The Zhitong Finance App learned that on September 30, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government announced that the Intellectual Property Financing Sandbox (Sandbox) recorded the first batch of seven pilot cases that successfully completed financing approval, and simultaneously launched the Patent Valuation Pilot Support Program (Pilot Program) to enhance support for corporate intellectual property valuation. The two measures complement each other, marking an important step in promoting the use of intellectual property assets by Hong Kong as a financing tool, and to accumulate practical experience and improve relevant support facilities for the further development of intellectual property financing in the region.
According to reports, the first batch of seven successfully approved financing pilot cases covered industries such as electronics, construction, toy manufacturing, and medical equipment. The intellectual property assets involved included patents and trademarks, and loan amounts ranged from HK$1 million to HK$39 million.
Sandbox is an important initiative in the “Chief Executive's 2025 Policy Address” to promote intellectual property financing. It was jointly launched by the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, the HKMA and the Intellectual Property Department in December last year, and received active participation from the three major banks in Hong Kong, their corporate clients from various industries, and professional service agencies. The sandbox provides a collaborative and risk-controlled environment where major stakeholders such as banks, enterprises and relevant professional service institutions can jointly test complete financing arrangements based on intellectual property assets and accumulate practical experience in a “try first” approach.
A government spokesman said that the first batch of successful cases fully showed that with the full cooperation of the Commerce and Economic Affairs Bureau, the HKMA, the Intellectual Property Department, banks, enterprises and professional service agencies, Hong Kong can steadily explore intellectual property financing, open up new financing channels for enterprises with high-quality intellectual property assets, and promote commercialization of scientific research and creative achievements.
The spokesperson added that through the pilot project in a sandbox, participating banks can test the actual operation of intellectual property financing in a risk-controlled environment, thus accumulating relevant experience in risk management, valuation and credit approval. The Hong Kong Government is pleased to learn that during the sandbox testing process, banks made more flexible arrangements in terms of loan amounts and financing terms in response to the value of intellectual property assets owned by enterprises.
The Commerce and Economics Bureau, the HKMA and the Intellectual Property Department will continue to gather opinions from stakeholders and integrate market responses and experiences to set the direction for the next phase of the sandbox, such as studying and expanding the number of participating banks and enterprises, promoting more pilot cases, and optimizing the intellectual property valuation process. At the same time, they will also continue to cooperate closely with banks and the professional services sector to deepen the market's understanding of intellectual property financing and promote the development of intellectual property financing.
Furthermore, the Government launched a two-year pilot scheme through the Hong Kong Technology and Innovation Support Centre to promote the next phase of the sandbox and strengthen relevant support and supporting measures to improve the local intellectual property financing ecosystem. The pilot scheme uses a 1:1 matching funding model between the government and eligible SMEs to provide each approved applicant with a one-time grant of up to $80,000 to support enterprises entrust an eligible service provider (mainly an accountant, financial analyst and surveyor) to value their patents and other intellectual property assets.
At the same time, if the intellectual property assets of an approved applicant enterprise include at least one Hong Kong patent that has passed substantive examination, the Hong Kong Technology and Innovation Support Centre, with the assistance of a patent examiner from the Intellectual Property Department, will provide a free patent quality analysis report referring to national standards for a relevant Hong Kong patent designated by the enterprise to analyze the overall quality of the patent from multiple angles and systematic angles based on indicators such as legal, technical and economic value. The relevant analysis results can be used as a reference for valuation service providers when carrying out quantitative patent valuations. The above patent quality analysis service is also open to users for paid use in the form of optional value-added services.
The spokesperson said that the pilot scheme aims to make good use of Hong Kong's world-class professional services, promote intellectual property valuation, provide specific corporate asset data references for corporate credit financing, and build a vibrant and stable intellectual property trade ecosystem. The pilot program provides high-quality and professional quantitative valuation and patent quality analysis to help enterprises show financial institutions and investors the economic value and market potential of their intangible assets, thereby enhancing the confidence of financial institutions and investors to establish strategic partnerships with enterprises through investment or provision of financing.
Applications for the pilot scheme will be accepted from now on. Details of application requirements and procedures can be found on the Intellectual Property Department's website.
The Government will continue to seize the opportunities in the national “15th Five-Year Plan” to support Hong Kong in deepening the construction of a regional intellectual property trade center, and promote more intellectual property financing and trading activities in a multi-pronged manner through sandboxes, pilot schemes and other relevant measures in accordance with the development blueprint set out in the “Hong Kong First Five-Year Plan”. The Government expects that with the gradual implementation and maturity of various measures, the local intellectual property trading and financing ecosystem will be further improved, further consolidating Hong Kong's position and competitive advantage as a regional intellectual property trade center.