The Innovation and Technology Commission today (February 1) announced that all the vetting work of the Distance Business Programme had been completed. A total of 34 614 applications have been approved, of which around 95 per cent came from small and medium-sized enterprises. The Programme Secretariat, the Hong Kong Productivity Council, has notified all the applicant enterprises, including those which submitted applications in the last week of October last year, of the application results via email.
A spokesman for the Commission said, "The Programme received an overwhelming response from enterprises. During the application period from May 18 to October 31, 2020, the Programme received a total of 38 572 applications from 32 143 enterprises, of which nearly 10 000 were submitted in the last week of October. Excluding cases in which the enterprises did not accept the application results or provide relevant documents after their applications had been approved, the total funding approved so far is about $1.88 billion with average approved funding of about $64,000."
The spokesman added, "Successful enterprises should confirm acceptance of the application results and provide documents required for compliance checking through the online system before the specified deadline. The Programme Secretariat will arrange signing of the funding agreements and fund disbursement as soon as possible. Enterprises can also make an appointment for signing the funding agreement through the online system."
The Distance Business Programme under the Anti-epidemic Fund aimed at supporting enterprises to adopt information technology solutions to continue business and services during the epidemic. Details are available on the Programme's website (u.hkpc.org/dbiz). For enquiries, please contact the Programme Secretariat by phone on 2788 5070 during business hours (9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (except public holidays)) or via email at dbiz@hkpc.org.
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