PASS Now Accepting Applications for $200 Million in Funding for Professional Services Projects

2026-06-01 16:00 Last Updated At：16:08

Professional Services Advancement Support Scheme invites new round of applications

The Main Programme under the Professional Services Advancement Support Scheme (PASS) is inviting a new round of applications for project proposals starting today (June 1) from non-profit-distributing organisations such as professional bodies, trade and industrial organisations and research institutes.

PASS, with a total allocation of $200million, aims at funding non-profit-making industry-led projects to increase exchanges and co-operation between Hong Kong's professional services and external counterparts, promote relevant publicity activities, and enhance the standards and external competitiveness of Hong Kong's professional services.

The maximum grant for each approved project under the Main Programme of PASS is $3million or 90per cent of the approved project cost, whichever is lower. A wide range of professional services, such as accounting, legal and dispute resolution, architecture, engineering, healthcare, information and communications technology, design and technical testing and analysis, are eligible for the Main Programme. Sector-specific projects and cross-sectoral projects are both welcome. Expenses directly incurred for implementing a project, such as manpower costs, venue and set-up costs, production and promotion costs, and the project team and active participants' travel and accommodation costs outside Hong Kong, are typically eligible for funding support under the Scheme. Funding support may also be provided for travel and accommodation costs incurred by participants in relatively longer professional internships or attachment programmes outside Hong Kong that are funded by the Main Programme.

Up to early May2026, over 130projects had been funded under the Main Programme, including project deliverables in and outside Hong Kong. The deliverables include capacity-building programmes for enhancing the standards of local professionals, such as training programmes, workshops and study tours; outreach and promotional activities for showcasing the strengths of Hong Kong's professional services, such as roadshows, promotional seminars and participation in exhibitions outside Hong Kong; exchange activities for deepening interaction between Hong Kong professionals and their external counterparts, such as visits to other economies and international conferences and seminars held in Hong Kong; and research projects on potential external markets for Hong Kong professional services and development of best practice guidelines and manuals for professionals. Details about the Main Programme and its funded projects are available at www.pass.gov.hk/main/en/home.

Furthermore, with a view to stepping up the promotion of Hong Kong's competitive edges and professional services to the Mainland and overseas markets, $50million has been set aside for the Professionals Participation Subsidy Programme (PSP) under PASS to subsidise Hong Kong major professional bodies to participate in relevant activities organised by the Government (such as Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices) and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council after the pandemic situation has stabilised. Details of the PSP and its list of activities are available at www.pass.gov.hk/psp. Hong Kong professionals from the eligible professional sectors under PASS may make use of the PSP subsidy to join the relevant activities.

The Main Programme and the PSP receive applications for project and activity proposals all year round, and they are processed on a quarterly basis. The deadline for the new round of applications is August 31,2026. A briefing session will be held this month for organisations interested in applying for the PASS funding. One-on-one consultations are also available upon request for discussing preliminary project ideas or projects in the planning stage. To register for the briefing session, schedule a consultation, or for other enquiries, please contact the PASS Secretariat at 36555418 or pass@cedb.gov.hk.

Final 'Ink Art Ensembles' Exhibition Explores Illusory Landscapes at Guancheng Art Museum

"Ink Art Ensembles" Exhibition Series in the Greater Bay Area - "Illusory Landscapes" staged in Dongguan

Jointly organised by the Art Promotion Office under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) and the Shenzhen Fringe Art Center, the fifth exhibition of the "Ink Art Ensembles" Exhibition Series in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) is now on display at the Guancheng Art Museum in Dongguan. This exhibition is also the final one of the series. With the theme of "Illusory Landscapes", the two female artists, Barbara Choi from Hong Kong and Wen Qiuwen from the GBA, approach their practices through "gongbi" painting and spatial installations respectively, responding to the regenerative pathways of traditional ink art within contemporary landscapes.

Choi merges everyday urban sites in Hong Kong, such as the Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market, the Flower Market in Prince Edward and the "Pang Jai" fabric market in Sham Shui Po in a traditional blue-and-green landscapes schema. For the first time, she has employed AI to render details within her scenes, extending static paintings into a narrative of moving images. In the form of painting and animation, Choi's work "Day and Night of Wholesale Fruit Market" guides viewers through the bustling day and night activities of the fruit market. She also draws inspiration from the meditative process of resinification in agarwood. Recognising nature's inherent capacity for self-repair, she presents a new series of abstract ink albums: "A Suite of Withering and Renewal" and "The Visions of Withering and Renewal".

Wen uses a fusion of the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage of paper sculpture and traditional lantern-making techniques to stage a spectacle of fantastical creatures and landscapes. Through the interplay of light, shadow and mirrored surfaces, she creates a perceptual experience that vacillates between reality and illusion. Her installation artwork "Mirrored Wings" features a four-winged bird. As viewers move, the reflections of the bird's four wings multiply into layered traces of feathers, creating an expanding visual illusion between the physical form and its mirrored image. At the centre of the installation "Stellar Serpent", a golden mirrored "star" gathers and reflects light, drawing surrounding forms into a cyclical visual relationship between the serpent and the celestial body.

In the collaboration zone of the exhibition, the two artists present an "alternative duet" centred on illusion and perception. In Wen's "Suspended Mountain", portions of the mountain are constructed from layers of translucent gauze, inverted to hover in midair. This transforms the mountain from a massive, solid entity into a permeable, lightweight spatial structure. Choi complements this by projecting her animation "The Twilight of Sea Turtle Mountain" onto the mountain. The divine turtle emerges amidst the crags, appearing relaxed and carefree within the interplay of light and shadow, where the creature seems to inhabit a world of its own.

The exhibition is running until July 12 with free admission at the Guancheng Art Museum, located at 5 Gaodi St, Guancheng Subdistrict, Dongguan City. For details, please visit the website of the Art Promotion Office www.apo.hk/en/web/apo/there_ink_art_ensembles_illusory_landscapes.html, and follow the "apothere" page on Facebook www.facebook.com/apo.there, Instagram www.instagram.com/apo.there and Weibo weibo.com/apothere.

The exhibition is also one of the activities in the Chinese Culture Promotion Series. The LCSD has long been promoting Chinese history and culture through organising an array of programmes and activities to enable the public to learn more about the broad and profound Chinese culture. For more information, please visit ccpo.gov.hk/en.

PASS Now Accepting Applications for $200 Million in Funding for Professional Services Projects

HK

PASS Now Accepting Applications for $200 Million in Funding for Professional Services Projects

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