The application criteria for the Small Entrepreneur Research Assistance Programme will be relaxed from companies with less than 20 employees to those with less than 100 in April.

Under the new criteria more than 99% of local business establishments will be eligible to apply for funding to conduct projects with innovation and technology elements and commercial potential.

After attending the meeting of the Steering Committee on Innovation & Technology today Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Frederick Ma said a $93 million five-year programme will be launched for Hong Kong-owned enterprises in the Pearl River Delta to adopt cleaner production technologies and practices.

By the end of January the Innovation & Technology Fund had approved 90 research and development projects with funding of $463 million in areas like automotive lighting, high-definition television and advanced textile manufacturing technologies.

Mr Ma said a growing momentum has been seen in the business sector in undertaking research and development. The sector's related expenditure rose to $6.3 billion in 2006.

Total research and development expenditure in Hong Kong was $10.9 billion in 2005, up 54% from 2001.

Despite the upward trend Mr Ma said research and development expenditure relative to GDP is still relatively low. The committee will suggest ways to help the business sector invest in such activities.