The Innovation and Technology Commission today (July 1) announced that the Researcher Programme (RP) and the Postdoctoral Hub (PH) have been merged to become the Research Talent Hub. Eligible companies and organisations are welcome to apply for the scheme.

     At present, the RP and the PH provide funding support for eligible companies and organisations to engage two researchers and two postdoctoral talents respectively to conduct research and development (R&D) work. The two programmes have been merged and collectively named as the Research Talent Hub, under which each eligible company or organisation can obtain funding support to engage up to four innovation and technology (I&T) talents with a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree to conduct R&D work, thereby providing more flexibility for employers in engaging research talents.
 
     The Research Talent Hub under the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) aims to encourage university graduates to pursue careers in the I&T field and nurture more I&T talents. The maximum engagement period for each research talent is three years in general. The maximum monthly allowances for research talents with a local bachelor's degree, a local master's degree or a doctoral degree are $18,000, $21,000 and $32,000 respectively. All technology companies conducting R&D activities in Hong Kong, including incubatees and I&T tenants of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation and the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, as well as organisations and companies undertaking R&D projects funded by the ITF, are eligible to apply.
     
     In the past three years, the RP has approved over 2 300 researcher positions with total funding of about $780 million. For the PH, over 1 030 postdoctoral talents have been supported with total funding of about $603 million since its launch in August 2018.
 
     Details of the Research Talent Hub are available on the ITF website (www.itf.gov.hk/en/funding-programmes/nurturing-talent/research-talent-hub/index.html). For enquiries, please contact the ITF Secretariat (Tel: 3655 5678; email: enquiry@itf.gov.hk).

Ends/Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Issued at HKT 10:30

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