Deadline: 30-Jun-22
Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund has launched its 2nd call for proposals for promoting the development of social innovation in Hong Kong.
It connects the different sectors of the community, including businesses, non-governmental organisations, academics, philanthropies, etc. to address poverty and social exclusion as well as foster the well-being and cohesion of the society through innovative solutions. Partly through the intermediaries,
The Fund provides visionary individuals and organisations with resources in support of research, capacity building and the entire life cycle of innovative ventures, from supporting idea incubation, providing seed funding to implement prototype and start-up projects, to assisting their eventual scale-up.
The ultimate goal is to foster the development of the social innovation ecosystem where social entrepreneurs can thrive and potential talents can be unleashed to develop innovative ideas, products and services that can effectively meet social needs.
Funding Information
Projects at different stages will require different amounts of grant funding over variable funding periods.
- The maximum amount of grant funding for Late Prototype projects is HKD300,000.
- There is generally no funding ceiling for Start-up, Growing and Scale-up projects. However, applicants will be required to secure at least 50% of their total funding application budget as matching funds ^. Matching funds may be in cash or in kind, provided by any party other than the HKSAR Government. If the SIE Fund funding application is for HKD500,000 or above, the Joint Vetting Committee and Proposal Assessment Committee will further review the application
- If your budget exceeds HKD200,000, an in-person interview will be conducted
- Matching Fund excludes SIE Fund and all other HKSAR Government funding. It can be in-cash or in-kind e.g. rental and equipment sponsorship. The applicant should submit supporting documents to support any in-kind valuation assessment. The matching fund amount will be subject to relevant terms and conditions and will require prior written approval
- The approved grant is the sum of the capital grant and the operating grant, where:
- Capital grant is the amount approved for acquiring assets (i.e. capital expenditure)
Operating grant is the amount approved for financing the funded project’s operating deficit
What type of projects will be eligible for SIE fund grant funding?
The SIE Fund will fund projects at different stages of development, including Late Prototype, Start-up, Growing and Scale-up. Eligible applications are those made by individuals (which is only applicable to Late Prototype projects), by organisations, or companies limited by guarantee or shares, and are registered in Hong Kong.
- Late Prototype
- Hong Kong permanent residents aged 18 years or above, or organisations and companies limited by guarantee or limited by shares, and registered in Hong Kong
- Start-Up
- Organisations and companies limited by guarantee or limited by shares, and registered in Hong Kong
- Growing
- Organisations and companies limited by guarantee or limited by shares, and registered in Hong Kong
- Scale-Up:
- Organisations and companies limited by guarantee or limited by shares, and registered in Hong Kong
Target Applicants
As one of the Intermediaries of the SIE Fund, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) launches 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 holistic support to social entrepreneurs through the “7Ps Incubation Package”. They support and incubate:
Impact Incubator is a R&D Lab for entrepreneurial and innovative ideas with social purposes, they support:
- Social entrepreneur: who aim to adopt sustainable business solutions to address poverty and social exclusion issues
- Social intra-preneur: from NGO or private sector, who aims to mobilizes internal resources for social good
- Social innovator: who adopts creative approaches to addressing social needs
Eligibility Criteria
- Late Prototype Application: Hong Kong permanent residents aged 18 years or above, or organisations and companies limited by guarantee or limited by shares and registered in Hong Kong are eligible to apply.
- 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.
For more information, visit https://socialinnovation.org.hk/en/how-to-apply/funding-objectives/