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Funding for Staff

Yearly KE Funding Scheme for Impact Projects

The Knowledge Exchange (KE) Funding Scheme for Impact Projects aims to support staff members to undertake the following:

(A) Projects that have the potential to create social, economic, environmental or cultural impacts for industry, business or the community by building on expertise or knowledge in the University. Engagement projects that aim to benefit non-academic communities beyond Hong Kong are strongly encouraged.

(B) Projects designed to collect evidence for corroboration and evaluation of impacts arising from a research project or KE project, which is normally expected to have been completed, irrespective of the fund sources for that research project or KE project.

Proposed projects may be technology-based or non-technology-related. Joint proposals for interdisciplinary, collaborative KE projects among Faculties or between Faculties and non-Faculty-based units are strongly encouraged. Staff members are also strongly encouraged to explore external partnership opportunities and develop their proposals with external partners before submission.

Yearly KE Funding Scheme for Strategic Impact

To encourage projects that have the potential to create significant impact, KEO has introduced the Strategic Impact scheme in 2022/23 to provide enhanced funding support for projects that fall under the following seven strategic themes. These strategic themes have been identified having regard to a survey on key global and regional research and KE trends, research prowess of HKU, and potential for contribution to HKU’s KE strategy -

(a) Green and Sustainable Energy (e.g. photovoltaic cells, enhancing energy efficiency of buildings and equipment, biodiesel, fuel cells, and new materials for energy solutions);

(b) Health and Medical Technologies (e.g. cancer, AIDS, stroke, mind, post COVID recovery);

(c) Industry 4.0 (e.g. infrastructure to support Industry 4.0 including IT and high-speed Internet; manufacturing technologies; development of advanced equipment including lithography and scanning electron microscope);

(d) Smart Cities (e.g. solid waste management, urban development);

(e) Food Security and Nutrition (e.g. malnutrition; biological control including pest management; food security);

(f) Use of IT in Education (e.g. e-learning);

(g) Community Engagement for Governance and Law (e.g. public engagement)

Proposals for interdisciplinary, collaborative projects jointly submitted by Faculties and/or non-Faculty-based units are strongly encouraged.

To encourage proposals that have the potential for significant impact, starting from 2022/23, the maximum funding for a project under the Strategic Impact scheme is HK$500,000. The maximum funding for a proposal under the Impact Projects scheme, irrespective of whether the proposal falls under the strategic themes, remains at HK$150,000.

Proposals are considered on a competitive basis. Applications are invited once a year. Announcements will be made through the eNotices System. Proposals of faculty members should be submitted via the Faculty KE units, which may set an earlier Faculty deadline. All approved KE projects should be completed within the funding year.

The list of projects supported under the Strategic Impact Funding Scheme in previous exercises:

The list of projects supported under the Impact Project Funding Scheme in previous exercises:


Interdisciplinary KE Project Fund (one-off basis)

The Interdisciplinary KE Project Fund Scheme was introduced as a one-off funding exercise in 2015/16. The Knowledge Exchange Office (KEO) has obtained $2M from the University in 2018/19 to conduct the exercise again. This one-off funding aims to facilitate interdisciplinary KE projects that have the potential to create social, economic, environmental or cultural impacts for industry, business or the community by building on interdisciplinary research in the University, with priority to be given to cross-Faculty collaboration. Each project should last for no more than 2 years. The maximum bid for each project is HK$200,000.