Speech by Mr K H Lau, Director of Information Technology Services at the Faculty of Engineering Distinguished Lecture of The University of Hong Kong on 27 - 4 - 1999

Dr Cheung, Prof Wu, Dr Barrett, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am honoured to be invited to the Faculty of Engineering Distinguished Lecture and be given the opportunity to say something before the lecture by Dr Barrett on the challenge and opportunities for Hong Kong in the digital economy.

We all know that advances in IT have brought about a lot of changes, from the way we work, the way we communicate, to the way we do business. The important question is how we should prepare ourselves for the Information Age and how to grasp the opportunities offered by the digital world.

In November last year, we published the "Digital 21" IT Strategy for the HKSAR. The Strategy contains a range of initiatives to enhance and promote Hong Kong's information infrastructure and services so as to make Hong Kong a leading digital city in the globally connected world. Our key initiatives are built on the following areas -

• first, the development of high capacity telecommunications networks which provide the arteries through which digital information flows;

• second, the establishment of an open and common interface as well as a public key infrastructure so that individuals, businesses and the government can interact through digital networks easily and securely;

• third, the adoption of IT in education and provision of IT training in order to equip our younger generation and our work force with the necessary skills required in the digital world; and

• fourth, the cultivation of a culture which welcomes the use of new technologies in the community.

Instead of going through the initiatives of the IT Strategy one by one, I would like to use the proposed cyberport project as an example.

In the Cyberport, we plan to build an ultra-modern intelligent building complex, equipped with state-of-the-art telecommunications and information backbones to meet the needs of leading multinational and local information technology and services companies. It will provide the infrastructure and a quality working and living environment for companies applying the latest information technology in the multimedia and content creation fields, e.g. film production, 3-D graphics and animation, as well as in the development of software applications and provision of information services.

Also, the Cyberport will provide a range of shared facilities for tenants, such as a media laboratory and a cyber library. There will be educational, entertainment and recreational facilities related to information technology and services for local visitors and tourists.

The Cyberport can accommodate some 130 companies and create 12,000 jobs. We expect that both overseas and local talents will be attracted by the working opportunities in the Cyberport. They will also be able to exchange ideas and expertise in the latest technological advances and market trends. And local companies will also be able to benefit through working closely with market leaders in the IT and services fields. We are confident that the Cyberport will help to spur the development of the information technology and services industries in Hong Kong.

The digital world offers enormous opportunities for everyone of us. I would like to urge you to tap the strengths we already have and to grasp these new opportunities to maintain Hong Kong's leading position in the ever-competitive information world of tomorrow.

Thank you.

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