6 key takeaways for the HK marketing community from Policy Address 2024

Hong Kong chief executive John Lee delivered its third Policy Address today (16 October) at the LegCo, emphasising reforms aimed at boosting the city’s development and enhancing residents’ livelihoods.

Titled “Reform for enhancing development and building our future together” (齊改革同發展 惠民生建未來), the report's cover will be in green again, symbolising harmony, vitality, prosperity, new momentum, and innovative ideas. It also reflects the continuity and relevance of government policies, said Lee. 

To prepare the Policy Address, Lee spent more than three months holding more than 40 consultation meetings and visiting communities to contact citizens and listen to their opinions on the proposal. "I have also received different opinions on different occasions, including from letters, emails and social media. In total, I have received more than 9 500 submissions," he said.

This year's Policy Address has replaced the "Policy measures" document, which has been in use for the past two years, with an "Appendix" that provides detailed measures for various policies. The "Appendix" is linked to the Policy Address and outlines the background details of different policies to ensure they are not overlooked, according to Lee.

Below, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE lays out some of the key takeaways from the Policy Address 2024 that businesses and marketers in Hong Kong should focus on. 

1. Establishment of working groups for talent, tourism, and economy

The government will establish the following committee and working groups to fully leverage the leading and co-ordinating functions of secretaries and deputy secretaries of the department. 

To lure talent, the government will set up the committee on education, technology and talents (教育、科技和人才委員會), chaired by the chief secretary for administration with the secretary for education, secretary for innovation, technology and industry, and secretary for labour and welfare, as members. They will coordinate and promote the integrated development of education, technology, and talents. 

The committee will also expand connections, attract and cultivate talents, foster the development of technologies, and promote Hong Kong as an international hub for high-calibre talents;

In terms of tourism, the government will set up the working group on developing tourist hotspots (發展旅遊熱點工作組), led by the deputy chief secretary for administration. It aims to strengthen cross-departmental coordination and leverage community efforts, identifying and developing tourist hotspots of high popularity and with strong appeal in various districts.

To boost local economy, the government will set up the working group to promote silver economy (促進銀髮經濟工作組), led by the deputy chief secretary for administration. It will formulate measures to expedite the development of the silver industry in line with the daily needs of the elderly.

The government will also set up the working group on developing low-altitude economy (發展低空經濟工作組), led by the deputy financial secretary. It will kick-start projects with application prospects, formulate development strategies and action plans on the low-altitude economy, as well as take forward regulatory reform and plans for related infrastructural facilities.

2. Creation of the third InnoHK research cluster

While the InnoHK research clusters have become home to about 2,500 research and development (R&D) personnel from Hong Kong and around the world, the government has started preparatory work to establish the third InnoHK research cluster, which will focus on advanced manufacturing, materials, energy, and sustainable development. The target is to attract world-class R&D teams to collaborate with local institutions, promoting R&D and bringing in talent.

To attract international start-up accelerators to establish a presence in Hong Kong, the government will launch the I&T accelerator pilot scheme (創科加速器先導計劃) with a funding allocation of HK$180 million at a one-to-two matching ratio between the government and the institution, up to a subsidy ceiling of HK$30 million. The scheme aims to attract professional start-up service providers with proven track records in and beyond Hong Kong to set up accelerator bases in Hong Kong, fostering the robust growth of start-ups.

The government will also increase investment and guide more market capital to invest in I&T industries. It will set up a HK$10 billion I&T industry-oriented fund (創科產業引導基金), which a fund-of-funds will be established to channel more market capital to invest in specified emerging and future industries of strategic importance, including life and health technology, AI and robotics, semi-conductors and smart devices, advanced materials, and new energy. The goal is to systematically build an I&T ecosystem.

To optimise the innovation and technology venture fund (創科創投基金), the government will redeploy HK$1.5 billion to set up funds jointly with the market, on a matching basis, investing in start-ups of strategic industries, to further enhance Hong Kong's start-up ecosystem.

3. Enhancement of the regional IP trading centre

Hong Kong's intellectual property (IP)-intensive industries accounted for about 30% of the city's GDP and of total employment respectively, said Lee.

The government will strengthen protection for the products of innovation and creativity yielded by R&D efforts. Measures include putting forward a proposal next year to enhance the Copyright Ordinance regarding the protection for AI technology development, launching a consultation in 2025 on the registered designs regime currently under review, and proposing legislative amendments to streamline IP litigation processes for the High Court to manage and hear these cases more effectively.

Meanwhile, the Trade Marks Registry under the Intellectual Property Department (IPD) will launch a new AI-assisted image search service to facilitate the public's search of the trademark database next year. 

In terms of strengthen training of IP talents, the government will continue to discuss with the patent agent sector and stakeholders to plan for the introduction of regulatory arrangements for local patent agent services, covering qualification, registration, and other areas, aiming to nurture professional talents and enhance service quality.

The IPD will also collaborate with the Qualifications Framework Secretariat (資歷架構秘書處) to develop practical teaching materials for deployment by training providers, benefitting personnel across 23 different industries.

4. Attracting talent

Launched by the government in late 2022, the new talent admission regime has received over 380,000 applications to date, with around 160,000 talents arriving in Hong Kong along with their families, said Lee. He added that in the next five years, there is expected to be a shortage of about 180,000 workers across various sectors.

To build a quality talent pool for development, the government will update the talent list (人才清單) to include talents required for development of the "eight centres" (八大中心). It will also expand the list of universities under the top talent pass scheme to 198 universities by adding 13 top Mainland and overseas universities, and extending the validity period of the first visa of high-income talents under the scheme from two years to three years.

• Introducing new mechanism under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme

The government will also introduce a new mechanism under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (優秀人才入境計劃), proactively inviting top-notch talents to come to Hong Kong for development, promoting the city as the focal point of international high-calibre talents; and extending for two years the pilot arrangement of including graduates from the GBA campuses of Hong Kong universities under the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates.

The Hong Kong Talent Engage (HKTE) will step up promotion of its online platforms to offer comprehensive information on salaries, taxation, education, and visas, in addition to providing personalised assistance. It will also organise another international talent forum and conduct overseas promotion.

• Establishing the "Study in HK" brand

To nurture future talents, the government will establish the "Study in Hong Kong" (留學香港) brand. It will strive to host international education conferences and exhibitions. It will also encourage local post-secondary institutions to enhance collaboration and exchange with their counterparts around the world in promoting the "Study in Hong Kong" brand on a global scale, and to attract more overseas students, especially those from ASEAN and other B&R countries, to study in the city through the provision of scholarships and other incentives; and

5. Promotion of integrated development of culture, sports and tourism 

The government will strengthen long-term industry development in the West Kowloon Cultural District. The WKCD Authority will take a leading role in establishing an industry chain for the arts and culture and creative industries of Hong Kong, driving cultural and creative tourism, and enhancing its financial sustainability through diverse and innovative industrialisation measures.

• Rebranding WKCD

For example, the government will promote the WKCD as a prime destination for major international cultural, creative and commercial events. With more than 20 venues for different kinds of mega events, the WKCD Authority will step up efforts to host more major international cultural, creative and commercial events, attracting more inbound visitors and stimulating local spending. The government will also rebrand the WKCD as a must-visit landmark for cultural and creative tourism. It will roll out more special experience activities, and step up worldwide promotion in collaboration with the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) to bring in more tourists.

• Opening of Kai Tak Sports Park

In terms of sports development promotion, the government aims to Hong Kong into a centre for mega international sports events. While the Kai Tak Sports Park is set to open in the first quarter of next year. Lee said that the park is the largest sports infrastructure project in Hong Kong's history and will help promote sports development while boosting the growth of the leisure, entertainment, tourism industries, and event economy.

The inter-departmental Task Force on KTSP, led by the chief secretary for administration, will ramp up efforts in overseeing the smooth completion and commissioning of the KTSP and its publicity work, fostering the synergistic development of major sports events, innovative entertainment, dining, conventions and exhibitions, as well as tourism activities. The task force will also formulate thorough plans and conduct comprehensive drills on security deployment, crowd management, emergency response, and other areas.

• Recreating the use of unique resources

To revitalise the local tourism industry, the government will develop Hong Kong into a premier tourism destination through innovative thinking and making better use of the city's rich and unique resources such as the Victoria Harbour, outlying islands, rural areas, cultures, cuisines, lifestyles and historic buildings. These elements, combined with Hong Kong's edges in technology, animation and comics, the performing arts, film and television culture, and more, will help to instill the concept of "tourism is everywhere in Hong Kong" (香港無處不旅遊).

The CSTB will publish the Development Blueprint for Hong Kong's Tourism Industry 2.0 (Blueprint 2.0) later this year, with the focus on promoting culture, sports, ecology and mega events, covering such areas as developing eco-tourism, developing visitor sources from the Middle East and ASEAN, and developing tourism products with characteristics.

6. Fostering economic diversification

To address the challenges commonly encountered by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during economic restructuring, the government will expand the scope of Cyberport's digital transformation support pilot programme (數碼轉型支援先導計劃) to cover the retail and food and beverage sectors, as well as industries such as tourism and personal services. This will provide one-to-one matching subsidies to SMEs for their digital transformation efforts, aiming to support their transition and leverage eCommerce opportunities.

Furthermore, the Hong Kong Shopping Festival will be relaunched in the next two years to help SMEs tap into the Mainland eCommerce sales market, and will be held in the ASEAN market in due course.

To strengthen brand development of SMEs, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) will formulate plans for setting up more Hong Kong Pavilions in Mainland and overseas exhibitions to further promote Hong Kong brands.

Meanwhile, the organisation and functions of the Hong Kong Design Centre will be re-structured to assist SMEs in the design industry to enhance their services in product and brand design, and strengthen collaboration and interface with start-ups and Mainland enterprises operating in Hong Kong.

To enhance incentives for recurrent exhibitions, an additional provision of HK$500 million will be allocated for launching the Incentive Scheme for Recurrent Exhibitions 2.0, targeting new and international exhibitions of large scale, in order to further promote mega-event economy and the development of the convention and exhibition industry.

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