ENG-2018 — Page 148

Innovation and Technology

• launching a next-generation government cloud infrastructure and building a big data analytics platform in 2020.

Re-industrialisation

The government promotes re-industrialisation, the development of high-end manufacturing that is based on new technologies and smart production without taking up a lot of land, to identify a new area of economic growth for Hong Kong and to create more quality and diversified job opportunities.

To drive re-industrialisation, the Productivity Council helps local industries adopt technology relating to Industry 4.0. In March, it launched Hong Kong's first Professional Diploma Programme in Industry 4.0 jointly with the Vocational Training Council and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology of Germany. An Invention Centre was set up jointly with Fraunhofer in October to promote digital manufacturing and smart city development. The Productivity Council's Inno Space provides workspace and technical support to start-up entrepreneurs, students and graduates.

The HKSTPC is developing a Data Technology Hub and an Advanced Manufacturing Centre at the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate, to be completed in 2020 and 2022 respectively. It is also studying a 56-hectare site near the Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai boundary for the development of an industrial estate. The government plans to establish a $2 billion Re-industrialisation Funding Scheme that subsidises manufacturers on a matching basis to set up smart production lines, and to provide the HKSTPC with an additional $2 billion to develop a Microelectronics Centre.

Use of I&T in Government, Business and Community

A new open data policy was announced during the year. To provide raw material for research and innovative applications, government bureaus and departments will release their data in machine-readable format on the data.gov.hk portal for free use by the public and enterprises. The portal will open up about 700 new datasets in 2019, including real-time and geospatial data, bringing the number of available datasets to about 4,000.

Application forms for various government services are being digitised to allow for online submission. As at end-2018, more than 1,500 types of forms could be submitted electronically. With the help of the upcoming elD, virtually all the remaining 1,500 types of forms will offer an e-submission option by mid-2021.

Technology is also critical to the operation of the 1823 contact centre, a one-stop service for the public to lodge enquiries and complaints about government services. This telephone hotline deploys speech recognition, voice analytics and robotic process automation, and provides data analytics to improve departments' services.

The Youth Portal is a citizen-centric, one-stop platform for young people to access government or thematic information and services. Through the use of social media and multimedia content, the government connects with young people on their interests, such as entrepreneurship, career development, volunteering, culture and creativity.

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