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Following is a question by the Hon Wong Ting-kwong and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Frederick Ma, in the Legislative Council today (January 9):
Question:
The findings of a survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department revealed that the total amount of business receipts received from selling goods, services or information through electronic means in 2006 was estimated at HK$64.9 billion, representing a substantial increase of 47.7% over the corresponding figure in 2005. Moreover, in 2007, about 18% of the business establishments had web pages or web sites, and about 60% of the establishments had conducted electronic business activities in the 12 months before enumeration. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the main business sectors to which those surveyed establishments with web pages or web sites belong; and
(b) as it has been reported that the Government will sponsor the commercial sector to set up web sites, of the details of the sponsorship scheme concerned?
Reply:
Madam President,
My reply to the question asked by the Hon Wong Ting-kwong is as follows:
(a) According to Census and Statistics Department's Report on 2007 Annual Survey on Information Technology Usage and Penetration in the Business Sector, the total number of business establishments having webpage/website is 54 719. Among them, 60.2% belong to the wholesale, retail, import/export trades, restaurants and hotels sector, followed by the financing, insurance, real estate and business services sector at 20.2% and the community, social and personal services sector at 10.2%.
(b) The Government is committed to driving the adoption of e-business in the community. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are amongst the primary targets of our programmes and initiatives. Sponsorships will be considered for meritorious industry-led proposals that aim at promoting the adoption of information and communications technology (ICT) among SMEs of various business sectors. Such sponsorships cover projects that align with our Digital 21 Strategy and include support facilities and services, development of practical ICT solutions, training courses and conferences, as well as promotional events such as exhibitions and campaigns.
In 2004, the Government provided a one-off sponsorship of around $100,000 for the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong to organise a project that offered SMEs with one-stop service package to help them set up websites. 200 SMEs have benefited from the project.
Since then, in collaboration with industry and professional bodies, the Government has launched the Sector-specific Programme (SSP) to raise the capabilities of SMEs in specific industries in leveraging e-business. Under the SSP, we have provided sponsorship of around $3.2 million between 2004 and 2006 for industry bodies to organise eight projects. Amongst these, three projects were targeting at SMEs from the travel industry, beauty service sector and the logistics sector. An integral part of these projects was the development of an industry portal site (Note 1). These were completed by 2007.
In the first half of 2007, we provided sponsorship of $4.9 million for five new projects that aim at driving the development of industry-specific e-business applications or platforms. Out of these new projects, three aim to establish/enhance portal sites at the sector level targeting at SMEs from the watches and clocks sector, the social service sector, and the beauty service sector respectively. The portal site for the watches and clocks sector will facilitate SMEs to develop e-commerce and conduct virtual exhibitions of watches and clocks products. The portal site for the social service sector will facilitate the sharing of frequently-used reference materials in digital format from the Hong Kong Council of Social Service Library whereas the portal for the beauty service sector will provide an online booking function. These portal sites will be available for use by SMEs in the relevant industries within 2008/09.
Note 1: Portal sites are websites that offer information and services, such as news and discussion forum to multiple establishments in the related sectors.
Ends/Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Issued at HKT 14:30
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