Funding Application

Important Notice

The Hong Kong Productivity Council (“HKPC”) is the Secretariat of the Distance Business Programme (“D-Biz Programme”) launched by the Government recently. All information and application details relating to D-Biz Programme announced by HKPC on its official website shall prevail. We hereby declare and clarify that HKPC has not commissioned or authorised any person, company or organisation to use HKPC’s name or logo in any services for assisting or handling applications under D-Biz Programme.

We would like to alert the general public to avoid being misled. In case of suspicion, please email us at dbiz@hkpc.org or call us at 2788 5070 for inquiry.

Please be cautioned that if any person, company or organisation is found to use HKPC’s name or logo to market and promote its own services without the consent or authorisation of HKPC, we reserve all rights to take legal actions against such person, company or organisation.

Enterprises and service providers participating in the D-Biz Programme must comply with the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (Cap. 201) and the Competition Ordinance (Cap. 619).

Eligibility

All private enterprises (excluding publicly listed companies, statutory bodies and non-government organisations funded by the Government) with a valid Business Registration Certificate, ongoing business commenced before 1 January 2020 and substantive business operation in the industry related to the project in the application at the time of application are eligible.

One entity can submit one application only. Related entities*would be treated as one single entity. Applicants are required to indicate and declare in the funding application as to whether any of their related entities have applied for or received funding support under the D-Biz Programme at the time of application.

*Entities set up as different legal entities but having the same individual(s) each holding 30% or more ownership in such entities (up to the ultimate level of natural person(s) if the entities are held by corporate shareholder(s).

Application Period

Application is open from 9 am on 18 May 2020 to 6 pm 31 October 2020.

Assessment Criteria

Applications will be assessed based on individual merits and considered on a case-by-case basis. The assessment criteria of the D-Biz Programme projects include:

Relevance of the proposed project to the applicant’s business – the project should enable enterprises to continue their business and services during the epidemic;
Reasonableness of the budget – assessment with reference to market prices of the technologies in question as known to the Committee or the Secretariat will be made. Individual items of expenditure must also be essential and directly related to the implementation of the project;
Reasonableness of the implementation details – consideration may include whether concrete project deliverables and outcomes have been set. The implementation details should also be realistic taking into account factors such as the complexity of the IT solution and the project duration; and
Capability of Service Provider(s) – consideration will be made to the technical capability of the Service Provider(s). Each Service Provider will be considered on a case-by-case basis having regard to the Service Provider’s technical capabilities and experience relating to the IT solution categories as mentioned in the Guidance Notes for IT Service Providers;
Adverse record of Service Provider(s) as known to the Committee and the Secretariat if available.

If a project is worthy of support in principle, the level of funding may be adjusted with reference to the project cost approved by the Committee.

The Government and the Secretariat reserves the right to reject an application on grounds including but not limited to:

A petition is presented or a proceeding is commenced or an order is made or a resolution is passed for the winding up of the applicant; or
A false, inaccurate or incomplete statement or representation is contained in the application or a promise or a proposal is made knowingly or recklessly; or
The applicant is in default of its obligation(s) under another grant agreement entered into with any other local public funding sources whether or not in relation to the D-Biz Programme.

Incomplete application will not be further processed until the applicant has rectified the errors or provided all the necessary information. Once the applicant has provided the outstanding information or documents, the application concerned will then re-join the queue at the end of the queue.

[Updated] In view of the latest processing capacity of the Secretariat and to facilitate enterprises to obtain quotations for submitting funding applications, the maximum number of applications to be processed by the Secretariat involving the same system integrator is increased from 10 to 100 applications per week. The rest of the applications will be processed in the following week.

Note: Whether or not the applicants engage Service Providers on the Reference List will not affect the application outcome.

Guidance Notes

Application Form Sample

Before filling out the application form, please read the "Guidance Note" carefully, and prepare the e-copies of the relevant supporting documents, to make the application process more efficient.
The D-Biz Programme only accepts online application, solely through the below button. By forwarding the hyperlinks, application might become invalid.
The Secretariat will primarily contact the applicant via email. Please ensure the email address provided is accurate and check the mailbox (including the Junk mailbox) regularly.
Repeated applications will not be accepted. Any request for amending the information submitted will not be entertained.
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