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Reply:
(b)
Mr President.
(a)
of the plans in place to steer and co-ordinate the work of various government departments in the development of an information infrastructure network?
The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) has recently established the Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee (IIAC) to co-ordinate the development of the information infrastructure in Hong Kong. Its terms of reference and membership are at the Annex. The necessary funding for the IIAC will be met by the OFTA Trading Fund. Any expenditure on projects identified by the IIAC will either be funded by the private sector or will be obtained through normal procedures if they are to be funded by Government.
In addition, various measures are being taken by the Government to enhance the competitiveness of the local information technology industry. For instance, the Industry Department has funded the following projects:
(i) the establishment of a Software Industry Information Centre by the Hong Kong Productivity Council to provide local software companies/developers with the latest information on business. trends and user requirements (funding support: $4.9 million);
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
the establishment of a Cyberspace Centre by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to promote and facilitate the use of cyberspace (Internet) among software developers (funding support: $3.6 million);
the implementation of a Software Process Improvement Scheme by the Hong Kong Productivity Council to help local software companies improve their software development process (funding support: $3.2 million); and
the upgrading of the Hong Kong Internet Exchange at the Chinese University of Hong Kong to meet the rapid growth in the use of Internet (funding support: $7.7 million).
T