Policy Statement & Submission

20 September 2017

Ir. Allen Yeung, JP
Government Chief Information Officer
Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
15/F, Wanchai Tower
12 Harbour Road
Wan Chai, Hong Kong
 

Dear Allen,

Smart Hong Kong Consultancy Study Report

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce has all along been supporting the Government’s initiative to embrace and adopt technology more widely to develop Hong Kong into a smart city.

Many advanced economies have taken on board the concept of smart city and created successful showcases, but Hong Kong remains lagging behind. The HKSAR initiatives of using Kowloon East as a pilot area in 2015 and formulating a digital framework for the development of a smart city in 2016 have been well supported by the business community. We appreciate that the Smart Hong Kong Consultancy Study Report has consolidated valuable inputs from stakeholders, which provides ample evidence that there is a consensus of the overall direction for smart city development in Hong Kong. We therefore urge the Government to be more swift and resolute in breaking through the bureaucratic routine and take the lead to scale up the momentum immediately.

As in the Chamber’s two previous submissions enclosed, we would like to emphasize again on Smart Government, which is fundamentally important for the development of an innovative and sustainable smart city to reinstate Hong Kong’s competitiveness in the region. Instead of carrying out prolonged consultations over and over again, the Government’s priorities should be to:

• Designate ONE high-level authority to champion the smart city agenda, empower government departments to get on with specific projects and ensure inter-departmental collaboration to achieve the objectives of the six smart dimensions; and simultaneously
• Identify and implement handy technological solutions that could bring in quick wins to demonstrate social and economic benefits of smart city development, so as to promote Hong Kong’s smart image

Technology is advancing at light speed, while time and tide wait for no man. Having one overarching authority supported by working committees would ensure that new policies could be developed and implemented quickly and effectively, and vital infrastructure to support a smart city could be installed in a timely manner. The business sector would like to see prompt and concrete actions of a smart government, and the Chamber is again looking forward to working with the Government to enhance our living and working environment in a smarter Hong Kong.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely

Shirley Yuen

CEO

Encl.