| 1. | Number of applications received | 29 |
| 2. | Number of full proposals received | 11 |
| 3. | Number of proposals recommended for funding | 5 |
| 4. | Success rate (over the number of applications): | 17% |
| 5. | Amount available for allocation | $130 million |
| 6.
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Total funding amount from RGC | $129.6 million1 |
1 Excluding on-costs.
B) Assessment Committee’s Comments for Applicants’ Reference
1. Quality of applications (i.e. strengths, weaknesses and gaps of proposals):
Most of the applications were of high quality and innovative, demonstrating scientific merit and enlisting a strong interdisciplinary team. The Committee was pleased to see that some proposals included fundamental scientific studies that could enhance the potential for success and could benefit the Hong Kong society and expedite developments in IT, environmental and diagnostics areas. However, some proposals needed to address more carefully certain specific issues, e.g., implementation feasibility of the proposal, data safety protocols, and strategies for disseminating research results effectively.
Funding was approved for a total of five projects. Because of the rapid development of IT, the duration (and funding) of two IT projects were reduced to encourage the teams to deliver preliminary results within a shortened timeframe.
2. Other comments:- It was pleasing that in this round for these three areas (public health, information technology, and sustainable environment) of the Strategic Topics Grant were able to nominate excellent proposals for support. The next round will have a new research domain.