Speech by S for IT at opening ceremony of Hong Kong International Computer Conference 2017 (English only) (with photo)
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Ted (President of the Hong Kong Computer Society, Mr Ted Suen), Professor Tan (Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Mr Tan Tieniu), Bernard (President of Asia Financial Holdings and Asia Insurance, Mr Bernard Chan), Andy (Chairperson of the Organising Committee of the HKICC 2017, Mr Andy Bien), Gabriel (Chairperson of the Programme Committee of the HKICC 2017, Dr Gabriel Leung), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning. It is a great pleasure to join you all at the Hong Kong International Computer Conference 2017. I would like to first congratulate the Hong Kong Computer Society, or HKCS, on successfully hosting another edition of this annual flagship event for the Hong Kong ICT community.
For decades, HKCS has connected the opinion leaders, technology experts and senior executives of the Hong Kong ICT community to share the latest technology and development trends, through the annual Hong Kong International Computer Conference.
This year's conference theme, "Capitalise on the Belt and Road Initiative through Digital Innovation", is highly relevant to Hong Kong in terms of the opportunities ahead. It is again timely for us to reflect on what Hong Kong has done and accomplished in the past, and consider our next steps in developing the future of Hong Kong's ICT industry.
In the new economy, innovation and technology help transform existing industries and reinvent new businesses. Innovation and technology also diversify economic growth, and offer new quality jobs. When the Innovation and Technology Bureau was established about two years ago, the government made it a top priority to build a robust ecosystem conducive for innovation and technology development. Equally important, we seek to enhance our collaboration with the Mainland, where economic growth, innovation and technology development have thrived for the past 20 years.
The Belt and Road Initiative promotes market integration and people connectivity among the many countries along the traditional Silk Road and Maritime Belt. This presents unprecedented opportunities for Hong Kong in various professional fields including architecture, engineering services, financial services and, of course, ICT professional services. Hong Kong professionals have earned the trust from the international community for delivering quality services with integrity. Our distinguished speakers today will share with you their insights on how Hong Kong's digital innovators can reap the benefits from the Belt and Road Initiative.
In the 2017 Policy Address delivered three weeks ago, the Chief Executive outlined eight areas in which the Government would step up its efforts in innovation and technology development. One of them is to provide new technology infrastructure. The Government will publish Hong Kong's smart city blueprint by the end of this year and invest in new infrastructure which will help Hong Kong become a smarter city. In particular, the Government will invest $700 million in three infrastructure projects to kick-start our smart city development.
We will develop a platform to provide an Electronic Identity or eID for all Hong Kong residents, so that a single digital identity and authentication platform can be used to conduct government and commercial transactions online. We will also launch a multi-functional smart lampposts pilot scheme at four urban locations to provide convenient data services and collect real time city management data. To facilitate the delivery of e-government services in a more reliable and efficient manner, we will revamp the government cloud infrastructure and build a big data analytics platform. Each new infrastructure will contribute toward making Hong Kong a smarter city, and will mean more new opportunities for the Hong Kong ICT industry.
In a moment, distinguished keynote speakers will provide a deep dive into topics on Belt and Road opportunities, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, smart city, etc. Please enjoy today's forum. I wish you all a great and rewarding day.
Thank you very much.
Ends/Thursday, November 2, 2017
Issued at HKT 12:35
Issued at HKT 12:35
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