Speech by SCED at 15th Business of Intellectual Property Asia Forum (English only) (with photo)
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Deputy Head Li Shengjun (Deputy Head of the Patent Office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration), Deputy Director-General Wang Binying (Deputy Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization), Sophia (Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Ms Sophia Chong), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon.
Welcome to Hong Kong, and to the 15th edition of the Business of IP Asia Forum. This year's Forum brings together some 3 000 IP owners, service providers, and users from over 30 countries and regions under a defining theme.
We have started today's programme with purpose. This morning's keynote session on IP valuation and financing has set the tone - how to recognise, value, and deploy intangible assets as investable capital. Indeed, IP financing has been fast-developing around the world. An international research report showed that IP financing market revenue was valued at USD$8.5 billion in 2024 and is estimated to reach USD$15.2 billion by 2033, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 7.2 per cent from 2026 to 2033, indicating strong demand and expansion.
This morning's discussion is timely, as it aligns with the commitment of "The Chief Executive's 2025 Policy Address" on transforming Hong Kong's unique strengths into a world‑class ecosystem where IP is protected with rigour, valued with clarity, and financed with confidence. The measures are set to strengthen our role as a regional IP trading centre.
Our ability to deliver on this vision rests on our distinctive foundations. Hong Kong's common law system delivers predictability and enforceability that global markets trust. Our strategic location - at the heart of Asia and deeply connected with the Chinese Mainland, especially the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, links research and development with manufacturing, trials with scale‑up, and capital with customers. Our financial infrastructure supports the full spectrum of IP transactions from licensing to mergers and acquisitions, venture capital to IP-backed or credit financing.
The 2025 Policy Address has set the stage to turn these strengths into tangible outcomes. At the heart of the effort is the IP financing sandbox. For too long, innovators, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and start-ups have faced a critical gap: their most valuable assets - patents, copyright, trade marks, and other types of IP - have been difficult to be traded or leveraged for financing as growth capital. We are pioneering a host of initiatives to answer this challenge. The sandbox will provide a collaborative environment designed to fundamentally rewire how the value of IP can be leveraged for financing, and where stakeholders co-create the next generation of IP financing.
The sandbox will bring together three key stakeholder groups: First, innovators and IP owners, who can bring their IP assets forward for pilot financing. Second, banks and valuation, and legal professionals, who can test new credit assessment models, valuation standards and financing products in a controlled setting. And third, regulators and public bodies, who will provide guidance and help codify what works.
We are also aligning the wider ecosystem. With the support of the Intellectual Property Department, the Hong Kong Technology and Innovation Support Centre (HKTISC) will engage SMEs in the innovation and technology sector to provide a patent evaluation service to assess, based on national standards, the quality of the patents they hold, from the legal, technological and economic perspectives. The Government will also work through the HKTISC to launch a two-year pilot funding support scheme to help SMEs engage professional service providers to valuate their IP portfolios in monetary terms.
Our patent examiner team is expanding and we are taking forward the preparatory work for introduction of regulatory arrangement for local patent agent services, with a view to building a local pool of patent talents.
Our Copyright Ordinance and registered designs regime will be modernised to ensure our legal framework is fit for the digital age; and finally, we are creating the deal flow by arranging a business-matching programme connecting Mainland enterprises with Hong Kong's world-class IP service providers to embody our "bringing in and going global" strategy.
These are not separate initiatives; they are interconnected parts of an ambitious vision. The HKTISC helps innovators create quality assets. The patent valuation subsidy scheme helps establish patents' technical and economic worth. Our legal reforms provide the certainty. Business matching and regional partnerships generate the opportunities. And the sandbox turns it all into financeable, scalable reality.
Last but not least, my thanks to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council for co-organising this flagship event. Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you all a rewarding forum.
Ends/Thursday, December 4, 2025
Issued at HKT 15:34
Issued at HKT 15:34
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