Appointments to new term of New Industrialisation Vetting Committee

     â€‹The Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) announced today (June 28) the appointments to the New Industrialisation Vetting Committee under the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) for 2024-2026. The Vetting Committee was formerly known as the New Industrialisation Funding Scheme (NIFS) Vetting Committee. In addition to vetting applications under the NIFS, the Committee will also be responsible for vetting applications under the New Industrialisation Acceleration Scheme (NIAS) to be launched. Mr Jimmy Kwok Chun-wah was reappointed as Chairman of the Committee, while 12 non-official members were reappointed and six new non-official members were appointed. The appointments will take effect from July 1, 2024. The membership of the Committee is as follows:
 
Chairman:
Mr Jimmy Kwok Chun-wah
 
Non-official Members:
Ms Karen Chan Ka-yin
Mr Raymond Cheng Siu-hong
Mr James Chow Chuen
Mr Jin Hai-ming*
Ms Charmaine Kwong Cheuk-man
Mr Anthony Lam Sai-ho
Dr Leung Chuen-yan*
Mr Felix Lio Weng-tong
Mr Dennis Ng Kwok-on*
Ms Kiffany Ng Shan-shan
Dr Dennis Ng Wang-pun
Professor Samson Tai Kin-hon
Ms Vivian Tang Wai-man
Mr Dennis Wong Tat-tung*
Ms Karmen Yeung Ka-yin
Ms Angela Yeung Pui-yan
Mr Erik Yim Kong*
Mr Emil Yu Chen-on*
 
(* New appointee)
 
Ex-officio Members:
CEO of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation or his/her representative
CEO of the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited or his/her representative
 
Official Members:
Commissioner for Innovation and Technology or his/her representative
Director-General of Trade and Industry or his/her representative
Commissioner for Industry (Innovation and Technology) or his/her representative
 
     The Commissioner for Innovation and Technology, Mr Ivan Lee, said, "We would like to express our gratitude to the current members for their support and contribution to the Committee in the past two years. We trust that the Committee, under the leadership of Mr Kwok, will continue to assist more enterprises in setting up new smart production facilities in Hong Kong. We will soon launch the $10 billion NIAS to further promote the development of new industrialisation in Hong Kong."
      
     The Chief Executive announced in "The Chief Executive's 2023 Policy Address" the establishment of the $10 billion NIAS. Enterprises engaging in life and health technology, artificial intelligence and data science, advanced manufacturing and new energy technologies and investing no less than $200 million in setting up new smart production facilities in Hong Kong will each be provided with funding support of up to $200 million on a 1 (Government): 2 (enterprise) matching basis.
      
     The NIFS provides funding on a 1 (Government): 2 (enterprise) matching basis to subsidise manufacturers to establish new smart production lines in Hong Kong. The funding ceiling is one-third of the total project cost or $15 million, whichever is lower. Each enterprise can have in total three project applications and on-going projects under the NIFS at any one time to receive total maximum funding of $45 million.
      
     The Government will launch the NIAS within this year and applications will be accepted throughout the year. Details will be announced on the ITF website (www.itf.gov.hk) in the third quarter of 2024. As for NIFS, it will continue to accept applications throughout the year with details as provided on the relevant website. For enquiries, please contact the Secretariat of the Schemes (Tel: 3655 5678; email: enquiry@itc.gov.hk).



LCSD’s Mobile Library 5 resumes service

The service points of Mobile Library 5 are Ta Kwu Ling in North District; Hin Keng Estate, Kam Ying Court, Kam Tai Court, Mei Tin Estate, Yan On Estate and Yiu On Estate in Sha Tin; Ming Tak Estate, Yee Ming Estate and Mang Kung Uk Road in Sai Kung; and Tai Wo Estate, Nai Chung, On Ho Lane, Fu Shin Estate and Fu Heng Estate in Tai Po.

Appointments to Disaster Relief Fund Advisory Committee

     The Government announced today (June 28) that the Chief Executive has appointed Dr Ko Wing-man and reappointed Mr Chan Hak-kan as members of the Disaster Relief Fund Advisory Committee for three years starting from July 1, 2024. 

     "We would like to express our gratitude to Dr Lam Ching-choi, the retiring member, for his valuable contribution to the work of the Committee," a Government spokesman said. 

     Established in 1993, the Disaster Relief Fund provides a ready mechanism for Hong Kong to respond swiftly to international appeals for humanitarian aid in relief of disasters that occur outside Hong Kong. The Committee is tasked to advise on disbursement from the Disaster Relief Fund and monitor the use of grants by the recipients. 

     The membership of the Committee from July 1, 2024, is as follows:

Chairman:
Chief Secretary for Administration (ex-officio)

Members:
Dr Ko Wing-man
Mr Chan Hak-kan
Ms Lam So-wai
Mr Edmund Wong Chun-sek
Professor Emily Chan Ying-yang
Mr Brian David Li Man-bun
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury or representative (ex-officio)
Secretary for Labour and Welfare or representative (ex-officio)



CFS announces food safety report for May

     â€‹â€‹The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (June 28) released the findings of its food safety report for last month. The results of about 5 500 food samples tested were found to be satisfactory except for 22 unsatisfactory samples which were announced earlier. The overall satisfactory rate was 99.6 per cent.
 
     A CFS spokesman said about 1 300 food samples were collected for microbiological tests, and about 4 200 samples were taken for chemical and radiation level tests.
 
     The microbiological tests covered pathogens and hygiene indicators; the chemical tests included testing for pesticides, preservatives, metallic contaminants, colouring matters, veterinary drug residues and others; and the radiation level tests included testing for radioactive caesium and iodine in samples collected from imported food from different regions.
 
     The samples comprised about 1 700 samples of vegetables and fruit and their products; about 500 samples of cereals, grains and their products; about 600 samples of meat and poultry and their products; about 800 samples of milk, milk products and frozen confections; about 800 samples of aquatic and related products; and about 1 100 samples of other food commodities (including beverages, bakery products and snacks).
    
     The 22 unsatisfactory samples comprised a canned cherry apple in syrup sample; a prepackaged dried porcini sample; a prepackaged dried lily sample; two crab samples and an escolar sample with excessive metallic contaminant; three canned pasta sauce samples found with a pesticide, ethylene oxide; a papaya sample detected with a pesticide residue at levels exceeding the legal limit; three fresh meat samples found to contain sulphur dioxide; two prepackaged oyster sauce samples detected with a preservative exceeding the legal limit; a flat rice noodle sample detected with sulphur dioxide at a level exceeding the legal limit; a sausage sample found to contain sodium nitrite; two fish samples found with malachite green; a prepackaged frozen confection sample detected with coliform bacteria exceeding the legal limit; a prepackaged chilled duck wings sample suspected to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes; and a bottled malt vinegar sample in breach of food labelling regulations.
 
     The CFS has taken follow-up actions on the above-mentioned unsatisfactory samples including informing the vendors concerned of the test results, instructing them to stop selling the affected food items and tracing the sources of the food items in question.
 
     The spokesman reminded the food trade to ensure that food is fit for human consumption and meets legal requirements. Consumers should patronise reliable shops when buying food and maintain a balanced diet to minimise food risks.
 
     Separately, as the Japanese Government has commenced the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station, the CFS will continue enhancing the testing on imported Japanese food, and make reference to the risk assessment results to adjust relevant surveillance work in a timely manner. The CSF will announce every working day on its dedicated webpage (www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_rafs/daily_japan_nuclear_incidents.html) the radiological test results of the samples of food imported from Japan, with a view to enabling the trade and members of the public to have a better grasp of the latest safety information.



Lands Department launches new batch of 3D Digital Maps

     The Lands Department (LandsD) today (June 28) launched a 3D Visualisation Map of Lantau and the Islands, a 3D Indoor Map of Kowloon East and Kowloon Central as well as a new street image function "Streetscape 360" for the previously launched 3D Visualisation Map of Kowloon East and Kowloon Central, which are available on the online application platform "Open3Dhk".

     The 3D Visualisation Map of Lantau and the Islands covers around 16 600 buildings and about 660 infrastructure facilities, including flyovers, footbridges and subways. The 3D Indoor Map of Kowloon East and Kowloon Central covers around 130 buildings including government and private buildings, and community facilities, and provides information on floor locations, units and points-of-interest for promoting innovative indoor data applications such as location-based services, tourism and indoor navigation.

     Moreover, the new "Streetscape 360" function is added to the 3D Visualisation Map of Kowloon East and Kowloon Central released by the LandsD in December 2022 and September 2023 respectively, offering 360-degree street-level panoramic images for users to virtually navigate through the streets of the city. 

     The datasets of the abovementioned 3D Digital Maps, relevant Application Programming Interface services and sample codes have been uploaded to the Common Spatial Data Infrastructure Portal (portal.csdi.gov.hk) and "Open3Dhk" (3d.map.gov.hk) for free downloading by the public to facilitate the development of web services and smart applications by the innovation and technology sector as well as the academia. 

     To promote smart city development, the LandsD will continue to develop and release 3D Digital Maps for other districts.