Chamber in Review
A Smarter Way of Life

Dr David Chung, Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology

If Hong Kong gets smart city development right, we will not only enjoy the many advantages of a more efficient living environment, but we can also share our expertise with other cities. Ultimately, the sector could become a major industry for Hong Kong.

This is according to Dr David Chung, Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology, speaking at the Smart City Forum at the Chamber on 1 June.

However, he admitted that there was still work to do. Referring to a recent survey by the Chamber and KMPG, he said: “Where we didn’t do very well was the speed at which we are advancing – or not, as the case may be.” 

To ensure that we don’t fall behind, the Government has made smart city development a key priority and more than 70 projects are under way, Chung said, including electronic ID and smart lampposts.

The Forum was co-organized with the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau. Themed U.S. Tech Driving Mobility, Big Data and AI in Smart Cities, the line-up included speakers from U.S. companies in various sectors that are playing a part in making our cities smarter.

Transforming transportation 
The first session focused on smart mobility solutions. Kelvin Shum, Senior Director at Esri China (Hong Kong), gave an insight into the company’s GIS – geographic information system – software, which uses real-time data and collaboration to make cities more liveable. 

Key to this is reducing pollution, so encouraging people to walk, cycle or use public transport is crucial. In the U.S. city of Portland, for example, live GIS data shows cyclists free bike lanes and available parking. Something similar could be done here, Shum suggested.

“In Hong Kong, the Transport Department has released a lot of valuable data to the public,” he said, “which can be used to build smart mobility applications for the road networks and reduce congestion.”

Charles So is Executive Director of Traffic and Transport Planning at AECOM, a global engineering firm. Despite Hong Kong’s very high public transport use, we still have a problem with congestion. In many parts of the world, the sharing economy is providing solutions to this issue. 

“The younger population globally are keen on car sharing rather than owning a car,” So said, although young Hong Kong people are more resistant to the idea.

Another important trend is a focus on the experience of travel, he added. 

“People have different expectations of travel experiences, and they are now looking at a more seamless experience,” he said. In the future, this may be a single online platform to organize different methods of transport, from buses to rental cars.

If Paul Doherty, CEO of The Digit Group, is correct in his predictions, we won’t even need charging stations for autonomous and electric vehicles in the near future. Energy will come from renewable kinetic sources and “will be cheaper than coal in three years,” he said.

His vision also includes buses that recognize passengers’ faces and can deliver targeted advertising, and personal autonomous buses to solve the last mile problem. However, he added, manufacturers need to think in terms of the whole smart city ecosystem. 

“The automotive industry is doing it all wrong – all of them,” Doherty said, “because they are thinking in a car-centric way.” 

A note of caution about technology developments was provided by Garrick Ng, Chief Technology Officer for Cisco in Hong Kong and Macao.

“Hackers are also very happy about the smart city movement,” he warned.

Ng reported that when a hacker infiltrates a company, it takes an average of 100 days before they are discovered. Often, the business only finds out when they hear from the police. 

He gave a number of examples to show how much damage can be done, such as the US$2.6 million theft from ATMs in Taiwan in 2016. 

However, it is not all bad news, and Ng showed how more visibility could give early warning. In the Taiwan case, unusual activity had been going on for some time before the robbery took place, and more transparency could have flagged this up for investigation.

Big data developments
The second session focused on big data and artificial intelligence (AI). Asif Lakdawala, Principal Consultant of IoT and Digital Transformation at SAS, shared how big data is powering smart city development and will increasingly influence policy. 

Lakdawala also noted that residents will have a major influence, particularly in areas like transport and healthcare.

“The performance of smart cities will be judged by how they are seen by citizens,” he said.

In transportation, SAS technology has been developed that can classify different types of drunk drivers and pinpoint when they are likely to be on the roads. 

Ann Moore, director of OSIsoft, gave examples of where the company’s PI system of data analysis is already in action. One of these is University of California San Diego, which uses PI to monitor the whole campus to enable it to become largely self-sufficient in energy consumption. 

“The campus is a city within a city; it is in itself a power grid,” she said.

Carnegie Mellon University is another institution using PI, and its School of Architecture is now zero waste, zero energy, Moore reported. 

But to translate these successes to wider use in cities needs “a strong political vision,” she said. “Don’t just talk, we need action. It’s all about cooperation.”

Most people do not associate Microsoft with technologies like AI, acknowledged Fred Sheu, National Technology Officer at Microsoft Hong Kong. In fact the company uses AI even in its Outlook email platform. And it is also developing smart city technologies in areas including speech recognition, education and pollution.

In Hong Kong, Sheu said that the company’s technology will help to make businesses more efficient and successful.

“Our commitment to Hong Kong is that AI will transform every business and will amplify their ingenuity.” 
Julie Brandt, President of Otis Elevators in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, gave an insight into the latest developments in vertical transportation – a crucial sector in such a densely populated city as Hong Kong.

“We are a traditional business that is trying to make a difference in Hong Kong and move the smart city agenda forward,” she said.

It is 130 years since Otis installed the first lift in Hong Kong. Today, there are about 70,000 lifts in the city, but 50% are more than 20 years old, she explained. 

One of the latest developments is a warning system that lets operators know of problems before they occur, so shutdown time is minimized. 

“We can track the health of the door system, for example, and see if it is trending sick,” she explained. 

As cities around the world are working towards becoming smarter, global standards will help in their smooth development, and also protect against hackers. Dr KF Tsang, Immediate Past Chairman of the Cloud and Wireless Technical Committee at the IEEE Standards Association, explained how global standards in Internet of Things technology will improve efficiency, drive revenue and enable cities to plan ahead. 

Besides the speakers’ presentations, there were two panel discussions, moderated by Nicholas Brooke, Chairman of Professional Property Services, and Jason Ngan, Honorary Secretary of the Smart City Consortium.

Also at the event, Chamber Chairman Dr Aron Harilela signed a partnership agreement with the U.S. Consul General Kurt Tong to strengthen collaboration and enhance commercial ties between Hong Kong and the United States. Consul General Tong also signed an agreement with Elizabeth Quat from the Smart City Consortium. 

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