The Hong Kong Association for the Advancement of Science and Technology Annual Dinner
Speech by Mr K C Kwong, Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

26 November 1998

Dr Lui, Dr Chan, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening. It gives me great pleasure to be invited to the Annual Dinner of the Hong Kong Association for the Advancement of Science and Technology and the award presentation ceremony of the First Hong Kong Science and Product Innovation Competition.

Since its establishment in 1985, the Association has been active in promoting scientific and technological advancement in various fields including education, commerce and industry, and in developing a culture of science and technology in the Hong Kong community. These efforts are extremely important, especially when we are living in a world where advanced and innovative technologies are the primary drivers of economic growth. In the knowledge-based world of the 21st century, the competitiveness of an economy will be determined by its ability to develop and exploit technology.

When talking about technology development and advances, people often have a misconception that these are the prerogatives of the so-called "high tech" industries. This is not true. What matters is not whether your industry is "high tech" or "low tech", but how effective you are in exploiting the technology to improve your productivity, to innovate in your products and services, and to open up new market niches. Thus, even so-called "traditional" industries such as textiles, consumer electronics and plastics, and "traditional" services such as banking, insurance and retail sales, can all benefit from the adoption of new and innovative technologies.

Government is committed to promoting technological development. We have developed a number of support programmes and facilities over the years to encourage R&D activities and the adoption of new technologies . To quote a few examples, the Industrial Support Fund finances projects beneficial to the industrial and technology development of Hong Kong. The Applied Research Fund provides seed capital for technology ventures. The Science Park, which will come on stream in year 2001, will provide a focal point for research and development of technology businesses.

As many of you may know, the Chief Executive has, in his Policy Address last month, accepted a key recommendation from the Commission on Innovation and Technology, which is to establish an Applied Science and Technology Institute to conduct mid-stream R&D activities, with focuses on development and adaptation of generic and pro-competitive technologies for transfer to industry. The Chief Executive has also accepted another recommendation of the Commission to set up a $5 billion Innovation and Technology Fund to finance individual projects that contribute to innovation or technology upgrading in our manufacturing and service industries.

But provision of financial support is not enough. We need to stimulate the use of technology across the whole community. We in the Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau have proposed certain initiatives towards achieving this in our recently published Information Technology Strategy for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Specifically, the initiatives are intended to promote the wider use of IT in the community and create an environment encourages creativity and innovation. For example, we will implement pilot projects to encourage small and medium sized companies to widely use IT and conduct electronic transactions; we will establish public recognition and award mechanisms to promote the application of new technologies across the private sector; and we will continue our efforts in facilitating the commercialisation of research results in leading edge technologies. But Government efforts alone are not enough. We need the active support of people in the private sector and I am glad to note that the Hong Kong Association for the Advancement of Science & Technology has made a lot of efforts to this end. Their organisation of the First Hong Kong Science and Product Innovation Competition is a very good case in point.

The winners of the Competition are exemplary models of what we should and can do by applying technology in an innovative way in order to stay ahead of our competitors in the globally connected and knowledge-based world of tomorrow. I would like to congratulate you all for your excellent work. Not only have you demonstrated the creative character of Hong Kong people, you have also demonstrated how product innovation can help to build our future and improve our lives.

I do hope that more competitions and awards like this would be organised by you and others in the future.

Thank you.

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