The TVP aims to subsidise local entities on the use of technological services and solutions to improve productivity, or upgrade or transform their business processes, in order to enhance their long-term competitiveness.
Starting from 1st April, 2020, the government has further optimized the Technology Voucher, including increasing the funding ratio of each approved project from two-thirds to three-quarters, raising the funding ceiling for each applicant from HK$400,000 to HK$600,000, and increasing the upper limit of the number of approved projects from 4 to 6.
Companies and institutions (except listed companies) that meet the following conditions can apply TVP:
and
(b) Not a government subvented organisation* or subsidiary of any government subvented organisation*;
and
(c) With substantive business operation in Hong Kong which is related to the project under application at the time of application.
*A government subvented organisation means an organisation that receives subvention from the Government on a recurrent basis. The subvention contributes towards the organisation's operational expenses, in exchange for its service to the public. The recurrent subvention may account for the bulk of the organisation's income or may just be a token contribution/sponsorship forming a small percentage of the organisation's total income.
Source: Innovation and Technology Commission, Innovation and Technology Fundhttps://www.itf.gov.hk/l-tc/TVP.asp)
Funding could cover the following tasks:
Technology Consultancy – company/institution could engage consultants to provide external consultancy for recommending technological services/solutions to be adopted in the TVP project. The consultant must be a local university or research institution, or a company registered in Hong Kong under the BRO at the time of application.
Purchase, rental or subscription of customised equipment/hardware, software and technological services or solutions that form an essential part of the project.
Purchase, rental or subscription of off-the-shelf/readily available equipment/hardware, software and technological services or solutions that form an essential part of the project. In general, the costs of off-the-shelf/readily available equipment/hardware/software/services or solutions should constitute no more than 50% of the project cost.
Project auditing for projects with approved funding exceeding $50,000. The maximum audit fee to be counted towards the total project cost is $3,000.
Normal business operating costs will not be funded under the TVP.
Technology system applicable to TVP
E-commerce system
The e-commerce system includes online store content management system (CMS), customer and management applications, online payment, online marketing system, inventory management and automatic data collection system to facilitate customer consumption and improve customer loyalty.
Point of Sale Management System (POS)
Improve operational efficiency by handling various store sales situations, including cross-store management, member consumption records and management, online and offline links (O2O) and other retail business needs.
Customer Relationship Management Program (CRM)
Customer relationship management solutions enable the company to centralize the detailed data of all customers, understand the needs of existing and potential customers, and provide data for marketing to analyze and increase sales.
Electronic Reservation System
Regardless of venue management, equipment rental, business centers or clinics, the reservation system can help users make proper arrangements in one-stop, and provide reports for analysis to improve overall operations.
Big Data and Cloud Analysis Solutions
Putting traditional systems on cloud systems such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) will help the sustainability of the IT system, reduce costs and risks, and conduct real-time big data collection and analysis.
Information Sharing Platform
Through the information sharing platform, customers and users can exchange information while reducing cost of information and communication, and promote transactions and trading volume.
Each project should normally be completed within 12 months.
Adverse record of consultants and/or service provider(s) will be known to the Committee and ITC, if available.
The project should have good prospects of enhancing its competitiveness through improving productivity, cost reduction or efficiency enhancement, upgrading/improving/transforming business processes.
Assessment with reference to market prices of the technologies in question as known to the Committee or ITC will be made. Individual items of expenditure must also be essential and directly related to the implementation of the project.
TVP is open for application throughout the year.
After the application is approved, the enterprise should pay attention to all expenses including checks and receipts. The name of payer must be the same as that of the applicant enterprise. Once the project amount exceeds HK$50,000, the accounts will be audited by a registered independent auditor, which means an audit report is needed. The applicant enterprise also needs to submit a final project report indicating completion of project and project deliverables.