Speech by Mrs Jessie Ting, Deputy Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting at Launching Ceremony of the 1999 Mobile Multimedia Communications Design Contest

24 August 1999

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am honored to be invited to speak at the launching ceremony of the 1999 Mobile Multimedia Communications Design Contest organised by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers. The Institution has over the years dedicated itself to setting standards for the education and training of engineers in Hong Kong as well as keeping its members abreast of the latest developments in the various branches of engineering. The 1999 Mobile Multimedia Communications Design Contest is the latest initiative of the Institution to promote innovative designs of technological products among our university students and to nurture a new generation of enterprising and distinguished engineers in Hong Kong. This mission has my Bureau's strong support.

The 1999 Mobile Multimedia Communications Design Contest seeks to promote the development of smart computing applications for the mobile communication environment. Given our vibrant mobile telecommunications market, Hong Kong is a choice location to host such a competition. At a speed which has caught many people by surprise, the penetration rate of our mobile phone services has reached 49%, which is second only to the Scandinavian countries. Consumers in Hong Kong now have a wide choice of mobile networks as well as efficient and innovative mobile telecommunications services. The competitiveness of our mobile telecommunications market means that local consumers are able to obtain the services that best fit their budget and personal preferences. This paradise for mobile phone uses would not have come about without Government's pro-competition and pro-consumer policy for the telecommunications sector.

Under such a policy, price reduction, service improvements and technology enhancements are the natural outcome. With the rapid development of mobile communication technology and the increasing popularity of electronic commerce, the market potential for mobile multimedia services is tremendous. I have high hopes that the 1999 Mobile Multimedia Communications Design Contest will help foster a technological culture in Hong Kong and, in particular, spur the development of innovative applications to take advantage of the emerging mobile communication technology.

I should also applaud the objective of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers to promote an entrepreneurial spirit among engineering students in our universities through this contest. In pursuit of our goal to develop Hong Kong into an innovation and technology centre, Government lays emphasis on promoting greater collaboration between the universities and the industry. With this in mind, Government has recently sponsored through the Industrial Support Fund a sum of $12.5 million for the local universities to implement the Information Technology Entrepreneurial Programme (ITEP). This programme seeks to provide entrepreneurial training to university graduates in the IT field and to cultivate an environment conducive to technology transfer and company spin-offs in Hong Kong. I am pleased to learn that winners of the Gold Award and the Silver Award in the open category of this contest may be nominated to join the newly established Information Technology Entrepreneurial Programme. This offers an excellent opportunity for our talented budding engineers in the IT realm to develop into the next generation of IT entrepreneurs in Hong Kong. I urge the IT talents among our university students to come forth and take part in this contest.

Last but not least, may I wish the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers every success with the organisation of the 1999 Mobile Multimedia Communications Design Contest.

Thank you.

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