“Greater Bay Area Industry Development Index 2026” Releases Three Measures to Improve Hong Kong's Intellectual Property Trade Ecology

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Solidarity Hong Kong Foundation and Daxing Bank jointly released the “Greater Bay Area Industry Development Index 2026” to continuously track the prosperity of the six major industries in the Greater Bay Area; it closely followed the trend of mainland enterprises going overseas this year, focusing on analyzing the two core competencies of intellectual property (IP) and testing and certification (TIC), and proposed supporting solutions for Hong Kong's construction of a regional intellectual property trade center.

I. Industry background: intangible assets have become core assets overseas

In 2025, the total value of global intangible assets surpassed 97 trillion US dollars, reaching a record high; IP, as the core intangible asset of enterprises, was included in the national “15th Five-Year Plan”, clarifying Hong Kong's strategic position to build a regional intellectual property trade center. The report points out that only by opening up the full value chain of IP applications, valuation, financing, transactions, and rights protection can enterprises in the Greater Bay Area rely on intellectual property rights to obtain financing benefits and technical authorization, and transform innovative achievements into overseas market entry certificates; while TIC testing and certification helps enterprises meet overseas regulations, and the two major services together form the cornerstone of enterprise international competition.

2. Three major pain points in Hong Kong's IP industry, outstanding shortcomings in financing transactions

Research shows that Hong Kong companies face three real barriers to intellectual property layout:

IP pledge financing is difficult to implement: 47% of Hong Kong enterprises surveyed intend to use intellectual property as collateral loans, but IP collateral monetization channels are insufficient, risk control mechanisms are not perfect, banks' willingness to lend is weak, and intangible assets are difficult to convert into credit lines;

Mismatch between industry-university-research supply and demand: scientific research achievements of universities are out of touch with industry demand, lack of inter-university technology transfer alliances and active matchmaking mechanisms, and the scale of IP technology transactions has been sluggish for a long time;

The complex talent gap is significant: 44% of companies cite a shortage of interdisciplinary IP professionals as a top development challenge.

3. Three policy suggestions to improve Hong Kong's IP ecosystem

Establish an IP recovery fund + loan risk sharing mechanism: According to the Korean model, the Bureau of Commerce and Economic Affairs and the Bank jointly fund the establishment of an IP recovery fund. When the enterprise defaults, the fund acquires collateral intellectual property rights and then re-sells and authorizes them; at the same time, drawing on Malaysia's experience to establish a risk sharing mechanism. After deducting asset disposal payments, the government bears 50% of the remaining losses, greatly reducing bank credit risk.

Upgrade the one-stop IP trading platform and hand it over to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange: upgrade the existing information display platform to a market-based platform integrating project screening, supply and demand matching, and transaction matching, and benchmark the operation model of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Science and Technology Exchange Center. The platform centrally collects scientific research results from universities, connects listed companies with industrial capital, completes confidential project docking and technology transactions, and revitalizes scientific research IP assets.

Take more measures to fill the IP talent gap: expand the Intellectual Property Department's internship funding program, refer to Singapore's launch of an IP talent transformation project; at the same time, update the talent list and continue to introduce high-end overseas intellectual property professionals to make up for the talent gap.

IV. CORE CONCLUSIONS

Hong Kong has the policy and location advantage of building a regional intellectual property trade center, but currently it is stuck in the three major links of financing processing, transaction matching, and talent reserves; only by improving IP financial facilities, building market-based trading platforms, and expanding the professional talent pool can it open up the entire intangible asset value chain and better support the layout of science and innovation enterprises in the Greater Bay Area to go overseas.