The nuturing of talents is a key element in the Government's policy to promote the creative economy in Hong Kong and this formed the focus of a study visit to France by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mrs Rita Lau from 4 to 7 March 2009.

During her four-day stay in Paris and Lille, Mrs Lau met design house and museum directors, architects, manufacturers renowned for innovation and technical advancement, and leaders in creative industry education.

Mrs Lau also met  Anne-Marie Idrac, the Minister of State responsible for foreign trade, to exchange views on the role of intellectual property rights protection in promoting creativity and other bilateral and multilateral trade issues.

She visited the Pompidou Centre and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs to explore opportunities for future co-operation, as well as Le Fresnoy Studio National des Arts Contemporains, SUPINFOCOPM - a digital media creation entity supported by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Valenciennes - and sports equipment producer Decathlon.

During visits to transport infrastructure supplier Alstom and automaker Renault, she heard about their experience in re-branding their products by raising the level of cooperation between their product design and technical research teams,and their strategy to bring in and groom designers from different cultural backgrounds.
 
While in Lille, a senior representative of the metropolitan government briefed her on how the city had been transformed from a traditional heavy-industry city into a creative regional metropolitan centre.
 
Mrs Lau also took the opportunity of her visit to France to visit the architects CAAU (Coldefy & Associés Architectes Urbanistes), the architects of the Institute of Design now being built in Tseung Kwan O.

France is the 2009 Partner Country for Hong Kong's Business of Design Week, which will take place in December.  Now in its 8th year and one of the most significant annual events on the international design calendar, it provides a showcase in Asia for French and other countries'  innovation, designs and branding.  It will feature conferences, exhibitions, seminars and many networking programmes, through which legendary designers, iconic CEOs, renowned educators and many others will share their experience and vision.  

There are more than 170,000 practitioners in the creative industries in Hong Kong, with over 30,000 establishments and a total annual value-added exceeding HK$60 billion (around EUR 6 billion), representing 4% of Hong Kong's Gross Domestic Product.

"If these industries can obtain more effective support and training, their development potential will be enormous", Mrs Lau said.

As announced in the Budget, an additional HK$300 million (EUR 30 million) has been earmarked to promote the continuous development of Hong Kong's creative industries.