Hong Kong and Macau join the camp of the 10-billion-yuan guiding fund.
Hong Kong and Macao have been added to the list of government mother funds worth tens of billions.
Recently, when Chen Maobo, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, released the new annual budget, he officially announced the launch of the "Innovation and Technology Industry Guidance Fund" with a scale of HK$10 billion. One day later, the Macao government announced that it would inject MOP11 billion from the accumulated surplus of fiscal reserves over the years and jointly set up a government guidance fund with a total scale of MOP20 billion with social capital, aiming to complete the establishment within 2026.
The two funds worth tens of billions are both invested in the science and technology innovation industry, sending a clear signal: at the beginning of the 15th Five - Year Plan, Hong Kong and Macao are actively adjusting their industrial coordinates.
An investor with an office in Hong Kong told a reporter from Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that his institution 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 distinct industrial orientation from the very beginning. The official document bluntly states that it has learned from the successful experiences of the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and inland cities (such as Shenzhen).
The fund will adopt the "mother - fund + sub - fund" model, with the upper limit of the government's investment ratio being 25% (or HK$1 billion). The aim is to leverage social capital so that the overall capital pool is no less than HK$40 billion, with a long - term vision of reaching HK$100 billion.
Hong Kong has also set clear directions, targeting: life and health technology, artificial intelligence and robotics, semiconductors and intelligent devices, digitalization and upgrading transformation, and future and sustainable development.
What really catches the market's attention is its strict establishment KPIs. According to the details disclosed in relevant documents, sub - funds must meet three core requirements: 100% of the funds should be invested in Hong Kong's innovation and technology industry and its related industrial chain enterprises; at least 50% of the fund scale must be invested in local Hong Kong enterprises; at least 30% of the fund scale must be used to establish and operate manufacturing bases in Hong Kong, covering processes such as pilot production line testing.
The policy further extends the definition of "local". Enterprises that promise to set up their headquarters, regional headquarters, or international R & D centers in Hong Kong can be included in the 50% local investment ratio even if they are not currently registered in Hong Kong. This means that the end - goal of capital is no longer just the floating profit on the financial statements, but the rooting of the industrial chain in Hong Kong.
It can be said directly that Hong Kong is playing the "fund investment promotion card" and has also learned the flexible reinvestment standards used in various places. Previously, when Sun Dong, the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry of Hong Kong, explained the fund's goals, he said 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 technology industrial chain by supporting the development of domestic and foreign enterprises in Hong Kong.
This HK$10 - billion fund has not officially started operating, but it was not introduced in isolation. Looking back at 2025, Hong Kong's government guidance funds have shown a multi - level layout: the HK$1.5 - billion "Enhanced Innovation and Technology Venture Fund" is invested in fields such as artificial intelligence, life and health technology, and advanced 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 institutions such as PAG, CMC Capital, and Primavera Capital, and will start investing in the first quarter of 2026; the HK$180 - million "Pilot Scheme for Innovation and Technology Accelerators" supports start - up service institutions at a 1:2 matching ratio.
The combination of "a HK$10 - billion mother fund + an innovation and technology optimization fund + an investment entrant fund + an accelerator scheme" has a total scale of nearly HK$15 billion (approximately RMB13.488 billion), all focusing on hard - technology fields such as artificial intelligence, life science, semiconductors, and new energy. It is under the continuous strengthening of this series of policies that Hong Kong's innovation and technology ecosystem has gradually changed.
"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, told a reporter from Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily.
On the one hand, capital is more willing to contact university teams. Early - stage projects are getting attention faster, and entrepreneurs are more willing to layout R & D, pilot applications, and team building in Hong Kong.
On the other hand, the career choices of students have also begun to change. Dr. Yan Su observed that in the past, most graduates of the School of Economics and Management of the University of Hong Kong preferred traditional professional service industries such as finance and consulting, but in the past two years, more and more students' employment directions have changed.
"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 told a reporter from Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that enterprises are also more willing to recruit compound - type talents with an understanding of technology and business thinking during recruitment. "This transformation of the talent structure is a specific manifestation of market changes in the employment end."
Compared with Hong Kong's successive moves, Macao's version seems bolder. The first fund has a scale of MOP20 billion (approximately RMB17 billion), exceeding the sum of Hong Kong's previous funds.
In terms of investment directions, Macao has defined a rather broad range of tracks - emerging industries, industries undergoing transformation and upgrading, technology transfer projects, fields in line with the positioning of "one center, one platform, and one base", and investment projects supporting the linkage between Macao and Hengqin and the Greater Bay Area. These five directions almost cover all fields related to "science and technology innovation" and have not yet focused as precisely as Hong Kong on specific tracks such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
In terms of the governance structure, Macao has adopted a "3 + 1" model - supervision by the Chief Executive, daily operation by a management entity, market - oriented operation by professional fund managers, and a fund steering committee composed of government officials, professionals, and scholars to provide strategic advice. The direct participation of the Chief Executive in supervision shows the importance of this fund in Macao's overall industrial layout.
However, judging from the information disclosed so far, the operation details, reinvestment ratio, and establishment assessment mechanism have not emerged. Dai Jianye, the Secretary for Economy and Finance of Macao, said that they will strive to complete the establishment of the fund and start the selection of fund managers within 2026. This means that Macao is still in the initial stage of building the framework and also needs to promote the establishment of a fund management entity and introduce administrative regulations to standardize the fund's operation.
When talking about Macao, the aforementioned investor frankly said that venture capital institutions rarely paid attention to the Macao region in the past. "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 investment direction of the Macao fund mentions "supporting the coordinated development of Macao with the cooperation zone and the Greater Bay Area". In his view, this may mean that the actual radiation scope of the Macao fund will extend to Zhuhai and even the entire western bank of the Pearl River.
"If the money from Macao can be invested in Hengqin and Zhuhai, it will be a different story," he said.
From a Capital "Transfer Station" to an Innovation "Ecosystem"
The signals released by the government are being keenly captured by the market. In the past year, the pace of mainland venture capital institutions' layout in Hong Kong has significantly accelerated. From the establishment 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 firms have successively obtained Hong Kong's Type 9 licenses. As of November 2025, the number of licensed private funds exceeded 100 for the first time. Venture capital institutions are beginning to gather in Hong Kong.
The observation of China Renaissance provides a perspective. As an institution that has been operating in Hong Kong since 2012, China Renaissance has long been concerned about fields such as artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing. In 2025, it assisted several technology companies such as Zhipu and Silicon - based Mobility in completing their financing.
In the view of the relevant person in charge, the motivation for institutions to flock to Hong Kong comes from two aspects: first, the diversification of capital sources. Hong Kong can access both existing US - dollar capital and funds from emerging markets such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia, forming a more resilient LP structure; second, the precise implementation of policy dividends. In addition to the HK$10 - billion guidance fund, tax optimization measures and services such as the "Special Team for Mainland Enterprises Going Global" provide clear business opportunities from the capital and service ends.
What is more worthy of attention is the fundamental shift in investment focus. In the past, Hong Kong mostly played the role of a "fund settlement place" in the primary market, with the focus on consumer Internet and model innovation. Now, the funds coming to Hong Kong are highly interested in hard - technology fields such as large AI models, embodied intelligence, biomedicine, and advanced manufacturing.
He summarized this change as: Hong Kong is gradually becoming a key hub connecting China's supply - chain capabilities and the global market.
The investment layout of the Hong Kong Investment Corporation provides evidence for this narrative. In its latest annual report, as of the end of 2024, the total asset scale of this institution, known as the "Hong Kong - style Temasek", was about HK$64 billion, and hard - technology accounted for 71% of the total investment. It has appeared behind technology companies such as Smoore Technology, ByteDance, Galaxy Computing, Constellation Pharmaceuticals, and Insilico Medicine.
What is even more noteworthy is its leverage effect - as of the end of August 2025, every HK$1 invested by the Hong Kong Investment Corporation has driven more than HK$5 of long - term capital to follow - up, with a cumulative number of investment projects exceeding 130.
The "spark" ignited by the government fund is gradually connecting the chain from basic research to industrial implementation. As Dr. Yan Su said, "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 just started to explore its own path.
The differences between the two places are not only in industries but also reflect their unique positions in regional competition. When the "visible hand" and the "market hand" work together on both sides of the Hong Kong waters, the exploration of hard - technology in Hong Kong and Macao has just begun.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily", author: Yu Shiqi. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.