Opening Speech by Mr. Howard C Dickson, Government Chief Information Officer, at the Symposium on "Innovative Use of ICT - Enabling the Next Generation of Public Services"
24 - 01 - 2007

Distinguished Guests and Colleagues,

Good morning! I am very pleased to be here this morning to kick-off this symposium with the theme "Innovative Use of ICT - Enabling the Next Generation of Public Services". I am delighted to see our honourable guests from professional consultants, the academia and the industry, to share with us the latest developments of ICT and to discuss how its innovative use will enable the next generation of public services. We will also see and can even try out a wide variety of ICT showcases at the concurrent exhibition next door.

Let's imagine. We are painting a big picture of the next generation of public services that embraces ICT not only as a service enabler, but also as a catalyst for change: in business process re-engineering, in service transformation and in other slices of the innovation pie. As Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter has said, "at the same time that technology is creating interrelationships, it is also reducing costs of exploiting them". This picture will give us food for thought on how the public services will and should evolve into the future with the help of technology.

Our draft 2007 Digital 21 Strategy sets out the vision of advancing our achievements and seizing new opportunities by building on Hong Kong's position as a world digital city. To lay the foundation for ICT-enabled development in Hong Kong in the next decade, we have identified five action areas: (i) first, facilitating a digital economy, (ii) second, promoting advanced technology and innovation, (iii) third, developing Hong Kong as a hub for technological cooperation and trade, (iv) fourth, enabling the next generation of public services, and (v) fifth, building an inclusive, knowledge-based society. Innovation and advancement in ICT is the lever to achieve this vision.

Now let's zoom in on the fourth action area: Enabling the next generation of public services. What these services are all about, you may ask. They are about citizen-centric mode of service delivery; they are about customer engagement; they are about enhancing the value to users. What are we, including all of you, doing to achieve these? We are moving progressively to more service integration within and between departments; we are driving automation and re-engineering of back-office processes; we are tying in these back-office processes with front-end electronic processes. These require our concerted effort that transcends departmental boundaries. We are doing all these and are making good progress: the development of the one-stop access portal, GovHK, is illustrative of this point.

To transform into citizen-centric services and add value to users, we, in the Government, need to use ICT innovatively as an enabler to remove blocking factors, to trigger process change, and to sustain the transformation. With these in mind, we talk about Electronic Information Management (not least electronic document or record management) towards a less-paper environment; we talk about wireless and mobile services and technologies; we talk about collaborative tools and culture; we talk about Web 2.0. Today's symposium is an excellent opportunity to explore all these.

The emergence of cutting-edge technology and innovation is creating new dynamics in exploiting opportunities of business transformation. The Government has spearheaded some pilot projects in the innovative use of technologies, such as RFID and GPS, to encourage the wider adoption of ICT for public services and eventually build up a critical mass of users. Through the vibrant ICT industry, the Government will provide focus and support, where appropriate, to the important technology domains identified in the coming Digital 21 Strategy. Some of these domains such as communications technologies, digital content, sensor and identification technologies will also be covered in today's symposium.

Other examples of technology adoption for the next generation of public services include the pilot projects on e-Procurement, the vision of a territory-wide electronic health record system, and the development of intelligent transport systems. Apart from external public services, we are developing a road map for an Electronic Information Management Strategy, or EIMS, for the Government to improve work efficiency and strive for less-paper operations. Our challenge today is to unleash the full potential of ICT to transform the Government to provide high quality public services. Your continuous support and partnership in enabling the next generation of public services is one of the key pillars to the success of the Digital 21 Strategy.

I think you are as eager as I am to start today's journey.

Before I close, I would like to mention the Accessibility Programme. Since its rollout to the various bureaux and departments in 2004, the Accessibility Programme has promoted e-culture and created e-enabled environment to facilitate information access and G2G/G2E applications. To commend the bureaux's and departments' devotion, commitment and outstanding performance in promoting and implementing the Programme, I am glad to take this opportunity to present appreciation plaques to them after my opening remarks.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all of you for participating in this meaningful event. I hope I've sparked off some thoughts for your imagination. I hope today's symposium will inspire you to adopt ICT innovatively as an enabler to transform the Government into the next generation of public services. Remember, "YOU" are "the Person of the Year". As the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, "a journey of a thousand miles starts with YOUR first step".

Thank you.

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