Chapter 19: Information Technology

Hong Kong is an early adopter and mature user of information technology (IT). Sixty per cent of households have installed personal computers, 50 per cent of households are connected to the Internet, and over 84 per cent of the population have mobile phones. Internet accounts exceed 2.6 million, broadband coverage reaches all commercial buildings and over 95 per cent of households, and there are over eight million e-payment 'smart' cards in circulation.

The Government is committed to keeping Hong Kong in the forefront of IT development. In May, the Government promulgated its updated 'Digital 21' IT Strategy, which is an overall blueprint for driving IT development in Hong Kong. The objective is to position Hong Kong as a leading e-business community and digital city in the globally connected world. The theme of the strategy is Hong Kong: Connecting the World and there are structured targets and an implementation timetable in five key result areas, namely, e-business, E-government, IT manpower, building a digitally inclusive society, and exploitation of enabling technologies.

The Government is committed to providing the necessary infrastructure for e-business to prosper. It has liberalised the telecommunications market, enacted the Electronic Transactions Ordinance to provide a clear legal framework for e-business and established a local Public Key Infrastructure for the conduct of secure electronic transactions. A review on the Electronic Transactions Ordinance is under way with the aim of keeping it up-to-date with technological advancements and international e-business developments. To facilitate the conduct of cross-border electronic transactions, Hongkong Post, the public certification authority, has signed memoranda of understanding on cross-certification arrangements with ViaCode of the United Kingdom, I.D.Safe of Singapore, DigiCert of Malaysia, the Korea Information Certificate Authority and the Shanghai Electronic Certificate Authority, Co. Ltd.

The Government also organises various promotional activities to encourage the business sector, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to adopt e-business, and works with industry support organisations to provide support services to assist SMEs in adopting IT and e-business.

The Government is leading by example in the use of e-business, both in conducting internal business operations and in delivering public services to the business and the community on an 'anywhere and anytime' basis.

In 2001, the Government made significant progress in electronic government (E-government) and in May promulgated a comprehensive E-government strategy. Targets have been set to provide an e-option (the option to obtain service on-line or through other electronic means) for 90 per cent of the public services amenable to the electronic mode of delivery and to conduct 80 per cent of the Government's procurement tenders through electronic means by end-2003. The Government will proceed with flagship E-government projects which fall into four categories — Government-to-Citizen (G2C), Government-to-Business (G2B), Government-to-Employee (G2E) and Government-to-Government (G2G). These projects will bring significant benefits to both the Government and the community. In order to better drive the E-government agenda forward, monitor the achievement of the E-government targets and co-ordinate flagship E-government initiatives, the Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau set up a dedicated E-government Coordination Office in August.

During the year, major initiatives were implemented successfully to promote paperless operation within the Government. All bureaux and departments are now connected to a stable, reliable and resilient broadband government communication network. A programme has begun to more than double the number of officers connected to this network by mid-2003. Various projects have been implemented to enhance the government IT infrastructure and a system for the exchange of internal confidential mail. With the aim of having more internal government business conducted on-line, systems have been launched for electronic leave application and processing, submission of funding applications for computerisation projects and preparation of the annual estimates, either on a pilot or phased basis. All these will reduce processing time and improve responsiveness in the delivery of public services.

In 2000-2001, the Government spent $2.47 billion on IT. Bureaux and departments are encouraged to examine their longer term computerisation requirements and formulate information systems strategy or IT plans to support their long-term needs. By the end of the year, 44 bureaux and departments had such strategies or plans in place.

To bring IT into the daily life of the community, the Government launched the Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) Scheme. The scheme aims to provide efficient and high quality public services to the community on-line. Services are provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week in a customer-centric approach instead of the conventional department-based format. The public can access ESD services through a wide range of delivery channels including personal computers with Internet connection, public computer facilities and ESD kiosks installed throughout the HKSAR. Services provided through mobile phones/devices will be launched in 2002. The scheme acts as a catalyst to pump-prime the development of e-business in Hong Kong.

In 2001, the Government launched a number of ESD services that are closely related to the daily life of the public, such as booking of marriage dates, purchase of government publications, on-line dissemination of census and statistical data, and registration to sit for public examinations. More than 120 types of on-line public services from more than 40 government departments and agencies are available at the ESD web site(http://www.esd.gov.hk/home/eng/default.asp).

During the year, the ESD web site attracted over 307 million hits and generated some 1.15 million transactions. The ESD web site won the 2001 Stockholm Challenge Award — a major international annual IT award, organised by the City of Stockholm, Sweden. The award demonstrated Hong Kong's competitive position as a pioneer in the development of E-government, and reinforced its image as a leading digital city in the globally connected world.

To ensure Hong Kong's successful transformation into an information economy, it is important to build up a competent IT workforce. The Government is committed to providing adequate and quality IT manpower to meet the demand in the community.

The Task Force on IT Manpower, which was set up under the Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee, has examined the situation in Hong Kong and elsewhere, and issued a report in July recommending a package of immediate and longer term measures to address the IT manpower needs in Hong Kong. These measures include admission of IT professionals from the Mainland, improving the admission regime for overseas IT professionals, expansion of the post-secondary programme, encouraging world-renowned private IT training institutions to operate in Hong Kong, grooming talented professional people at the Cyberport, accreditation of IT skills below degree level, attracting overseas Hong Kong and Mainland talent to return to work in Hong Kong, and nurturing young talent through an exchange/internship programme and the provision of professional IT training to secondary students.

The Government will continue to work with tertiary institutions and other related bodies on other longer term measures to provide sufficient and quality IT manpower in Hong Kong.

To ensure that different sectors of the community will benefit from the developments of IT in enhancing their quality of life, the Government will encourage the community to embrace and use IT, targeting specifically those people who have fewer opportunities to access IT facilities in their daily lives, such as senior citizens, housewives, and people with disabilities. The Government continued an 'IT Hong Kong' campaign — launched in September 2000 — to raise IT awareness and promote wider adoption of IT in the community through promotional activities and IT awareness courses for senior citizens, housewives and people with disabilities as well as other members of the public. An 'IT Hong Kong' web site(http://www.ithk.gov.hk/index_eng.htm), which serves as a forum for dissemination of information to the public on IT and related activities, has also been set up. To ensure that the community has access to computer facilities and the Internet, the Government has provided over 4 800 public computers with Internet connections (Community Cyberpoints) at convenient locations such as community centres/halls, public libraries, district offices and post offices for free use by the community. The Government has also established dedicated Community Cyberpoints, which are equipped with facilities such as screens with enlargement device, Braille machines, software for conversion of text to voice, to enhance access for the blind and the visually impaired. To make web sites accessible to people with disabilities, the Government will enforce universal accessibility guidelines in all its web sites and encourage government-related organisations and the private sector to adopt these guidelines as well.

Hong Kong has long been recognised internationally for achievements in commercialising new technology applications. The Government will continue to leverage the strengths in the exploitation of advanced enabling technologies. To ensure Hong Kong's active participation in the development of the next generation of Internet technologies, the Government is helping universities to set up a high-speed link to the Internet2 Consortium in North America in 2002. Four third generation (3G) mobile communications service operators have been selected. 3G services are expected to roll out in late 2002 or early 2003. 'Smart' card technology will be exploited for the issue of the new generation ID cards starting from mid-2003 and the 'smart' ID card will have multi-application capacity to carry other value-added applications. Mobile digital certificates are issued to support the conduct of secure mobile commerce. The Government will also explore the use of voice recognition technology and mobile computing devices in providing government services and enhancing government off-site operation.

During the year, Hong Kong signed a Memorandum of Understanding on information and communications technology co-operation with the Republic of Korea. This followed the agreements on co-operative arrangements on information technology reached with Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Finland, India and Israel since 1998. The Government has been working closely with its partners under the aegis of these co-operative arrangements to encourage and support inter-governmental exchanges, business partnerships, investment co-operation and joint research and development in the areas of IT and telecommunications. It will continue to explore the possibility of concluding similar bilateral arrangements on co-operation with other places that are advanced in the use of IT in order to enhance Hong Kong's position as a leading digital city.

In March 1999, the Financial Secretary announced the Government's intention to proceed with the development of the Cyberport at Telegraph Bay, in the Southern District of Hong Kong Island. This will provide an infrastructure for clustering of quality companies specialising in applications of IT, in information services and in creation of multimedia content. The Government is proceeding with the project in co-operation with a private sector company so as to benefit from the expertise and entrepreneurial spirit of the private sector. Construction works have been progressing well, and the Cyberport is scheduled for completion in phases between early 2002 and 2004.

The Cyberport is a comprehensive development that will provide intelligent offices for IT companies, and this will be complemented by a cybercentre providing combined media and technology-focused educational, entertainment and retail facilities and a first-class hotel. The state-of-the-art information infrastructure at the Cyberport will connect the different areas of the integrated Cyberport campus and will link the campus with the rest of the world. The initial scalable bandwidth capacity will see Cyberport tenants comfortably through their first-quarter century of rapid digital development. This will be complemented by a wide range of hi-tech facilities such as multimedia laboratory, content centres, studios, and media conference theatres.

Many companies have already expressed interest in becoming Cyberport tenants. The selection of tenants has been started, based on the applications of the interested companies and acting on the advice of a committee comprising international, local and industry experts. A strategic cluster of IT and IT-related companies will be built up at the Cyberport, starting from early 2002. This cluster will comprise over 100 companies of varying sizes and at different stages of development, ranging from multinational corporations to medium and small-sized overseas and local companies. Situated in a campus-like environment, the Cyberport will be an ideal place for these like-minded companies to apply innovation and technology, to exchange ideas and expertise and to unleash creative synergy. Many new economic activities and job opportunities will be generated in the international IT centre to be developed in the Cyberport.