 10) posted the fourth batch of land resumption notices in accordance with section 4 of the Lands Resumption Ordinance (Chapter 124) for the Second Phase development of Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen New Development Area (HSK/HT NDA) to resume 37 private lots with a total area of about 27 600 square metres.
 
The 37 private lots to be resumed this time mainly involve the conclusion of an in-situ land exchange application that requires the acquisition of a small amount of third-party land by the Government for comprehensive development by the land exchange applicant, and the remaining sites without any in-situ land exchange application.
 
The above 37 private lots will be reverted to the Government upon the expiry of a period of three months from the date of affixing the notices (i.e. October 11, 2025). The Government will release the ex-gratia land compensation to the relevant land owners after land reversion.
 
The land reversion date is the date of vesting of the ownership of the land in the Government. It is not the departure deadline of the affected households and business undertakings. Three months before the departure deadline of the affected households and business undertakings, the LandsD will post notices in the relevant areas. It is now estimated that the affected households and business undertakings will have to move out in January, 2026 at the earliest. The LandsD is handling the compensation and rehousing matters of the affected persons at full steam, and will endeavour to arrange rehousing for, or release compensation to, eligible persons before the departure deadline. The LandsD and its appointed Community Liaison Service Team will maintain communication with the affected households and business undertakings, and provide them with updated information.
 
The first three batches of land resumption notices, involving about 196 hectares of land in total for the Second Phase development of HSK/HT NDA, were posted on May 30 and September 19, 2024, and May 8, 2025, respectively. The land under the first two batches of notices had already been reverted to the Government and is gradually being handed over to the Civil Engineering and Development Department for site formation and engineering infrastructure works. The land under the third batch of land resumption notices will be reverted to the Government on August 9, 2025.
 
Upon full development, the HSK/HT NDA will provide about 66 700 additional housing units capable of accommodating a population of about 184 000, and create about 150 000 job opportunities.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (July 10) the results of the Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) for June 2025.
 
The current diffusion index (DI) on business receipts amongst SMEs decreased from 42.1 in May 2025 in the contractionary zone to 41.6 in June 2025, whereas the one-month’s ahead (i.e. July 2025) outlook DI on business receipts was 45.4. Analysed by sector, the current DIs on business receipts for many surveyed sectors dropped in June 2025 as compared with previous month, particularly for the business services (from 45.2 to 43.5) and retail trade (from 41.3 to 39.8).
  
The current DI on new orders for the import and export trades increased from 44.0 in May 2025 to 45.0 in June 2025, whereas the outlook DI on new orders in one month’s time (i.e. July 2025) was 47.6.
 
Commentary

A Government spokesman said that overall business sentiment among SMEs weakened slightly in June. The overall employment situation also softened somewhat. Nonetheless, expectations on the business situation in one month’s time remained stable.
 
Looking ahead, the ongoing uncertainty in trade policies in the external environment would continue to affect business sentiment. Nonetheless, the resilient local economy and sustained steady growth in the Mainland economy should provide support. The Government will continue to monitor the situation closely.
 
Further information
 
The Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises aims to provide a quick reference, with minimum time lag, for assessing the short-term business situation faced by SMEs. SMEs covered in this survey refer to establishments with fewer than 50 persons engaged. Respondents were asked to exclude seasonal fluctuations in reporting their views. Based on the views collected from the survey, a set of diffusion indices (including current and outlook diffusion indices) is compiled. A reading above 50 indicates that the business condition is generally favourable, whereas that below 50 indicates otherwise. As for statistics on the business prospects of prominent establishments in Hong Kong, users may refer to the publication entitled “Report on Quarterly Business Tendency Survey” released by the C&SD.
 
The results of the survey should be interpreted with care. The survey solicits feedback from a panel sample of about 600 SMEs each month and the survey findings are thus subject to sample size constraint. Views collected from the survey refer only to those of respondents on their own establishments rather than those on the respective sectors they are engaged in. Besides, in this type of opinion survey on expected business situation, the views collected in the survey are affected by the events in the community occurring around the time of enumeration, and it is difficult to establish precisely the extent to which respondents’ perception of the business situation accords with the underlying trends. For this survey, main bulk of the data were collected around the last week of the reference month.
 
More detailed statistics are given in the “Report on Monthly Survey on the Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises”. Users can browse and download the publication at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1080015&scode=300).
 
Users who have enquiries about the survey results may contact Industrial Production Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7246; email: sme-survey@censtatd.gov.hk).

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The following is issued on behalf of the University Grants Committee:
 
     The Research Grants Council (RGC) announced today (July 10) the funding results of the Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme 2025/26 (Thirteenth Round) and the Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS) 2025/26 (Fifteenth Round). This round saw a significant increase in the number of applications for the two Schemes. Altogether, nine outstanding projects with academic and strategic importance for Hong Kong have received a total amount of around $464 million in funding support from the RGC.
 
     Three research proposals are awarded RGC funding under the AoE Scheme, of which two meritorious projects are provided with a five-year budget totalling around $134 million. Another potentially groundbreaking project is provided with a one-year exploratory funding of $10 million for yielding preliminary results. As for the TRS, six research proposals are funded at a total of $320 million. The lists of the awarded projects are set out in Annexes I and II.
 
     The Chairman of the RGC, Professor Timothy W. Tong, said, “I am delighted to announce that the 2025/26 exercise of the two schemes was completed with great success. It is encouraging to see the significant increase in the number of AoE Scheme and TRS applications by 107 per cent and 36 per cent respectively this year, bearing testimony to the robustness of the Hong Kong research community. After rigorous peer reviews based on academic and scientific merits, the RGC is pleased to support two outstanding projects in the areas of plant biotechnology and quantum materials, and an exploratory project on early childhood development under the AoE Scheme. I would like to congratulate the three project teams for successfully securing the funding support to develop their cutting-edge research into areas of excellence.
 
     “Under the TRS, the RGC decided to fund six projects which are of strategic importance to Hong Kong’s long-term development. These projects cover a wide range of research areas highly relevant to our daily lives, including Alzheimer’s disease, adolescents’ mental health, eco-friendly disinfectants, chemical weather observations, collaborative generative AI and electronic design automation. I have full confidence that these projects will help bring about lasting societal impacts and make breakthroughs in scientific and technological applications.
 
     “The RGC endeavours to enhance the capacity and vibrancy of our research ecosystem through administering various collaborative research funding schemes. Through the annual AoE Scheme and the TRS, the RGC has been supporting universities in leveraging their strengths to pursue excellent and impactful research, thereby solidifying Hong Kong’s position as a global leader in higher education and innovation.”
 
     Professor Tong expressed his gratitude to the panel experts for their valuable contribution to the assessment process, as well as local researchers for their continued support for the AoE Scheme, the TRS and the RGC’s work.
 
     Details of the approved projects for the 2025/26 exercise are available on the RGC website (AoE Scheme: www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/funding_opport/aoe/funded_research/aoe13.html and TRS: www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/funding_opport/trs/funded_research/trs15.html) for reference. A call for proposals for the AoE Scheme and the TRS 2026/27 will be issued later this month.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

     The Digital Policy Office (DPO) has won the Outstanding Gold Award in the Privacy-Friendly Awards 2025 organised by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong. This prestigious recognition fully affirms the DPO’s outstanding achievements in personal data privacy protection and safeguarding data security.

     Attending the award presentation ceremony today (July 10), the Commissioner for Digital Policy, Mr Tony Wong, said, “While the DPO has always strictly complied with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, it also actively promotes and optimises data governance policies and measures, ensures personal data privacy and at the same time facilitates data interchanges to deliver more innovative and user-friendly digital government services. This award is a professional recognition of the team’s efforts in balancing digital development and privacy protection.” Mr Wong expressed his gratitude to the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data and the judging committee of the Awards for their acknowledgement.

     The theme of this year’s Awards was “Safeguarding Data Security: Marching towards a New Digital Era”, which aimed to recognise the efforts and commitment of enterprises, public and private organisations as well as government departments in the protection of personal data privacy. The event also served to encourage organisations to strengthen data governance and enhance their awareness of personal data privacy and data security. Awardees were evaluated against five specified privacy protection measures, which were the key assessment criteria.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations:
 
Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at suitable intervals:
 
     As the Red Rainstorm Warning Signal has been issued, the Home Affairs Department’s Emergency Co-ordination Centre is now in operation.
 
     The Home Affairs Department will open temporary shelters for people in need of temporary accommodation.
 
     For details, please contact the centre on 2572 8427.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations:

Please broadcast the following special announcement immediately, and repeat it at frequent intervals:

     The Social Welfare Department announces that while the Red Rainstorm Warning Signal has been issued, all units providing child care centre services, services under the Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project, and after school care programmes for pre-primary or primary school children, elderly services centres, day pre-school rehabilitation services units and day rehabilitation units including sheltered workshops, integrated vocational rehabilitation services centres, integrated vocational training centres and day activity centres will remain open during their normal operating hours. If necessary, members of the public can contact the centres or services units to make arrangements for the safe return home of their children and family members.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, will depart for Nanjing tomorrow (July 11) to meet with health officials of Jiangsu Province and introduce them to the latest developments of various healthcare policies in Hong Kong as well as attend the 13th Nanjing Academic Symposium on Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation, with a view to deepening exchanges and collaboration on healthcare-related areas with the Mainland.

During his visit to Nanjing, Professor Lo will also visit local pharmaceutical companies and hospitals to introduce the latest progress in enhancing Hong Kong’s drug approval mechanism and registration regime, and share the city’s experiences in strengthening hospital management and services respectively.

Accompanying Professor Lo on the visit are the Assistant Director of Health (Drug), Mr Frank Chan; the Director (Quality and Safety) of the Hospital Authority (HA), Dr Michael Wong; and the Cluster Chief Executive of Hong Kong West Cluster of the HA, Dr Theresa Li.

Professor Lo will return to Hong Kong in the afternoon on July 12. During his absence, the Under Secretary for Health, Dr Libby Lee, will be the Acting Secretary for Health.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at suitable intervals:

     As the Red Rainstorm Warning Signal has been cancelled, the Home Affairs Department’s Emergency Co-ordination Centre and the emergency hotline 2572 8427 have ceased to operate.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) today (July 10) announced that the department collected 10 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) samples from auto-LPG filling stations and LPG terminals on a random basis in June 2025 for laboratory tests. The results show that the LPG quality of all these samples complied with auto-LPG specifications.
 
The detailed test results are available on the EMSD’s website (www.emsd.gov.hk/en/gas_safety/lpg_vehicle_scheme/publications/general/results_of_lpg_sample_analysis/index.html). Enquiries can also be made to the EMSD’s hotline on 2333 3762.
 
In addition, the EMSD has been vetting independent third-party test reports submitted by LPG supply companies for each shipment to ensure that the quality of imported LPG complies with the specified requirements.