SME association proposes ‘Working Holiday Visa’ in Macau

Stanley Au (third from left)

The latest White Paper for SMEs, 2017-2018 Executive Summary (White Paper), is proposing the establishment of a “Working Holiday” program to attract qualified overseas undergraduates and graduates to work and stay in the region, the Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Macau (SME Macau) announced this week, at the press conference for the White Paper.

“The ultimate goal is to absorb qualified young professionals to resolve the issue of talent shortage,” the report reads. It also suggests launching the Entrepreneur Visa and Overseas Expertise Admission Scheme to “provide visas with a longer period of stay for the entrepreneur and his family and grant them permanent residency upon obtaining the pass mark of a designated scoring system and relax the restrictions on current overseas talent admission with the purpose of attracting overseas talents on different professions.”

To implement the Blueprint of New Tourism Format, the White Paper suggested establishing a city brand committee to plan and coordinate promotional activities and events and establish a fund to support the promotion of the city’s brand.

The White Paper authors also argue that the local government should invite universities to conduct research on thematic tourism, the integration of existing tourism resources and the development of new tourism routes. Additionally, they argued that the government should invite innovative ideas on tourism, and encourage cross-industry collaboration.

The paper goes on to suggest that local authorities provide resources to encourage exchanges with tourism associations or organizations in the Greater Bay Area.

In particular, in order to enhance the competitiveness of SMEs, SME-Macau, which is also the publisher of the White Paper, recommended that the government launch an “Innovation Voucher to encourage SMEs to apply for information technologies and to implement technological innovations in their businesses.”

The voucher can be used to purchase IT equipment or software and consulting services.

Macau’s Economic Bureau is proposed to be the organization responsible for the voucher system, and the report suggests that it issue ten Innovation Vouchers (each worth MOP10,000) and ten Creative Vouchers (each worth MOP10,000) to qualified SMEs every year.

The White Paper concluded with a strategy that consists of building an entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem.

In this specific category, the local government’s major task is to “set up the Macau Applied Tourism Technologies Research Centre” for the research and development of tourism-related technologies to enhance the technological level of the industry.

“The Macau SAR government should establish a funding scheme to promote collaborations with the industry,” the document reads.

The Chairman of SME-Macau, Stanley Au, remarked during this week’s press conference of the White Paper launch that “developing a New Tourism Format is a short-term goal [for Macau]. In the long term, Macau still needs to develop its real economy,” said Au, adding that “it’s difficult for Macau to compete with other cities in terms of technological development.”