The public Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Centre (CPTTM) has launched a financial support programme for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to digitalise their back-office operations.
The CPTTM is jointly funded by the Macau government and various companies and businesspeople in the private sector.
The new programme came after CPTTM operated a programme in 2021 and 2022 that offered a subsidy to restaurants and other eateries for digitalising their operations including components such as electronic ordering system and e-payments.
The newly launched programme was announced during a press conference on the CPTTM premises in Zape. The press conference was hosted by CPTTM executives and Economic and Technological Development Bureau (DSEDT) officials.
According to a statement given out during yesterday’s press conference, the new programme aims to encourage local SMEs to launch a digital transformation in their marketing campaigns, payments, and other daily operations.
According to the statement, the new programme covers various sectors such as retail, wholesale, restaurant and manufacturing, as well as other businesses that provide customers with various other daily-life services.
Locally established companies that employ no more than 100 employees are eligible for the programme.
According to the statement, each beneficiary will receive a subsidy of up to 18,000 patacas for a service provided by one of the programme’s listed IT companies, which will set up a tailor-made digitalised back-office system for the beneficiary after assessing their respective operational situation.
The subsidies will be directly paid by CPTTM to the respective IT companies.
Before benefiting from the subsidy of up to 18,000 patacas, each potential beneficiary is required to take a three-hour training course on digitalised operations. Each company can have one or two of its staff attend the course, according to the statement.
Businesses only operating online are not covered by the programme. In addition, the statement said, companies are required to be “financially sound” to be eligible for the programme.
According to the statement, the application period, which starts today, will run until August 4.
The programme will run on a pilot basis first, which means, the DSEDT officials said yesterday, that the new rounds would only possibly be launched if the pilot programme achieves the desired result.
Potential beneficiaries are required to submit their applications online at https://www.cpttm.org.mo/SMEtech2023/.
According to the statement, the pilot programme has 200 places. A lucky draw will be held if the number of applicants exceeds the number of places available.
The application and lucky draw results will be announced on the programme’s website on August 8.
A total of eight companies in the IT sector are listed by the programme, including CTM and Macau Pass.
Moreover, according to the statement, the new programme also offers a subsidy of up to 6,000 patacas to restaurants and other eateries that benefitted from the 2021 or 2022 subsidy programme to further upgrade their digitalised system.
CPTTM executives said during yesterday’s press conference that the pilot programme is expected to cost 4.76 million patacas. They also said their studies show that many SMEs are eager to digitalise their back-office operations.
Iong Nin Fai (second from left), acting chief of the Economic and Technological Development Bureau’s (DSEDT) Technology Application and Support Division, speaks during yesterday’s press conference, as Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Centre (CPTTM) Director General Victoria Alexa Kuan Chan (second from right), Terence Liem (first from right), a senior CPTTM manager, and Thomas Mak, a CPTTM manager, look on. – Photo: Tony Wong
