📋 Tender Overview
The Government announced today December 22 the official launch of the intellectual property IP financing sandbox and the opening of the Hong Kong Technology and Innovation Support Centre HKTISC marking key milestones in promoting IP financing and further developing Hong Kongs IP trading ecosystem while fostering innovation
The Chief Executive announced in the 2025 Policy Address the launch of the sandbox to assist pilot sectors particularly the technology sector in leveraging IPs for financing with the support of the banking insurance valuation legal and other professions The sandbox will provide a collaborative and riskcontrolled environment for stakeholders to test out the full lifecycle of IP financing and accumulate practical experience in providing IP financing
With the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau CEDB the Intellectual Property Department IPD and the Hong Kong Monetary Authoritys HKMA deliberation the sandbox is underpinned by the following four core operating principles
1 Recognition of IP value Participating banks will consider the value of IPs owned by borrowing enterprises alongside the borrowers credit demand financial position and repayment ability in their credit underwriting process
2 Independent and standardised valuation To ensure credibility IP valuation will be conducted by independent service providers using universally accepted methods Where appropriate qualitative patent evaluation reports can be obtained to support this process
3 Risk management Participating banks should comply with applicable supervisory requirements on risk management while participating enterprises should comply with the legal and regulatory requirements in respect of maintaining and developing the IP assets concerned
4 Stakeholder collaboration The initiative relies on a cohesive ecosystem It brings together enterprises that hold IP assets banks valuation experts legal practitioners and other relevant professionals to cocreate successful financing transactions
The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Mr Algernon Yau said that the IP financing sandbox together with other related measures announced in The Chief Executives 2025 Policy Address would help leverage Hong Kongs unique strengths to build an ecosystem where IP is protected with rigour valued with clarity and financed with confidence with a view to strengthening Hong Kongs role as a regional IP trading centre
By enabling enterprises to leverage their IP assets for financing the sandbox will help unlock a new financing channel thereby supporting the commercialisation of outcomes of research and development as well as creativity and promoting innovation and technology as a key driver of economic growth
Three major banks have committed to participating in the sandbox while nearly 30 professional firms from the legal and valuation sectors have indicated keen interest in participating The CEDB the IPD and the HKMA will closely monitor the progress of the pilot projects gather feedback and provide guidance as needed It is anticipated that several trial cases are in the pipeline for the first phase of the sandbox
In addition the HKTISC that officially commenced full operations today is another key complementary initiative in promoting IP financing With the support of the IPD the HKTISC will closely engage small and mediumsized enterprises SMEs in the innovation and technology sector and provide a qualitative patent evaluation service to assess based on national standards the quality of their patents from legal technological and economic perspectives The Government will also launch a support scheme through the HKTISC in 2026 to financially assist SMEs to engage professional service providers for the valuation of their whole IP portfolios in monetary terms
These integrated measures aim to provide an objective reference about the strengths of the patents and the monetary valuation of the whole IP portfolios owned by the SMEs facilitating more effective credit assessment and investment analysis
The Technology and Innovation Support Centre is a dedicated programme of the World Intellectual Property Organization WIPO which supports researchers and innovators at different stages of the innovation cycle helping them make use of the IP system especially by means of patents to protect their inventions and guiding them to bring the technology to market With the recognition of the Hong Kong Productivity Council as a Technology and Innovation Support Centre hosting institution by the China National Intellectual Property Administration and WIPO the HKTISC will join the 200plus strong Technology and Innovation Support Centre network in the country which promotes better integration of Hong Kong into overall national development
