THE Central Government will boost funding access and support to Hong Kong scientists, an official said Tuesday, after President Xi Jinping pushed for greater cooperation and efforts to strengthen the Asian financial hub’s prowess in information technology.

“Accelerating the development of Hong Kong′s technology and innovation sector is a must for keeping the city′s prosperity and stable development,” Huang Wei, China’s vice minister of science and technology, told a forum in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Huang’s speech reinforced Xi’s call for “concrete measures” of support from government departments for scientists in Hong Kong, to develop it into an “international center of innovative technology,” Xinhua said.

The directive is expected to remove a barrier that prevented Hong Kong-based scientists from using Central Government grants in the city.

Mainland research institutions and universities spent 355 billion yuan (US$56 billion) on research and development in 2017 as the government pushes for technology development, government data show.

Key figures such as Pony Ma, chairman of Tencent Holdings, have been lobbying for Hong Kong’s closer integration into the Greater Bay Area.

Sky-high rents and a lack of risk appetite have often been blamed for the bleak technological entrepreneurial landscape in Hong Kong, even though it is home to world-class universities, a thriving financial sector and Asia’s wealthiest tycoons.

Hong Kong earmarked HK$50 billion (US$6.4 billion) in February for the development of the technology sector.

This month it rolled out a pilot fast-track visa program for eligible firms in areas from artificial intelligence to biotech to recruit research and development staff from the mainland and overseas.(SD-Agencies)