ITC's Research Talent Hub pays the salaries of research staff with a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree: up to 4 at a time, up to 36 months each, and up to HK$46,500 a month for a PhD.
Book a ConsultationThe funding must go entirely to the talent's pay. Any salary above the cap and other benefits are paid by your company.
| Bachelor's degree | 21,000 |
| Master's degree | 24,150 |
| Doctorate (incl. 10,000 living allowance) | 46,500 |
The actual amount depends on each talent's degree and salary. You can engage up to 4 talents at once, each for up to 36 months.
Beyond basic eligibility, these three points decide most applications.
The talent's work must be R&D: resolving scientific or technological uncertainty, or developing new or substantially improved products, processes or services. Routine operations, sales and general IT support do not count.
A STEM bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree from a Hong Kong university or a well-recognised non-local institution, the right to work in Hong Kong throughout, and a full-time post.
The post must be openly advertised, and you keep the advertisement. Owners, partners, shareholders, management and their relatives cannot be engaged.
Science Park and Cyberport incubatees and tenants, ITF-funded projects and companies funded under the New Industrialisation Acceleration Scheme have their own RTH streams, and we can help with those too.
From the eligibility check to the funding.
We describe your project the way ITC defines R&D, making clear which technical problems the talent will solve.
Job descriptions, the recruitment advertisement and conflict-of-interest declarations, prepared properly.
We compile the application, submit it through ITC's Funding Administrative System and handle ITC's questions.
Progress reports and claims prepared properly, so the funding comes through smoothly.
RTH is part of the Innovation and Technology Fund run by Hong Kong's Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC). It funds companies to engage research talent for R&D work. Most companies apply under RTH for technology companies (RTH-TC); Science Park and Cyberport companies, ITF-funded projects and companies under the New Industrialisation Acceleration Scheme have their own streams.
Up to HK$21,000 a month for a bachelor's degree, HK$24,150 for a master's and HK$46,500 for a doctorate (which includes a HK$10,000 living allowance). A company can engage up to 4 talents at any one time, each generally for up to 36 months.
No. Companies conducting or planning to conduct R&D in Hong Kong can apply. What matters is whether the talent's work meets ITC's definition of R&D; there is no separate definition of a “technology company”.
Yes, but the post must go through open recruitment, and you submit a copy of the advertisement. Owners, partners, shareholders, management and their relatives cannot be engaged.
Yes. The talent can start before you apply or after approval, but open recruitment must be finished before you apply, and funding only starts after approval. If the application fails, the costs in the meantime are yours.
Yes, including those admitted under the Technology Talent Admission Scheme (TechTAS), as long as they can legally work in Hong Kong during the engagement and hold an eligible STEM degree.
No. The talent must be full-time, and the funding cannot be used for other allowances, benefits or overheads.
Applications are open all year and go through ITC's Funding Administrative System. Book a consultation: we review your R&D work, the talent and your recruitment plan, and tell you whether you qualify and what to do next.