The Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Ms Carrie Lam, at a dialogue session at the
RISE 2018 (July 10), announced
that she will be leading the development of innovation and technology in Hong
Kong by devoting an immense amount of
resources to the sector and providing support to start-ups proactively.
Ms Lam made a statement at the RISE 2018 conference and said that
while there is room for improvement in the arena Hong Kong’s smart city
development and the city is quickly catching up to countries across the globe
and is making headway in the fields of technology and finance.
Ms Lam, in dialogue with the moderator, discussed the various methods
that can be employed to promote I&T development at a session with an
audience of over 1,000 people. In addition, she also stated that a favourable
environment for I&T is being created in Hong Kong through the eight-pronged
approach reported on earlier
at the Innovation & Technology (I&T) Symposium in 2017; one of the
eight moves being that the government will continue to provide the hardware in
terms of technological research infrastructure and related facilities.
It has been almost a year since the Hong
Kong Government formed
the Financial Leaders Forum which is chaired by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan Mo-po.
Ms Lam indicated in her election
manifesto that the government must play a more active and leading role in Hong
Kong’s policymaking and matters relating to monetary stability, financial
safety, and regulation to reinforce its
position as an international financial centre.
To achieve this and to strike a balance between market development and
protection of account holders, consumers and investors, the creation of the Financial
Leaders Forum, chaired by the Financial Secretary, was proposed. The forum provides a platform to discuss strategic
and forward-looking proposals on the above-mentioned areas and to keep track of
implementation of such proposals by government departments and other relevant
parties. Additionally, it facilitates amendments of the Listing Rules to help emerging and innovative sector companies list
in Hong Kong.
Noting that Hong Kong possesses advantages
in scientific research and innovative technology, Ms Lam expressed the hope that with support in areas such as
resources, nurturing of talent and working space, as well as complementarity
with other cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area, the transformation
of scientific and technological achievements will be enhanced.
She also encouraged and welcomed talents
from around the world to develop their careers in Hong Kong.
After the dialogue session with the
moderator, Ms Lam toured the various
booths that were set up at the RISE conference. The products and services on
display were designed with a combination of technology and creativity.
Innovative and novel products included a social e-commerce platform in which
users can upload photos of clothes to find out where they can be bought. In
addition, there was a 3D body measurement scanning device to help consumers buy
well-fitting clothes as well as a customised
T-shirt service on display.
Currently, RISE is the largest technology
conference in Asia. It will be held from 9 to 12 July at the Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre this year. The conference will attract
approximately 15,000 representatives from more than 100 countries and regions
to take part. Attendees will include entrepreneurs, investors and start-up
representatives all interested in growing and developing their businesses through
the new and innovative technological revolutions currently occurring in Hong
Kong.