There are plenty of successful cases of Technology Voucher Programme (TVP) since the launch in 2016. BizMagnet TVP Consultant has tidied up open statistic and review relevant information.
In according to Legco 2019-2020 meeting document (ITB written reply to Finance Committee), there are totally 3,442 application up to Feb 2020. Among the 2,318 processed applications, 2,117 have been approved and the average subsidy is $150,000 for each case. The common reasons of 201 rejections are merely purchase of off-the-shelf software and hardware (e.g. computer, smartphone and office suite etc), as well as unreasonable planning. There are 1,124 applications still in process.
Wholesale, retail and trading apply for TVP the most, while some creative businesses rejected
The sector of wholesale and retail has the most TVP applicant (878 cases or 25% of the total), then it is the import and export trade (381 cases or 11% of the total). Followings are restaurants, hotels, professional services and education services etc. The successful rate of these sectors are more or less the same, while latest creative industry has a high rejection rate (33 approved out of 44 processed). It may due to the fact that most creative firms are start-ups, and the TVP is not a start-up fund.
Larger firms, easier to get approval
The ITB also provides a statistic based on company size. More than half applications are by small enterprise with less than 10 employees, and it is also the least successful group. There are 1,197 approvals (57% of the total application or 89% of the total processed application). Larger company is easier to get approval. Companies with more than 100 employees have all processed application approved. Moreover, companies with longer history tend to have higher chance of success.
The TVP Consultant believes that a company with longer history and more employees can provide a better proposal of technology advancement. It can show the reason clearly why the ITC should support the plan. Furthermore, these companies have more resource to prepare the application or hire a TVP consultant to assist.
| No. of staff | Application | Assessed | Approved |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-9 | 2098 | 1341 | 1197 |
| 10-19 | 702 | 512 | 477 |
| 20-29 | 251 | 176 | 165 |
| 30-39 | 124 | 94 | 92 |
| 40-49 | 91 | 71 | 66 |
| 50-99 | 101 | 78 | 74 |
| 100 or above | 75 | 46 | 46 |
Type of TVP projects
In these 3,000-strong applications, the system of enterprise resource planning (or ERP) takes more than half, that there are 1,248 successful cases. Electronic inventory management system, document management & mobile access system and point-of-sales management system (POS) follow. There are no obvious correlation between project type and the approval rate.
So we can see that the success factor of TVP application is the company condition, the project justification and relevance. The most popular project is all about operation efficiency and productivity, therefore it is not hard to get the approval if we can explain how the IT solution enhances the enterprise competitiveness and efficiency.