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Following is a question by the Hon Chan Yuen-han and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph W P Wong, in the Legislative Council today (July 5):
Question:
About promoting the development of creative industries, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective numbers of applications received and approved under the DesignSmart Initiative last year, and the amount granted;
(b) of the subsidy schemes other than the DesignSmart Initiative which are available for application by persons engaged in creative industries (such as artists and inventors), so that they can launch their creative products in the market; and
(c) as the cultural department of Shenzhen has recently proposed to set up a "Shenzhen-Hong Kong Entertainment Economic Zone" to attract Hong Kong companies engaged in creative and cultural industries to the Mainland, whether the authorities have evaluated the impact of such proposal on Hong Kong's creative industries?
Reply:
Madam President,
My response to Hon Chan's questions is as follows:
(a) In 2005, 14 applications for funding under the DesignSmart Initiative (the Initiative) were received. In the same year, 15 projects, including applications that were submitted in 2004 and examined in 2005, were approved, involving a total funding of HK$ 22 million.
(b) Apart from the Initiative, there are other schemes available for application by persons engaged in creative industries. Please refer to Annex for details.
(c) In November 2002, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao jointly set up a collaboration framework to enhance cultural collaboration in the Greater Pearl River Delta (GPRD) Region (the collaboration framework). The Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture (together with the Municipal Bureaux of Culture in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan and Zhongshan), the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government and the Cultural Institute of the Macao SAR Government take turns to hold meetings and have set up six working groups to implement and follow up collaboration proposals in various arts and creative areas. The purpose of the collaboration framework is to help enhance the cultural literary of the GPRD and thereby boost cultural and economic developments of the region through complementary development, resources sharing, efficiency enhancement, cost reduction, brand name creation, talents grooming, information exchange, and arts and cultural promotion, etc. At the seventh meeting held in February 2006, a Working Group on Research for the Development of Cultural and Creative Industries was set up to discuss relevant researches and explore the scope of further collaboration. We will continue to enhance collaboration between Shenzhen and Hong Kong in the cultural and creative industries under the existing collaboration framework.
In April 2006, the Shenzhen Municipal Government proposed co-operation between the cultural and entertainment industries of Shenzhen and Hong Kong by the development of a "Shenzhen-Hong Kong Entertainment Economic Zone" with a view to achieving complementary development and a win-win environment. The Home Affairs Bureau will explore ways for collaborating with Shenzhen Municipal Government in this aspect under the existing collaboration framework.
Ends/Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Issued at HKT 12:30
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