Hong Kong and Macao have been added to the checklist of authorities mom funds price tens of billions.
Recently, when Chen Maobo, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, launched the new annual funds, he formally introduced the launch of the “Innovation and Technology Industry Guidance Fund” with a scale of HK$10 billion. One day later, the Macao authorities introduced that it might inject MOP11 billion from the amassed surplus of fiscal reserves over the years and collectively arrange a authorities steerage fund with a complete scale of MOP20 billion with social capital, aiming to finish the institution inside 2026.
The two funds price tens of billions are each invested in the science and expertise innovation business, sending a transparent sign: at the starting of the fifteenth Five – Year Plan, Hong Kong and Macao are actively adjusting their industrial coordinates.
An investor with an workplace in Hong Kong informed a reporter from Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that his establishment has been following the progress of the two funds in Hong Kong and Macao. “The requirements in Hong Kong are very clear, with the reinvestment ratio and the threshold for establishment clearly stated. We are still waiting for further details in Macao, but both places are worth early layout.”
The “Hong Kong and Macao Script” of Government Guidance Funds
The “Innovation and Technology Industry Guidance Fund” launched by Hong Kong this time has a definite industrial orientation from the very starting. The official doc bluntly states that it has discovered from the profitable experiences of the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and inland cities (similar to Shenzhen).
The fund will undertake the “mother – fund + sub – fund” mannequin, with the higher restrict of the authorities’s funding ratio being 25% (or HK$1 billion). The goal is to leverage social capital in order that the total capital pool is at least HK$40 billion, with a protracted – time period imaginative and prescient of reaching HK$100 billion.
Hong Kong has additionally set clear instructions, concentrating on: life and well being expertise, synthetic intelligence and robotics, semiconductors and clever gadgets, digitalization and upgrading transformation, and future and sustainable growth.
What actually catches the market’s consideration is its strict institution KPIs. According to the particulars disclosed in related paperwork, sub – funds should meet three core necessities: 100% of the funds ought to be invested in Hong Kong’s innovation and expertise business and its associated industrial chain enterprises; not less than 50% of the fund scale have to be invested in native Hong Kong enterprises; not less than 30% of the fund scale have to be used to determine and function manufacturing bases in Hong Kong, masking processes similar to pilot manufacturing line testing.
The coverage additional extends the definition of “local”. Enterprises that promise to arrange their headquarters, regional headquarters, or worldwide R & D facilities in Hong Kong may be included in the 50% native funding ratio even when they aren’t at present registered in Hong Kong. This signifies that the finish – objective of capital is now not simply the floating revenue on the monetary statements, however the rooting of the industrial chain in Hong Kong.
It may be mentioned instantly that Hong Kong is taking part in the “fund investment promotion card” and has additionally discovered the versatile reinvestment requirements utilized in numerous locations. Previously, when Sun Dong, the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry of Hong Kong, defined the fund’s targets, he mentioned that this was to “connect the ‘last mile’ of Hong Kong’s innovation and technology industry ecosystem” and to “strengthen and supplement the links” of Hong Kong’s innovation and expertise industrial chain by supporting the growth of home and international enterprises in Hong Kong.
This HK$10 – billion fund has not formally began working, nevertheless it was not launched in isolation. Looking again at 2025, Hong Kong’s authorities steerage funds have proven a multi – degree format: the HK$1.5 – billion “Enhanced Innovation and Technology Venture Fund” is invested in fields similar to synthetic intelligence, life and well being expertise, and superior manufacturing; the HK$3 – billion “Investment Portfolio of the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme” is managed by the Hong Kong Investment Corporation and has appointed 10 establishments similar to PAG, CMC Capital, and Primavera Capital, and will begin investing in the first quarter of 2026; the HK$180 – million “Pilot Scheme for Innovation and Technology Accelerators” helps begin – up service establishments at a 1:2 matching ratio.
The mixture of “a HK$10 – billion mother fund + an innovation and technology optimization fund + an investment entrant fund + an accelerator scheme” has a complete scale of almost HK$15 billion (roughly RMB13.488 billion), all specializing in laborious – expertise fields similar to synthetic intelligence, life science, semiconductors, and new vitality. It is below the steady strengthening of this sequence of insurance policies that Hong Kong’s innovation and expertise ecosystem has steadily modified.
“In our teaching, research, and external cooperation at the School of Economics and Management of the University of Hong Kong, we have indeed felt obvious and positive changes in Hong Kong’s innovation and technology ecosystem,” Dr. Yan Su, the Director of Strategic Partnerships at the School of Economics and Management of the University of Hong Kong and the Executive Director of the Shenzhen Campus, informed a reporter from Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily.
On the one hand, capital is extra keen to contact college groups. Early – stage tasks are getting consideration sooner, and entrepreneurs are extra keen to format R & D, pilot functions, and group constructing in Hong Kong.
On the different hand, the profession decisions of college students have additionally begun to alter. Dr. Yan Su noticed that in the previous, most graduates of the School of Economics and Management of the University of Hong Kong most well-liked conventional skilled service industries similar to finance and consulting, however in the previous two years, extra and extra college students’ employment instructions have modified.
“In addition to traditional finance and professional service industries, more and more students are entering emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, green technology, technology consulting, and innovation management, or joining start – up enterprises with a scientific research background.” He informed a reporter from Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that enterprises are additionally extra keen to recruit compound – kind abilities with an understanding of expertise and enterprise considering throughout recruitment. “This transformation of the talent structure is a specific manifestation of market changes in the employment end.”
Compared with Hong Kong’s successive strikes, Macao’s model appears bolder. The first fund has a scale of MOP20 billion (roughly RMB17 billion), exceeding the sum of Hong Kong’s earlier funds.
In phrases of funding instructions, Macao has outlined a quite broad vary of tracks – rising industries, industries present process transformation and upgrading, expertise switch tasks, fields consistent with the positioning of “one center, one platform, and one base”, and funding tasks supporting the linkage between Macao and Hengqin and the Greater Bay Area. These 5 instructions nearly cowl all fields associated to “science and technology innovation” and haven’t but centered as exactly as Hong Kong on particular tracks similar to synthetic intelligence and semiconductors.
In phrases of the governance construction, Macao has adopted a “3 + 1” mannequin – supervision by the Chief Executive, day by day operation by a administration entity, market – oriented operation by skilled fund managers, and a fund steering committee composed of authorities officers, professionals, and students to offer strategic recommendation. The direct participation of the Chief Executive in supervision exhibits the significance of this fund in Macao’s total industrial format.
However, judging from the info disclosed to date, the operation particulars, reinvestment ratio, and institution evaluation mechanism haven’t emerged. Dai Jianye, the Secretary for Economy and Finance of Macao, mentioned that they are going to attempt to finish the institution of the fund and begin the choice of fund managers inside 2026. This signifies that Macao continues to be in the preliminary stage of constructing the framework and additionally wants to advertise the institution of a fund administration entity and introduce administrative rules to standardize the fund’s operation.
When speaking about Macao, the aforementioned investor frankly mentioned that enterprise capital establishments not often paid consideration to the Macao area in the previous. “The local industrial environment is indeed not well – matched with science and technology innovation investment. The market is too small, and there is a lack of large – scale clusters of science and technology innovation enterprises.” But this time, the funding path of the Macao fund mentions “supporting the coordinated development of Macao with the cooperation zone and the Greater Bay Area”. In his view, this will imply that the precise radiation scope of the Macao fund will prolong to Zhuhai and even the whole western financial institution of the Pearl River.
“If the money from Macao can be invested in Hengqin and Zhuhai, it will be a different story,” he mentioned.
From a Capital “Transfer Station” to an Innovation “Ecosystem”
The indicators launched by the authorities are being keenly captured by the market. In the previous yr, the tempo of mainland enterprise capital establishments’ format in Hong Kong has considerably accelerated. From the institution of the “Gobi – Redbird Innovation Fund” by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Hong Kong Investment Corporation, and Gobi Partners, to the co – creation of the “CMC AI Creative Fund” by CMC Capital and the Hong Kong Investment Corporation.
Many VC and PE companies have successively obtained Hong Kong’s Type 9 licenses. As of November 2025, the quantity of licensed personal funds exceeded 100 for the first time. Venture capital establishments are starting to collect in Hong Kong.
The statement of China Renaissance supplies a perspective. As an establishment that has been working in Hong Kong since 2012, China Renaissance has lengthy been involved about fields similar to synthetic intelligence and superior manufacturing. In 2025, it assisted a number of expertise firms similar to Zhipu and Silicon – primarily based Mobility in finishing their financing.
In the view of the related particular person in cost, the motivation for establishments to flock to Hong Kong comes from two points: first, the diversification of capital sources. Hong Kong can entry each current US – greenback capital and funds from rising markets similar to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, forming a extra resilient LP construction; second, the exact implementation of coverage dividends. In addition to the HK$10 – billion steerage fund, tax optimization measures and providers similar to the “Special Team for Mainland Enterprises Going Global” present clear enterprise alternatives from the capital and service ends.
What is extra worthy of consideration is the basic shift in funding focus. In the previous, Hong Kong principally performed the function of a “fund settlement place” in the major market, with the deal with client Internet and mannequin innovation. Now, the funds coming to Hong Kong are extremely taken with laborious – expertise fields similar to massive AI fashions, embodied intelligence, biomedicine, and superior manufacturing.
He summarized this alteration as: Hong Kong is steadily turning into a key hub connecting China’s provide – chain capabilities and the international market.
The funding format of the Hong Kong Investment Corporation supplies proof for this narrative. In its newest annual report, as of the finish of 2024, the complete asset scale of this establishment, often known as the “Hong Kong – style Temasek”, was about HK$64 billion, and laborious – expertise accounted for 71% of the complete funding. It has appeared behind expertise firms similar to Smoore Technology, ByteDance, Galaxy Computing, Constellation Pharmaceuticals, and Insilico Medicine.
What is much more noteworthy is its leverage impact – as of the finish of August 2025, each HK$1 invested by the Hong Kong Investment Corporation has pushed greater than HK$5 of lengthy – time period capital to observe – up, with a cumulative quantity of funding tasks exceeding 130.
The “spark” ignited by the authorities fund is steadily connecting the chain from primary analysis to industrial implementation. As Dr. Yan Su mentioned, “An innovation closed – loop from ‘basic research – technology transfer – industrial implementation – capital exit’ is accelerating its formation. This change is not only driven by capital but also reflects a confidence in the future, making the interaction between the academic and industrial circles closer and also enabling Hong Kong, as an international financial center, to show stronger vitality and imagination in cultivating future hard – technology enterprises.”
Macao has simply began to discover its personal path.
The variations between the two locations should not solely in industries but in addition replicate their distinctive positions in regional competitors. When the “visible hand” and the “market hand” work collectively on each side of the Hong Kong waters, the exploration of laborious – expertise in Hong Kong and Macao has simply begun.
This article is from the WeChat public account “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, creator: Yu Shiqi. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.