The Hong Kong government-backed Nano and Advanced Materials Institute (NAMI) has failed to meet performance targets over the past five years, falling short in areas such as income and numbers of projects, while its former CEO was found to have overspent on overseas trips.
NAMI was set up in 2006 to help small and medium-sized enterprises conduct research and development in nanotechnology and advanced materials.
But the Audit Commission found the institute’s contribution to economic growth had declined by almost a third between 2019-20 and 2023-24.
The institute set an annual performance goal for the number of funded projects to start and complete, but it failed to reach both targets, according to the report.
In four of the past five years, the centre started fewer projects than expected, with an average shortfall of eight.
The institute needed to improve in project time management, the auditor noted, citing 74 per cent of the funded projects reviewed were delayed by between seven and 18 months.
The auditor also found the former CEO spent beyond the allocated budget on 11 out of 30 business trips.
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