Apply for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (Hong Kong)

Partly through the intermediaries, the Fund provides visionary individuals and organisations with diverse resources in support of research, capacity building and the entire life cycle of innovative ventures, from idea incubation and seed funding to implementation and eventual scale-up.

The ultimate goal is to foster an ecosystem where social entrepreneurs can thrive and innovative ideas, products and services can benefit society by meeting underserved needs, unleashing underutilised talents, promoting social inclusion, as well as enhancing the well-being and cohesion of the society.

Moreover, the SIE Fund will strengthen its collaboration with the government in taking forward the strategy of “Targeted Poverty Alleviation”, so as to tackle pressing poverty issues and meet the needs of vulnerable groups.

Funding Information

• SIE Fund Grant for start-up, growing & scale-up projects:
  • HKD300,001 – HKD900,000
  • Project Duration: 1-3 years.

Budget

• Only expenditure incurred exclusively for the funded project can be covered in the budget, for example:
  • CAPITAL EXPENDITURE
    • Cost of procuring equipment
    • Renovation cost
  • OPERATING DEFICIT (OPERATING EXPENSES IN EXCESS OF REVENUE)
    • Salary (including the employer’s contribution to the Mandatory Provident Fund)
    • Expenses for consumables
    • External consultancy fees
    • Production and promotion cost of project deliverables
    • External audit fee (this is compulsory for organisations’ and companies’ funding applications)
    • Patent registration fee
    • Rental and utilities
    • Travelling fee
    • Insurance
    • Central administrative overheads

Target Audiences

• As one of the Intermediaries of the SIE Fund, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) operates the Impact Incubator, a one-stop supporting platform connecting SIIs with various parties in regards of knowledge, resources and network to implement innovative ideas with social purpose. They provide all-round support to social entrepreneurs through the “7Ps Incubation Package”. They support and incubate:
  • Social entrepreneur who aims to adopt sustainable business solutions to address poverty and social exclusion issues
  • Social intra-preneur from NGO or private sector, who aims to mobilise internal resources for social good
  • Social innovator who adopts creative approaches to addressing social needs

Eligibility Criteria

• Start-up, Growing and Scale-up Application: Organisations and companies limited by guarantee or limited by shares registered in Hong Kong are eligible to apply.
• Projects which are, or will be, supported by other public funding schemes will not be considered. Applicants cannot submit the same project proposal to different intermediaries to apply for the SIE Fund.

For more information, visit HKCSS.