Hong Kong has unveiled its pioneering Low-altitude Economy (LAE) Regulatory Sandbox, marking the official start of pilot projects to promote development of the LAE with a view to creating new business opportunities, strengthening city management and bringing a new “smart city” experience to the public.
Speaking at the launch event, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), John Lee, pointed out that the LAE not only gives rise to a series of industries, but also brings a very wide scope of application scenarios with a tremendous potential for development.
“The LAE is one of our nation’s strategic emerging industries, as well as an example in exploring new quality productive forces,” Lee said, adding that Hong Kong is dedicated to developing into an international innovation and technology centre and an international hub for high-calibre talent.
Among applications from 72 applicants, 38 projects will be implemented under the first batch of pilot projects to be rolled out starting from April 2025. They come from enterprises, universities/research institutes, public utilities and government departments. The projects cover a wide range of fields and application scenarios, including emergency and rescue, logistics and distribution, inspection and safety maintenance, surveillance and low-altitude infrastructure.
Secretary for Transport and Logistics of the HKSAR government, Mable Chan, said the trial of the sandbox projects would help the Government accumulate experience and data in order to enable the Government and relevant departments to map out and devise a comprehensive infrastructure support for the execution of various LAE activities. “We hope that with all these projects launching, we would incorporate innovation and technology into our daily lives,” Chan said. She added that the government would introduce a special provision in the relevant legislation enabling the Director-General of Civil Aviation to allow trials of even more sophisticated and heavier low-altitude equipment, so as to facilitate trials of state-of-the-art models, including those models which can carry passengers.
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