YK (Dr YK Pang, Chairman of HKMA), Sunny (Ir Sunny Lee, Organising Committee Chairman of HKMA/ HKT Global Innovation Award), Titania (Ms Titania Woo, Executive Director of HKMA), Susana (Ms Susanna Hui, Group Managing Director of HKT), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Good Afternoon. It is my great pleasure to speak to you all today at this inaugural Global Innovation Award Presentation Ceremony organised by the Hong Kong Management Association and sponsored by the Hong Kong Telecom. This Award does not only recognise the outstanding achievements in innovation and application of technology in many businesses and organisations across the industries, but also provides a platform and catalyst for professionals and innovators to exchange new ideas and best practices that can address a host of pressing business, economic, environmental and societal issues. We are also excited to see that 10% of the 230 entries received this year are from the Mainland, Israel, Italy, Singapore, Spain and the United States of America. This Award, if I may say, truly goes global and demonstrates our city’s solid reputation in globalisation and our enormous potential to develop into an international innovation and technology (I&T) hub.

No time than ever before has the world placed so much emphasis on I&T, which is also front and centre on our Government’s agenda. The Government has been sparing no effort in striving to accelerate the digital transformation of public services, improve operational efficiency and optimise user experience through the application of I&T. I am thrilled to learn that the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD), the Highways Department, the Immigration Department, the Airport Authority and the Hospital Authority are amongst the top 10 winning Large Innovation Organisations of today’s Award. EMSD’s digital journey, the Smart Site Management Hub for Central Kowloon Route Project, the Flight Token and the Flight Token e-channel, the Collaborative Innovation for Smart Hospitals and HA Go are all exemplary applications of I&T in the provision of citizen-centric public services. On the other hand, the Government is well aware of the challenges faced by the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in digital transformation, such as limited exposure to digital technology and difficulty in choosing suitable digital solutions. To address these challenges, the Financial Secretary has reserved $500 million in this year’s Budget to implement the Digital Transformation Support Pilot Programme to provide assistance to SMEs in applying ready-to-use basic digital solutions, thus facilitating them in taking the first step in their digitalisation journey.

It has also come to my notice that quite a number of winning entries of today’s Award are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI). The recent technological advancements of AI, in particular generative AI technology, have definitely brought massive breakthrough and unlocked enormous potential in the technology industry. AI has become one of the key technology areas that defines the future development of digital economy. Hong Kong must strengthen our efforts on the scientific research and the development of the AI industry so as to keep pace with the technological development achieved by other countries and our neighboring cities. To this end, a key prerequisite is to put in place adequate computing resources. The Government has commenced a feasibility study on the development of an AI Supercomputing Centre in Hong Kong. As a major strategic technological infrastructure, the AI Supercomputing Centre will provide cutting-edge computing resources to local universities and research institutes, government departments and related industry sectors to strengthen local R&D capabilities and promote innovations, thereby becoming a strong impetus to our AI ecosystem and achieving the ultimate goal in supporting Hong Kong’s development into an international I&T centre.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Hong Kong Management Association for launching this Global Innovation Award to foster the culture of innovation and creativity amongst businesses in Hong Kong and the Region. I also wish to take this opportunity to congratulate all the winners for your remarkable achievements and contribution to the I&T development of Hong Kong. Thank you very much.

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