Internet Economy Summit opens (with photos)

Running for the third year, the Internet Economy Summit opened today (April 12) has again attracted entrepreneurs and top-level executives from various business sectors to explore the global business opportunities brought about by innovation and the digital economy. Themed "New Impetus for the New Economy", this year's Summit is focusing on how technological advancement in artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), big data and cloud computing will further power innovation and business growth. A youth programme is also in place to open young people's eyes to innovation.

The two-day Summit features four forums, namely the Visionary Forum, Chambers Forum: Business Breakthrough, the Entrepreneurship Forum and the Technovation Forum, with some 50 renowned experts from around the world speaking. Around 2 400 participants have registered to join the Summit.

The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, delivered the opening remarks at the opening ceremony of the Summit. Also officiating were the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas W Yang; the Government Chief Information Officer, Mr Allen Yeung; the President of the China Internet Development Foundation, Ms Ma Li; the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Dr Shamshad Akhtar; Member of the Standing Committee of the Guizhou CPC Provincial Committee and Head of Publicity Department of Guizhou Province Mr Mu Degui; and the Director General of the Bureau of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of the Cyberspace Administration of China, Ms Qi Xiaoxia.

As their names suggest, the Visionary Forum and Chambers Forum: Business Breakthrough held today aimed to take the business of participants to a higher level through adoption of innovation and technology. The Chairman of International Technologies, Mr Yossi Vardi, with 40-plus years' experience in high-tech entrepreneurship and investment, shared his insights on the critical role of a supporting ecosystem for enhancing innovation and entrepreneurship and how to build one. Both the President of Google Greater China, Mr Scott Beaumont, and the Director of Worldwide Cognitive City Solutions, IBM IoT, Mr Stephen Russo, recognised the booster effect of technological advancements and explored with the audience how these advancements are going to enable economic growth and power a smarter Hong Kong. Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Illumio Mr Andrew Rubin elaborated on the vital importance of cyber security in building trust in business and daily lives while the Chief Executive of Ping An Technology, Mr Ericson Chan, shared his thoughts on how AI is supercharging Fintech, healthtech and smart cities.

Other keynote speakers included the President of International, JD.com, Mr Winston Cheng; the Chief Operating Officer of Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, Mr Zhong Xiangqun; the Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of Meituan-Dianping, Mr Mu Rongjun; Mr Mu; the General Manager of Ecosystem Partners, AWS Greater China Region, Mr David Yeh; and the Executive Director and General Manager, Television Broadcasts Ltd, Mr S K Cheong.

Two panel sessions were also held today in which speakers discussed e-commerce and the online-to-offline model as well as how traditional enterprises could leverage on innovation, design thinking and industry 4.0 to transform their operation.

The Summit will continue tomorrow (April 13) with the Entrepreneurship Forum and the Technovation Forum. Keynote speakers will include the Head of Taiwan and Hong Kong, Facebook, Ms Fei Yu; the General Manager of Alibaba Cloud Hong Kong, Macau and Korea, Mr Leo Liu; the Chief Technology Officer of Didi Chuxing, Mr Bob Zhang; the Head of North Asia of Google Cloud, Ms Kathy Lee; the Chief Technology Officer, Enterprise Data Center Solutions of Huawei Technologies, Mr Ronald Raffensperger; the Senior Outreach Director of Microsoft Research Asia, Dr Tim Pan; and the Head of Solutions Architecture for Amazon Web Services Hong Kong and Taiwan, Mr Dean Samuels.

In addition to world-renowned speakers, the Entrepreneurship Forum will also feature winners' sharing by the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of TNG (Asia) Limited, Mr Alex Kong, and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of WeLab, Mr Simon Loong. Both of them are winners of the InnoStars Award organised by the Our Hong Kong Foundation.

Tomorrow's Summit will also be a practical learning opportunity for those who are in, or are about to start, their early-stage business. Veteran investors will speak with participants on how start-ups can attract overseas investment and the winning formula for fund-raising while successful founders of "unicorn" start-ups in Hong Kong will talk about the challenges they have overcome in the start-up landscape, the competitive edge of Hong Kong start-ups and the winning strategies to expand to the global market. A networking session and business matching have also been arranged for participants during the Summit.

Cultivating local young talents is one of the key areas in developing innovation and technology. Further to the Youth Forum held last year, a youth programme has been arranged as part of the Summit this year. Over 500 secondary and university students will join guided tours to the International ICT Expo where they can meet face-to-face with local and overseas industry representatives and have hands-on experience with the latest technologies. They will then join a sharing session by new winners of the Hong Kong ICT Awards to gain insights on how innovations grew from sketches and winners' persistence in striving for innovation.

The Internet Economy Summit was co-organised by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited with the China Internet Development Foundation as the supporting organisation.

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