Tag Archives: China

     To encourage recycling and upcycling of yard waste in the community, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (December 21) called on members of the public and commercial and industrial (C&I) organisations to recycle natural Christmas trees (NCTs) intended for disposal under the 2022-23 NCTs Recycling Programme. The programme arrangements are as follows:

Collection period: January 4 to 8, 2023 (five days)
Collection points: The following Central Collection Point and District Collection Points

Central Collection Point (CCP)	Address	Telephone	Collection time
Y·PARK	Nim Wan Road, Tsang Tsui, Tuen Mun (the left-side entrance about 50 metres before the entrance of the West New Territories Landfill)	5743 9221	9am to 6pm
District Collection Points (DCPs) (including EPD’s Recycling Stations and Food and Environmental Hygiene Department’s Public Refuse Collection Points (RCPs))	Address	Telephone	Collection Time
(Only household NCTs 2 metres tall or below will be accepted.)
Hong Kong Island
1. GREEN@EASTERN	30 Oi Shun Road, Shau Kei Wan	2778 2330	9am to 6pm
2. GREEN@WAN CHAI	6 Wan Shing Street, Wan Chai	2811 1567
3. Ap Lei Chau Municipal Services Building RCP	Ap Lei Chau Municipal Services Building, 8 Hung Shing Street, Ap Lei Chau	Not applicable	7am to 9.30pm
4. Arbuthnot Road RCP	Junction of Arbuthnot Road and Caine Road, Central		6.30am to 9pm
5. Paterson Street RCP	Junction of Paterson Street and Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay		6.30am to 9.30pm
Kowloon
6. GREEN@KWUN TONG	27 Sheung Yee Road, Kowloon Bay	2776 5700	9am to 6pm
7. GREEN@SHAM SHUI PO	339 Tung Chau Street, Sham Shui Po	2522 4388
8. Sai Yee Street (Flower Market Road) RCP	188 Sai Yee Street, Mong Kok	Not applicable	6.30am to 9pm
New Territories
9. GREEN@SHA TIN	10 On Ping Street, Shek Mun	2285 9433	9am to 6pm
10. GREEN@YUEN LONG	65 Tin Wah Road, Tin Shui Wai	2617 0117
11. GREEN@TUEN MUN	9 Tuen Yee Street, Tuen Mun	2496 4288
12. GREEN@KWAI TSING	12 Tam Kon Shan Road, Tsing Yi	3905 4840
13. GREEN@TAI PO	25 Dai Wah Street, Tai Po	3614 0598
14. GREEN@ISLANDS	1 Chung Mun Road, Tung Chung	2499 2308
15. GREEN@SAI KUNG	3 Po Lam Lane, Tseung Kwan O	2727 7330

Note: If members of the public and C&I organisations have to recycle NCTs before January 4 or during January 9 to 13 and January 16 to 21, 2023, please deliver them to Y·PARK during operating hours (9am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday). Please note that Y·PARK will not receive any yard waste on January 14 and 15, 2023.

     An EPD spokesman said to facilitate public participation, the collection period will be extended from four days last year to five days this year. The NCTs collected and other yard waste will be turned into various recyclable products at Y·PARK to facilitate their reuse, recycling or upcycling into decoration, wooden furniture, wood art products and more.

     The programme is limited to the recycling of NCTs, and all lighting, plastic stands, decorations and tape on the NCTs should be removed before delivery to facilitate the subsequent recycling processes. The public are also encouraged to replant small potted plants such as poinsettias, and keep artificial Christmas trees and other festival decorations for reuse to help reduce waste and conserve resources. 

     An e-certificate will be issued to the participants who deliver NCTs to the CCP or the Recycling Stations for recycling. Participants will also receive a gift upon delivery of NCTs to the Recycling Stations while stocks last. For details of the NCTs Recycling Programme, please visit the Hong Kong Waste Reduction website at www.wastereduction.gov.hk/en/natural-christmas-trees-recycling-programme-2022.html.

     The EPD also welcomes other organisations and associations to provide recycling services for NCTs to help engage the public and C&I organisations and enhance waste reduction efforts for all. read more

     The Education Bureau (EDB) today (December 21) announced that the 2022/23 round of applications under the Enhancement and Start-up Grant Scheme for Self-financing Post-secondary Education is open for application from today to April 13, 2023. 
 
     The Scheme aims to provide financial support for eligible self-financing post-secondary education institutions to develop and enhance programmes that meet market needs but require high start-up costs, and help alleviate the institutions’ need to fully recover the set-up costs from tuition fees, thus relieving the financial burden on students. It also supports institutions to better develop their own strengths and niche areas, strengthening strategic co-ordination between institutions. 
 
     Eligible institutions are as follows:
 
a) Hong Kong Metropolitan University; 

b) approved post-secondary colleges under the Post Secondary Colleges Ordinance (Cap. 320); and 

c) post-secondary institutions registered under the Education Ordinance (Cap. 279). 

     The Scheme subsidises full-time locally accredited local self-financing sub-degree and undergraduate (including top-up degree) programmes, covering both the development of new programmes and the enhancement of existing ones. With a view to enhancing the teaching and learning in designated academic areas, it supports projects of the following nature:
 
a) significant development/enhancement of programme curriculum and pedagogies; 

b) recruitment/professional development of faculty members and teaching staff; 

c) procurement/upgrade of market-standard equipment/facilities to meet academic and professional requirements; 

d) provision of new/improvement to existing discipline-specific campus facilities/infrastructure; and 

e) other relevant discipline-specific expenditure areas that are in alignment with the objective of the scheme. 

     Funding for each proposal will generally be subject to a cap of $42 million. The Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education will give advice to the Secretary for Education regarding the comparative merits of the proposals.
 
     In the 2021/22 round of applications, four out of 19 applications were approved with a total grant of about $117 million. They covered the allied health, art technology, construction management and supply chain management sectors, which are conducive to catering for the keen manpower demand of the relevant industries. Details of the projects are as follows:
 

Institution	Project	Approved grant (in million dollars)
Hong Kong Metropolitan University	The Upgrade of Teaching and Learning Facilities and Resources to Support Creative Arts Programmes in Interactive Music and Virtual Production Technology	33.3
Hong Kong Metropolitan University	Establishment of Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Construction Management and Surveying	40.6
The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong	Teaching Smart Decision Analytics for Supply Chain and Information Management Programme Enhancement	17.1
Tung Wah College	Establishment of a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Medical Imaging Programme	26.5

 
     The EDB will maintain close liaison with relevant institutions to make the best use of the resources of the Scheme and launch the relevant programmes as soon as practicable.
 
     Further details of the Scheme and the approved projects can be found at the designated website (www.cspe.edu.hk/en/esgs.html). read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public to a press release issued by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited relating to a fraudulent website and phishing email, which have been reported to the HKMA. A hyperlink to the press release is available on the HKMA website.

     The HKMA wishes to remind the public that banks will not send SMS or emails with embedded hyperlinks which direct them to the banks’ websites to carry out transactions. They will not ask customers for sensitive personal information, such as login passwords or one-time password, by phone, email or SMS (including via embedded hyperlinks).

     Anyone who has provided his or her personal information, or who has conducted any financial transactions, through or in response to the website or email concerned, should contact the bank using the contact information provided in the press release, and report the matter to the Police by contacting the Crime Wing Information Centre of the Hong Kong Police Force at 2860 5012. read more

     A spokesman for the Official Receiver’s Office said today (December 21) that the Official Receiver, Ms Phyllis McKenna, has tested positive for COVID-19 through a rapid antigen test. She is undergoing isolation in accordance with the guidelines of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health.
 
     Ms McKenna last worked in office on December 20. She wore masks and followed relevant disease prevention measures at work. She has no recent travel history.
 
     The Official Receiver’s Office will conduct thorough cleaning and disinfection at the office concerned and will continue to implement disease prevention measures vigorously. read more

     Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) today (December 21) announced the soft launch of the FintechHK Community Platform, a centralised fintech platform to connect local and global fintech companies with Corporate, Investor, and Service Champions to foster vibrant growth of Hong Kong’s fintech ecosystem. Fully supported by the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) and curated by InvestHK, the initiative comes as an extension of the Global Fast Track Programme, which garnered great industry participation in 2022.
 
Fast-tracking business connectivity
 
     The FintechHK Community Platform aims to encourage local enterprises to expand their business to the Mainland, Southeast Asia, and other regions. Through the platform, fintech and champion users are able to explore and engage with one another. Fintech companies can feature their company profile, value proposition, innovative solutions, fund-raising needs, and other details to platform users, helping to expand their exposure and reach across fintech communities in Asia and other regions. On the other hand, corporates and investors can identify fintech solution providers and investment opportunities more easily, while service providers specialised in the fintech industry can also share their insights and latest capabilities to generate business opportunities with champions and fintechs that require expert support.
 
     The Head of Fintech at InvestHK, Mr King Leung, said, “We are very pleased to see the encouraging feedback from our partners and fintech companies from the pilot of the FintechHK Community Platform. But this is only the beginning for the development of the platform. With the forces of accelerating fintech adoption among corporates and macroeconomic headwinds, now is a critical time, especially for fintech companies, to raise market visibility. We encourage everyone to join this platform and utilise it actively to realise opportunities and accelerate growth.”
 
     The next release is currently under development. It will include an enhanced interface and functions such as inter-user communications, competitions, and community event hosting. The next version targets to be ready in Q2 2023 to support initiatives for connecting potential business deals and funding opportunities such as the Global Fast Track 2023.
 
     The platform has already onboarded over 300 fintech organisations with more to follow. To learn more about the FintechHK Community Platform, please visit its official website at the link here.
 
Highlights of Global Fast Track 2022
 
     This year, the Global Fast Track Programme received over 400 fintech applications from across 45 global economies, and support from over 100 champions across three categories – Corporate, Investor, and the newly added Service category. As of mid-December, the programme has already facilitated over 175 one-to-one business meetings among participating fintech companies and champions, helping them to explore business opportunities and potential growth within the market and beyond.
 
     Following a highly competitive judging process, only one finalist from each vertical, together with two wildcards nominated by the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) Accelerator 2022 from the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), progressed to the Final Pitching Competition which took place live at the main conference of Hong Kong FinTech Week on October 31, 2022.
 
     BaseBit.ai, a privacy computing start-up that has built an open data ecosystem and a data sharing collaborative environment based on data security and personal privacy protection, bested the nine other finalists to win the Global Fast Track Final Pitching Competition this year with its outstanding performance in the final.
 
     On top of the original eight verticals – including Commercial Banking, Digital Assets, ESG, InsurTech, InvestTech & WealthTech, Payments, RegTech, and Retail Banking – the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) track, launched in partnership with InvestHK and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), was introduced into the Programme for the first time this year. The CBDC track was well received by the market with over 80 applications. Shortlisted applicants had the opportunity to participate in the final pitching competition organised by the HKMA. All qualified candidates may also have the opportunity to work with the HKMA on research projects and pilots to foster the future growth of the CBDC ecosystem.
 
The CBDC track’s awardees were:
 

• Best Technology Award: ARTA TechFin and Giesecke+Devrient a52 GmbH (G+D Filia)
• Best Use-case Award: Hang Seng Bank and Bank of China (Hong Kong)
• Best Ecosystem Award: HSBC and VISA

     The Associated Director-General of InvestHK, Mr Charles Ng, said, “The success of Global Fast Track shows that Hong Kong is a highly attractive hub for fintech firms to connect with potential corporate clients and investors, and to flourish. On behalf of InvestHK, I would like to thank all participants and champions for their dedication and support. Congratulations again to all our winners and a special thank you to our Service Champions – DFIN, King & Wood Mallesons, Meta, Montieth SPRG, Osome, QReg Advisory, and SS&C Intralinks – for sponsoring the complimentary services provided to the final winner in support of its business growth.”
 
     Replays of the Final Pitching Competition can be watched at the link here.
 
About InvestHK

     InvestHK is the department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government responsible for attracting foreign direct investment. It has set up a dedicated fintech team in Hong Kong to attract the world’s top innovative fintech enterprises, start-up entrepreneurs, investors, and other stakeholders to set up and scale their business via Hong Kong into Mainland China, Asia and beyond. For more information, please visit www.hongkong-fintech.hk. read more