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- What is Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF)?
- ITF is a fund set up by the Government to support mainly applied R&D projects conducted by universities, industry support organizations, trade associations or even private companies which contribute to innovation and technology upgrading in industry in Hong Kong.
- The following are the programmes and schemes under the ITF -
- How should I make an application?
- You can download the application form for the various programmes/schemes from the ITF website. Please complete and return the form by following the instructions set out therein.
- No application fee will be charged.
- Can a single applicant submit more than one application to the same programme/scheme under the ITF at any one time?
- There is no restriction or quota on the number of applications submitted by any applicant at any one time except applications made under the ITSP - TCFS. In assessing each application, we will however consider the capability of the applicant to deploy adequate resources to complete the project, taking into account the number of ITF projects the same applicant or the same research team is currently undertaking.
- What is the chance of getting funding support from the ITF?
- It is difficult to provide any generalized answer as funding support will be given to any quality applications if they can fulfill the relevant funding criteria. The overall success rate is about 30%.
- What sort of projects will be funded or not funded by the ITF?
 | ITF supports public applied R&D projects conducted by research institutes (For details, please refer to ITSP).
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| ITF supports R&D projects with collaboration between organizations in Hong Kong and Guangdong Province (For details, please refer to ITSP - TCFS).
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| ITF supports proprietary applied R&D undertaken jointly by a university and a private company (For details, please refer to ITSP - TCFS, UICP).
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| ITF supports proprietary applied R&D undertaken by private companies (For details, please refer to ITSP - TCFS).
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| ITF supports proprietary applied R&D projects undertaken by small companies with less than 100 employees (For details, please refer to SERAP).
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| ITF supports general support and promoting innovation and technology culture and development in Hong Kong undertaken by universities, industry organizations or trade associations (For details, please refer to GSP).
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| ITF supports universities in recruiting interns to assist in the ITSP and UIM of UICP projects (For details, please refer to GSP - Internship Programme).
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 | ITF is not a basic research grant for the universities.
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| ITF is not a VC or investment fund.
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| ITF is not a loan scheme for private companies.
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| ITF is not specifically designed for SMEs.
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- What are the funding criteria?
- Different funding schemes under the ITF have slightly different criteria. In general, an application will be assessed having regard to its innovation level, R&D content, technical feasibility, benefits to the industry, capability of the project team, and reasonableness of the budget, etc. For detailed vetting criteria, please follow the link to individual schemes.
- What is meant by public research and what is the level of funding support provided by ITF?
- Under the ITF, public research projects refer to those which aim to benefit the whole industrial sector or a large segment of that sector instead of benefiting a single company. The applicants are usually research institutes.
- The ITF will support up to 90% of the total project costs and the applicants are required to meet at least 10% of the costs through industrial sponsorship.
- What is meant by proprietary research and what is the level of funding support provided by ITF?
- Under the ITF, proprietary research projects refer to those which aim to benefit a single company, i.e. the applicant or fund recipient. Applicants are usually private companies.
- The ITF will support up to 50% of the total project costs, and the companies are required to meet at least 50% of the total project costs.
- Who owns the IP of the project results funded by ITF?
- For those public research projects, the IP will be owned by the research institutes concerned.
- For those proprietary research projects, the IP will be owned by the private companies concerned.
- Who are eligible to apply for the different programmes and schemes under the ITF?
- Are universities or research institutes outside Hong Kong eligible to apply for the ITF?
- What kind of private companies is eligible to apply for the ITF?
- The applicant has to be a company incorporated in Hong Kong under the Companies Ordinance and has substantial connection to Hong Kong.
- A company which has substantial connection to Hong Kong means that it must have a significant proportion of its research, design, development, production, management or general business activities located in Hong Kong.
- Can a non-local organization apply for the ITF?
- As long as the applicant is a company incorporated in Hong Kong under the Companies Ordinance and has substantial connection to Hong Kong, it is eligible to apply for the ITF.
- The country of origin of a company is immaterial.
- Is an organization registered under the Societies Ordinance (Cap 151) eligible to apply for the ITF?
- My project was turned down by another Government funding agency. Can I apply for funding under the ITF?
- The Government has set up different funding schemes with their own objectives and eligibility criteria. Projects rejected by others do not necessarily mean they would be rejected by the ITF. They will be assessed having regard to our own vetting criteria.
- However, applicants would be required to disclose in the application proposal whether they have attempted/are attempting to seek funding support from other funding sources.
- In general, funding support will not be given to an application which has received funds from the ITF or other Government sources.
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