Low-altitude Economy Regulatory Sandbox

To foster innovation and facilitate the testing of potential application scenarios for low-altitude flying activities, the Government has officially launched the Low-altitude Economy Regulatory Sandbox (Sandbox) in March this year. The Sandbox enables interested parties to test project concepts with a view to progressively expand and enrich the scope of low-altitude flying applications.

The results for first batch of the Sandbox applications were announced on 20 March 2025, covering a total of 38 projects with applicant backgrounds 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. Some of the projects have already commenced since April 2025, and the others will be rolled out progressively in the coming months.

The Sandbox pilot projects will be conducted under different scenarios to test various technical and ancillary facilities requirements. The Sandbox pilot projects are expected to collect experience and data on technical specifications of different types of unmanned aircraft, mobile radio communications network, signal reception of the global navigation satellite system and requirements of the low-altitude surveillance system, etc., which will be useful for the Government’s policy formulation in the long run.

In addition, the Government provides project proponents with one-stop assistance to navigate regulatory complexities while maintaining strict adherence to legal requirements. The Government has also appointed the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University as venue partners, with the objective of streamline the project proponents’ efforts in venue arrangements.

Please click here for the press release or click here for more details of the Sandbox.

[Acknowledgement to the Transport and Logistics Bureau and Civil Aviation Department for providing material for the story.]