In recent years, Hong Kong has been striving to become an international innovation and technology centre with fruitful results. Noting that the digital economy had become a new driving force in the global economy, Financial Secretary Paul Chan pointed out that the establishment of a digital policy office was the core task of this year to accelerate action to maintain our leading edge, to formulate and implement an effective digital policy, it is also mentioned that the first phase of the first“Artificial Intelligence Supercomputing Centre” in Hong Kong will be launched as early as this year. The industry pointed out that the centre could provide sufficient computing power to promote the development of scientific research and industry in Hong Kong, so that Hong Kong could be competitive in the relevant fields, in view of the global competition for the development of artificial intelligence, the road to Hong Kong becoming an International Centre for Innovation and Technology is drawing ever closer.

The two-day digital economy summit 2024 opened yesterday amid a flurry of mega events in Hong Kong. It is expected to attract more than 4,000 participants from as many as 40 countries or regions. Officiating at the ceremony were the deputy director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Lu Xinning; the deputy director of the State Internet Information Office, Wang Song; and the Chairman of the China Internet Development Foundation, Wang Xiujun, representatives from Alibaba, Huawei, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Bank of Thailand, ant group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, etc. .

China's digital economy is more than 50 trillion yuan in size, Paul Chan said. “The digital economy has become a new driving force for the development of the world economy. At present, China is in a leading position. According to the latest forecast, the size of the mainland's digital economy exceeded RMB50,000 bn last year, accounting for more than 40 per cent of GDP. To capture the relevant opportunities, Mr Paul Chan revealed that the Commission on Digital Economy, which he chaired, was set up two years ago and discussed in February this year how Hong Kong could further develop in the digital economy era, put forward 12 core recommendations, focusing on five major areas, including strengthening Hong Kong's overall digital policy, strengthening Hong Kong's digital infrastructure, promoting low-cost computing and accelerating digital transformation, and developing a sustainable talent strategy. Turning to Hong Kong's advantages, he said that under the “One Country, Two Systems”, Hong Kong could receive both Mainland and international data sharing, and international data transactions could become a new driving force, procedures are being developed for cross-border data flows and the authorities are looking to develop an international data-trading industry in the hope of encouraging the public and private sectors to open up more data.

The co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the start-up silent technologies, Chen Shuyu, also recognised the government's innovation policies, in particular the formulation and development of the“Blueprint for Innovation and technology development in Hong Kong”, and the key role played by the various funding schemes, to facilitate technology start-ups to commercialise their R & D results, and to provide one-to-one matching of funds with private investment for potential university start-ups, so as to bring the good technology of many universities to the market. I believe that over time, innovation and technology development in Hong Kong will bear fruit.

Business. . Innovation and technology has made achievements, the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, Zhuang Zixiong, who has always been concerned about the development of innovation and Technology in Hong Kong, believes that to achieve success in innovation and technology, there must be sufficient talent. Hong Kong can make reference to the methods adopted by industrial powers such as Germany and Japan in nurturing talent, for example, the Japanese have specialized vocational university that offer courses in manufacturing skills and award degree certificates, while German education has a “Two-track” system in which students are separated according to their grades, nearly half of the students will study in career-oriented Realschule, receive apprenticeship and classroom education, and will be well-paid in the future.

In addition, zhuangzixiong also fully acknowledged the support of the SAR government for innovation and technology in recent years. He said that the new industrial development office would be set up to support the development of key enterprises in Hong Kong, assist in the upgrading and restructuring of the manufacturing industry and nurture start-ups, and set up the Hong Kong Research and Development Institute for Microelectronics, including the research of third-generation semiconductor core technology, etc. , to support the transformation of scientific research results. On the new productivity front, Zhuangzixiong said that Hong Kong has a strong scientific research base, top-notch research talents and sound innovation and technology infrastructure, a well-developed international research exchange and Cooperation Network, and remarkable achievements in basic research and development, therefore, Hong Kong should actively integrate into the new quality of productivity, which is expected to help the country develop biotechnology and artificial intelligence, and make its own contribution to the country.