Opening remarks by SITI at Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum 2022 (English only)

Following are the opening remarks by the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, at the Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum 2022 today (August 26):

Mr Yu (Second-level Inspector of the Youth Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Dr Yu Shenggao), Simon (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, Mr Simon Chan), Peter (Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, Mr Peter Yan), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning. It is my honour to join you all at this year's Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum (DELF). I would like to extend my warmest welcome to all the speakers and participants joining us today in person or virtually.

All along, Cyberport has been committed to supporting digital entertainment and e-sports as one of its three clusters. More than 150 members of the Cyberport community are engaged in relevant products and services. We all witnessed some exciting developments in recent years: the very first gaming unicorn in Hong Kong, and e-sports being a medal sport in the Asian Games in Hangzhou next year.

At the same time, flagship events such as today's DELF continue to play a significant role in galvanising key players in the industry. I was told that the event last year attracted more than 600 000 views and hosted more than 10 live tournaments. Building on last year's success, I am excited to see this year’s event continuing its physical cum online format, a signature of the new normal under the pandemic.

The theme of this year's event is "transcending entertainment beyond reality and virtuality". As the theme suggests, the latest technologies in the sphere of digital entertainment and e-sports have further torn down the boundaries between the physical and virtual worlds. This is empowered by exciting developments in areas such as machine vision technology, sensor technology, blockchain and many more. Taking blockchain as an example, its applications are increasingly widespread including NFT and electronic health records and so on.

Digitalisation is inevitable in driving our economy towards high-quality development. With the unwavering support from the Central Government in the National 14th Five-Year Plan, and the encouraging support to Hong Kong's I&T (innovation and technology) development by President Xi during his recent visit to Hong Kong, this term of Government will endeavour to step up efforts in driving the digital economy development in Hong Kong.

May I take some time to share with you some of our recent efforts to facilitate the impetus of digitalisation. We established the Digital Economy Development Committee in June 2022 which allows us to tap into the wise counsel of experts and stakeholders to promote the digital economy. Moreover, the Government also invested in various important digital infrastructure projects in recent years, including the Next Generation Government Cloud Platform, Big Data Analytics Platform and one-stop personalised digital services platform "iAM Smart". We also launched a Shared Blockchain Platform to facilitate the implementation of smart government services using blockchain technology in June this year.

To complement such developments, we strive to provide better and stronger support to our start-ups and entrepreneurs. Right here in Cyberport, I look forward to the completion of the construction of Cyberport 5 to provide more space and facilities for both technology companies and start-ups. On top of our infrastructure, as announced in the last Budget, a $5 billion Strategic Tech Fund will be set up under the Hong Kong Growth Portfolio of the Future Fund to invest in technology enterprises and projects which are of strategic value to Hong Kong.

With all these measures in the pipeline, the coming five years will be a crucial time for Hong Kong's I&T development. I look forward to joining hands with you all here to fully seize the opportunities ahead and to build a better and more innovative Hong Kong.

May I take this opportunity to wish the forum every success and everyone here a fruitful and rewarding experience. Thank you very much.

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