Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme (RAISe+)

Objective

Launched in October 2023, RAISe+ aims to unleash potential of local universities in transformation and commercialisation of R&D outcomes, and facilitate relevant collaboration among the Government, industries, universities, and research sectors.

Eligibility

The applicant must be a university funded by the University Grant Committee (UGC).

Key Features

Maximum funding support: HK$100 million per project
Two Stages:
- First stage (transformation and realisation of R&D outcomes);
- Second stage (initiation of the commercialisation of R&D outcomes).
Depending on the maturity of the transformation of its R&D outcomes, Applicants may join the Scheme starting from either the first or the second stage.
Matching Ratio:
- The First Stage: up to 2 (Government) : 1 (industry and university)
- The Second Stage: 1 (Government) : 1 (industry)
Maximum Project Duration:
- Applicants should complete their projects in two stages within around five years –
  1. the first stage within around three years; and
  2. the second stage within the remaining time frame of the project.
- Applicants joining the Scheme from the second stage shall complete their projects within three years.
Industry Sponsorship: mandatory
Intellectual Property: University teams/inventors should be entitled to no less than 70% of the IP benefits (for IPs generated by the teams/ inventors during the project period).

Application

RAISe+ invites applications for funding from eligible universities twice every twelve months. The first application solicitation period is from 18 October 2023 to 30 November 2023. Each university is welcome to submit a maximum of 15 applications for each application solicitation exercise. Please read the following documents before submitting an application:

Funding and Administrative Guidelines for RAISe+
Application Form (For reference only. Eligible universities are required to submit their applications via their specific accounts for the RAISe+ Scheme.)

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Assessment

Applications submitted by universities will be subject to peer review on their technical aspects, business review on their commercial viability, and vetting by a Steering Committee (SC) comprising members from academic, research and industry sectors. The SC will recommend applications for funding support for approval by the Commissioner for Innovation and Technology.

Frequently Asked Questions

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What criteria does ITC use to determine whether a university's application should start from the First Stage or the Second Stage?

There are different requirements for the First Stage and the Second Stage. University team participating in the First Stage is still carrying out applied research and development work, but the work is near completion. University team directly joining the Second Stage should have completed its research and development and may have developed a prototype of the product, with a focus on the commercialisation of research outcomes. Universities should assess the progress of the project in determining whether to apply for the First Stage or the Second Stage.

Under the RAISe+ Scheme, is it necessary for the funding from the Innovation and Technology Fund and contribution to be deposited into the university's project bank account? Can it be deposited into the bank account of the company formed by the project team or another bank account?

Due to the substantial amount of funding provided by this Scheme and to allow project team members to dedicate more time to commercialise the research and development ("R&D") outcomes and facilitate collaboration among the industry sector, universities, and research sector, we expect universities to assume the project management role by providing advisory services to the R&D projects as well as commercial, accounting, and other services.

Under this Scheme, the funding support from the Government will be deposited directly into the university's account, and the university can decide whether the project account is to be placed under the university or under the company formed by the project team. Under either scenario, the university bears the responsibility of overseeing the management of the project bank account to ensure that the Project Funds in the project bank account are prudently used and are in compliance with the requirements of the Scheme. The respective university may charge a service fee of no more than 10% of the total expenses of the project for its provision of the support services. The breakdown of each service item and justification should be stated in the project proposal.

Under the Scheme, what is the weighting for project assessment for the First Stage and the Second Stage?

As the First Stage focuses on the innovation of the R&D project, greater weighting will be given to innovation and technological contents.

For the Second Stage, we expect that development of the start-up team has become more mature and it may have secured more investments from the industry, and emphasise more on the commercialisation work. Hence, commercial viability of the project outcomes will be given higher weighting.

Given the different focuses of the project in the two stages, we shall conduct assessment according to the weightings of the assessment criteria for project applications joining from different stages.

ENQUIRY

Tel: (852) 3655 5678
Email: raiseplus@itc.gov.hk