Launched in September 2014, the Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities (TSSSU) provides funding to students and professors of six local universities to start technology businesses and commercialise their research and development (R&D) results. On 20 December 2016, the Legislative Council Panel on Commerce and Industry supported the Government's proposal to continue TSSSU for another three years from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

The Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) expanded the funding scope of the Public Sector Trial Scheme (PSTS) and the Internship Programme under the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) on 19 December 2016.

Another milestone marks the Government's efforts in fostering collaboration between Hong Kong and top-notch overseas research institutes. The Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) launched the Midstream Research Programme for Universities (MRP) on 23 December 2016, an initiative to encourage academic institutions funded by the University Grants Committee to conduct more theme-based midstream research in focused technology areas.

Cross-border collaboration has seen another breakthrough with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop the Hong Kong/Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park on the 87-hectare Lok Ma Chau Loop. The significance of developing innovation and technology in the Lok Ma Chau Loop is epitomised by the advantage of 'one country' and 'two systems', in addition to being testimony to the mutual benefits shared by Hong Kong and Shenzhen in joining hands to develop research in this area.

In its 105th meeting held in October 2016, the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) accepted the SCL's observer status of the Consultative Committee for Electromagnetism (CCEM) and the Consultative Committee for the Photometry and Radiometry (CCPR). Consultative Committees (CCs) are set up by the CIPM to bring together the world's renowned experts and scientists from top national metrology institutes (NMIs), to advise the CIPM on scientific and technical matters related to the respective fields in metrology.