Wednesday, 23 Feb 2022
Below is the response of Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) to the 2022-23 Budget Speech delivered by the Financial Secretary today (23 February):
Professor Alexander Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU, is much encouraged by the government's support of the development of arts and arts technology in the Budget Speech. The allocation of $30 million to implement an Arts Technology Funding Pilot Scheme and the injection of an additional amount of $10 million into the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme as proposed in the Budget will promote a wider adoption of arts technology by the arts sector in their creative process. Earmarking $85 million each year to support the development of the East Kowloon Cultural Centre into a major arts technology venue and incubator, and setting aside $70 million to upgrade the facilities of the performing venues under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will substantially enhance Hong Kong's infrastructure in arts technology application, which is conducive to the popular application of arts technology and supportive to the development of Hong Kong into a creative and art hub. Arts technology is one of HKBU's key development areas, and the measures will create increasing opportunities for HKBU students in creative media, art creation and technology related programmes, and for teaching and research staff and alumni to demonstrate their creativity.
Furthermore, organisation of the Hong Kong Performing Arts Market as suggested in the Budget will provide an international platform for performing arts talents in Hong Kong, including HKBU's experts, students and alumni in the disciplines of film, music and visual arts to showcase their excellence and achievements in different areas of performing arts.
HKBU also welcomes the Budget's support of innovation and technology, especially in the promotion of life and health scientific research with $10 billion earmarked to provide more comprehensive support in the long run. Scope of the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme will also be expanded to include experts of "medical and healthcare sciences" to attract more related talent to Hong Kong. HKBU has all along focused on research in related disciplines such as Chinese medicine, drug discovery and biomedicine, and it believes that the related measures will enhance the University's and other research institutes' capabilities in life and health science research, as well as their abilities to commercialise their research outcomes.
The Budget allocation will also double the amount of subsidy to universities under the Technology Start‑up Support Scheme for Universities to $16 million, providing start‑ups of universities with private investments on a matching basis of one to one. It will facilitate universities' start up projects in attracting more investors, and enhance the chance of successful marketing of universities' innovation and technologies.
On intellectual property protection, further promotion and development of Hong Kong's "original grant patent" system as suggested in the Budget can strengthen Hong Kong' s regime in safeguarding intellectual property created by scientific research, and offer a favourable condition for the commercialisation of universities’ research outcomes.