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HK Government Committed to IT Development
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government is fully aware of the importance of information technology and is committed to encouraging IT development to maintain the region's competitive edge and to drive the overall economic growth, a Hong Kong SAR government official said in Hong Kong Sunday.
At the Asian Information Technology Venture Capital Forum held Sunday, Hong Kong's Director of Information Technology Services, Lau Kam-hung, said that since 1998, Hong Kong has been making remarkable progress in preparing itself for the Information Age.
As a practical expression of its commitment to IT development, Lau said that the government published the "Digital 21" IT Strategy in November 1998, setting out the vision and targets to enhance Hong Kong's information infrastructure and services to make Hong Kong a leading digital city.
Under the strategy, four enabling factors have been identified, including developing high capacity telecommunications networks, establishing an information infrastructure, promoting IT education and cultivating a culture encouraging the use of new technologies in the community, Lau said.
As an efficient and high capacity telecommunications infrastructure is a pre-requisite for IT development, the government, first of all, has set up a world-class telecommunications infrastructure.
The first class infrastructure is complimented by the government's policy to further liberalizing Hong Kong's telecommunications market, emphasizing free competition and providing a level playing field to encourage investment, Lau said.
As electronic commerce has been widely recognized as an important tool to drive economic growth, Lau said the government is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for the conduct of electronic transactions through building up a public key infrastructure.
The Hong Kong Post set up the first public certification authority in Hong Kong in January this year to address the basic security concerns in doing business in the cyberspace. The Electronic Transactions Ordinance was enacted in January this year to enhance certainty and security in the conduct of electronic transactions.
To encourage the use of IT, the HKSAR government has taken the lead to implement the Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) scheme. Through the open and common information infrastructure of ESD, the public can acquire a wide range of services through the Internet and public information kiosks.
The HKSAR Government is also committed to providing the necessary infrastructure to encourage the application of innovation and technology, Lau said.
The Cyberport, Hong Kong's IT flagship project, has already attracted a lot of interests from international companies and acted as a catalyst for the growth of local IT companies.
Up to August 2000, over 150 companies, local and overseas, have registered interest in becoming tenants of the Cyberport, including 15 multinational corporations, Lau said.
Besides building the necessary infrastructure, the HKSAR government also plays an important role as a promoter and facilitator to encourage the application of innovation and technology.
To provide entrepreneurial training to university graduates in the IT field and to cultivate an environment conducive to technology transfer and company spin-offs in Hong Kong, the government has sponsored a sum of HK$12.5 million (US$1.6 million) for local universities to implement the IT Entrepreneurial Program.
The government has also established the Innovation and Technology Fund with an injection of HK$5 billion (US$641 million), with the aim of increasing the added value, productivity and competitiveness of the industries.
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