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Government IT initiatives and their benefits would only become realisable through active industry participation, support and contribution, the Government Chief Information Officer, Mr Daniel Lai, said today (July 24).
Mr Lai was speaking at an industry forum organised by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) to update the industry about the Government's latest strategic IT initiatives in order to help them better prepare for the provision of related products and services.
"There are ample opportunities for the information and communications technology (ICT) sector to explore business with the Government and the community at large in this information age," he said.
Mr Lai noted that one major government initiative involving industry participation was the establishment of a government cloud platform (GovCloud) to support a range of e-government applications.
"Through outsourcing arrangements for GovCloud and the related e-government services implementation, we will not only improve internal government efficiency and cost effectiveness, but also spark up industry development on cloud computing," he said.
Another area of industry participation is the value-added reuse of public sector information (PSI). Under a pilot scheme launched last year, at least 13 mobile applications have been developed by the community using the datasets provided on the Government's PSI portal. The creativity in the ICT industry would increase the value that the community could realise from the use of such information, Mr Lai said.
On e-government services, Mr Lai said the Government had taken steps to extend its services to the mobile platform to keep pace with industry development and to address citizens' needs on-the-go. "We have set up a Mobile App Development Facilitation Unit to help departments increase their presence on the mobile platform. By doing this, we hope local companies and organisations will also explore the mobile channel in delivering services and businesses to their clients so as to further develop Hong Kong into a leading digital economy," he said.
OGCIO has also launched a Web Accessibility Campaign to drive wider adoption of accessible website design in the public and private sectors.
"Our goal is to establish a close partnership with the ICT industry, so as to foster the growth of the industry and benefit the whole economy," Mr Lai concluded.
Today's forum was attended by representatives from about 100 companies and organisations.
Ends/Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:50
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