Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto)

Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto) (HKETO), Ms Emily Mo, joined the "Hong Kong: the IP and Commercialization Platform in Asia for Canadian Companies and Start-Ups" webinar hosted by Hong Kong-Canada Business Association (Toronto Section) (HKCBA) on May 18.  This webinar aimed to promote Hong Kong as the ideal Intellectual Property (IP) hub in Asia and the IP commercialization opportunities available in the city.

In delivering a speech at the webinar, Ms Mo noted Hong Kong is fully committed to upholding a robust and effective system of IP protection.  “According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2019 published by the World Economic Forum, Hong Kong is ranked the 5th among 141 economies in terms of IP protection,” Ms Mo said.

Besides, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization, Hong Kong also ranked among the world’s top 20 IP application centers for patents. “Most of the applications in Hong Kong are of overseas origin, with non-resident applications accounting for 98% of the total in 2020, which was an extremely high percentage,” Ms Mo continued.

Noting the surge in global and regional demand for IP offers huge opportunities for IP trading, Ms Mo highlighted that Hong Kong is well placed to be a premier IP trading hub in the region. “Hong Kong offers low taxes and no foreign exchange controls, provides an easy access of financing for start-ups, has a sound and independent legal system, as well as a large pool of bi-lingual professionals,” Ms Mo said.

Ms Mo pointed out that the National 14^th Five-Year Plan pledged to develop Hong Kong into the region’s IP trading centre and the city also continues to introduce various initiatives to promote IP trading including boosting IP promotion and collaboration beyond Hong Kong. 

Following Ms Mo’s remarks, the Head of Invest Hong Kong in Canada Mr Christopher Chen, presented the IP Commercialization landscape and opportunities for Canadian companies and start-ups. He encouraged Canadian companies to grasp the abundant IP opportunities in Hong Kong and the Asian region by setting foot in Hong Kong.  Mr Andrew Yui, Director, Canada, Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) (Toronto Office) and Mr Pan Wong, Board of Governors and Co-founder International IP Commercialization Council - Hong Kong (GBA) Chapter, discussed HKTDC’s work in driving IP trading and invited participants to join the Business of IP Asia Forum to be held in Hong Kong on 1-2 December 2022.