Speech by Mr. Victor Lam, JP, Government Chief Information Officer, at the “Alibaba Cloud Infinity Summit” (with photos)

Leo (Mr Leo Liu, General Manager, Hong Kong, Macau & Korea, Alibaba Cloud), Andy (Mr Andy Bien, CIO, Airport Authority Hong Kong), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning. It is my pleasure to join you all at the Alibaba Cloud Infinity Summit, which provides an excellent opportunity for the industry and enterprises to keep abreast of the latest technology trends and solutions in digital transformation.

Hong Kong, with its robust telecommunications infrastructure, reliable power supply with comparatively low tariff, pro-business environment, effective protection of data privacy and information security, is an ideal location for setting up data centres. We are also in close proximity to the huge Mainland market. According to the Cloud Readiness Index 2018 of the Asia Cloud Computing Association, Hong Kong is ranked second among 14 economies in the Asia Pacific region. Alibaba Cloud has established two data centres here since 2014 to cater for the rapidly growing markets for cloud services in Hong Kong and in other places of the region.

In terms of land provision, the Government has recently awarded the tender for the largest site designated for high-tier data centre development in Tseung Kwan O to a major local data centre operator. This site covers an area of around 27 000 square meters. I am sure that cloud computing, with its benefits of agility, expandability, flexibility and cost reduction, will continue to gain in popularity and wider adoption.

Cloud computing is also high on the Government agenda. Of the several key infrastructure projects for smart city development, one of them is to reform the existing cloud infrastructure and its related standards and frameworks for implementing the Next Generation Government Cloud and Big Data Analytics Platform to support the increasing demands of digital government services. Using hybrid cloud technology, we expect that the time required for IT system development can be reduced by at least 20%. The total cost of ownership is also expected to go down at least by 20%. Moreover, the service levels and cyber security will be enhanced through the centralised cloud management platform.

The Big Data Analytics Platform will run on top of the new government cloud, equipped with all the necessary tools to facilitate government departments to implement various data analytics projects, such as those pertaining to traffic management, crowd control, customs clearance, public health and disease trends, cyber security, etc. for improving decision making, government operations and forecasts of public services. The new government cloud and the big data analytics platform will be put in place next year.

Realising that data is the essential fuel for smart city development, the Government has been striving to open up more data for public consumption. Currently, the Government is disseminating over 3 300 datasets on the Public Sector Information (PSI) Portal (data.gov.hk) for free use by the public. To take our work to the next level, the Government has formulated a new Open Data Policy and related measures in September 2018 with a view to providing more ingredients for technology research, innovation and smart city development. Under the new policy, government bureaux and departments will endeavour to release their data for free public use via the PSI Portal, unless there are justifiable reasons (such as involvement of personal privacy). They should also explore with public and private organisations to come up with measures in opening up data with a high degree of public interest. In line with the new policy, some 80 government bureaux and departments have published their first annual open data plans in December 2018.

I would like to express my gratitude to Alibaba Cloud once again for organising this Summit, and bringing together such a distinguished array of high-profile speakers and industry participants. I wish you all have a fruitful exchange. Thank you.

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