Creating a Smart City in Hong Kong
As part of a joint initiative by the Chamber, Hong Kong Productivity Council and the Vocational Training Council to support Hong Kong’s efforts to become a smart city, the co-organisors held a webinar on 23 July during which a panel of industry and academic experts spoke on the way forward for Hong Kong in such a journey. The event’s keynote speaker Tony Wong, Deputy Government Chief Information Officer, OGCIO, Innovation and Technology Bureau, shared with participants the various milestones that Hong Kong had achieved since the last blueprint in 2017 and highlighted a number of new initiatives in the latest blueprint, which included the HKeMobility app, open datasets, GBA Youth Employment Scheme and the Smart Government Innovation Lab for industry innovators.
Mr Patrick Lee, Convenor of the Chamber’s Smart City Working Group, Dr Albert Wong, Partner and Consulting Director of PwC Hong Kong, explained the different elements of smart city and their significance while drawing on lessons from overseas. Mr Allen Yeung, Founding Chairman of The Institute of Big Data Governance provided insight on the latest big data trends in the Greater Bay Area, and Dr John Chan, Founder and CEO of Mapxus and Dr Lawrence Poon, General Manager, Smart City Division, Hong Kong Productivity Council, shared examples of technology-based tools such as computational programming and artificial intelligence to create smart and practical applications that ranged from indoor navigation maps, auto-parking vehicles, touchless elevators, to smart street lamps.
This Summit serves to kick off to a similarly named project for the purpose of identifying and resolving district-specific issues by engaging young people in the development of innovative and technology-based solutions.
2021/07/23
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Exploring GBA Cities Series: GBA Growth Potential in Foshan and Huizhou
Greater Bay Area
The latest industrial upgrading in Foshan and Huizhou shows how the Greater Bay Area initiative is helping each of the 11 GBA cities to focus on and develop their particular strengths.
At a Chamber seminar on 22 July, Cynthia Lam, Director, China Tax and Business Advisory at PwC China, introduced the latest developments in Foshan and Huizhou. Roger Yeung, Vice President of Sales, BIEL Crystal Manufactory; Benny Wong, Chairman and Executive Director, Nameson Holdings; and Victor Lam, General Manager, Forward Winsome Industries, joined the panel discussion to share their insights on the business opportunities as well as their experiences operating in the GBA.
The speakers said that upgrading businesses to adapt to market changes was essential to success. They also advised members to consider the needs, land supply, transportation and preferential policies of each city when deciding where to expand into the GBA.
2021/07/22
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Trade War: Impact and Prospects for U.S.-China Ties
The U.S.-China trade war has now lasted three years, but many studies showed that it has failed to achieve the major policy goals originally stated by the U.S. administration. Speaking at the Chamber’s Americas Committee webinar on 22 July, Oxford Economics’ Lead Economist Alex Mackle said that the tariffs were damaging to the U.S. economy, leading to higher consumer prices, delayed and cancelled investments, and supply chain disruption. The trade tensions had also hurt the manufacturing sector, as well as other key sectors of the economy such as agriculture and energy.
Mackle also explored some of the possible scenarios for future U.S.-China trade and economic relations. To sum up, he said tariffs and other restrictive measures imposed by the U.S. administration come with an economic cost. However, U.S. multinationals – and increasingly, financial corporations – are continuing to invest heavily in China, and policymakers will likely want to avoid the economic cost of extreme decoupling.
https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/
2021/07/22
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Green Financing Opportunities for SMEs - Road to a Greener GBA
Green financing and ESG can play an important role in helping SMEs to grow. To help members learn more about the uses and benefits of green finance, a panel of experts shared their insights and experience at a seminar on 20 July.
Frank Heung, Head of Structured Finance, Commercial Real Estate and Corporate Advisory, Hang Seng Bank, and Dicky Lo, Advisor, ESG Matters, discussed how SMEs can capitalize on the growing green finance and ESG opportunities in the Greater Bay Area. Heung introduced the principles, applications and conditions that banks use when approving green loans. Lo suggested that SMEs should consider a clustering strategy to obtain more resources from the government or banks when implementing green projects.
2021/07/20
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GBA Working Group Meeting
Greater Bay Area
David Chung, Undersecretary for Innovation and Technology, updated members about the progress of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Loop at the GBA Working Group Meeting on 16 July. The election of GBA Working Group leadership also took place at the meeting. Petrina Tam was elected group convenor, taking over from PC Yu, who retired from the convenor after serving the group for three years.
2021/07/16
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