OGCIO sets up Smart Hong Kong Pavilion to showcase achievements of smart city development with government departments and industries (with photos)

The Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau (ITIB) and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) co-organised the second edition of the InnoEX at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre for four days starting today (April 13). The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) organised a large-scale Smart Hong Kong Pavilion to showcase more than 100 technology solutions, including those developed by different government departments, which benefit citizens' daily lives. Through interactive experiences and live demonstrations, the Pavilion shows the fruitful achievements in advancing the development of innovation and technology (I&T) and smart city in Hong Kong brought about by the concerted efforts of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and various sectors.

On the first day of the Pavilion's opening, a number of officials, including the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, and the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, visited the Pavilion. They were briefed by the Government Chief Information Officer, Mr Tony Wong, on how the OGCIO promotes the active adoption of I&T among government departments, and works in collaboration with the local I&T sector to launch different innovative solutions, with a view to empowering public services with I&T, and fostering the development of “Smart Hong Kong” at full speed, so that the public can benefit from the convenience brought by digital government.

This year's Smart Hong Kong Pavilion focuses on artificial intelligence applications, and showcases innovative solutions adopted by more than 20 government departments and a series of winning entries of the Hong Kong ICT Awards, Asia Pacific Information and Communications Technology Alliance Awards, Maker in China SME Innovation and Entrepreneurship Global Contest - Hong Kong Chapter and the Open Data Hackathon from local innovators and students. Through the exhibition, the OGCIO hopes to commend exemplary local innovations and promote Hong Kong's smart city development to local industries, as well as exhibitors and experts from home and abroad.

Following are highlights of the six areas of the Smart Hong Kong Pavilion:

Smart Living: “iAM Smart”, the one-stop personalised digital service platform that provides an electronic identity authentication function for members of the public to log into various online services in a simple and secure manner, providing citizens with access to 340 public and private online services; and the first in the world using photogrammetry to produce three dimensional (3D) images on traceable Chinese materia medica specimens in the Digital Herbarium for Chinese Medicines developed by the Department of Health.

Smart Mobility: The Transport Department's Real-time Adaptive Traffic Signal System in Tung Chung that uses sensors to detect and analyse pedestrian and traffic flows in real time, optimising the allocation of green light times; and the industry's award-winning solution, a navigation tool that offers an indoor and outdoor barrier-free navigation experience for the visually impaired or people in need.

Smart Environment: The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department's Mobile Hydroponic Cultivation System adopts a multilayered design to increase cultivation yields and enhance the competitiveness of the agriculture industry; the Environmental Protection Department's 5G Mesh Network Multi-terrain Sampling Robot Squad, in which multiple robots are interconnected through a network to carry out pollution investigation in tough environments for enhancing efficiency and ensuring the safety of investigators; and the industry's award-winning solution, a smart grower that enables growing fresh food indoors.

Smart People: Introduction of the Braille Learning App, a winning project in an international I&T competition, which is developed by a tertiary student who has also won a gold medal in the Guangzhou/Hong Kong/Macao/Chengdu Youth Skills Competition; and on-site live broadcast by the award-winning elderly persons from the Elderly IT Stars Recognition Scheme of the OGCIO and the Infinite Elder KOL, demonstrating that the elderly can also make use of technology and integrate themselves into the digital society.

Smart Government: The Patrol Robot of the Hong Kong Police Force, which is capable of working around the clock, performing automated navigation patrols and disseminating messages; the Smart K9 Management System of the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department, which uses the Internet of Things to monitor real-time canine health data; and the proof-of-concept solution “Improving communications through generative sign language” proposed by government personnel that won the Grand Award in the “Innovative Application with AI” Innovation Competition organised by the OGCIO.

Smart Economy: The Smart Government Innovation Lab established by the OGCIO, which connects government departments with the I&T sector to jointly develop innovative solutions for public services; and the krip HK company that won the highest honour: Award of the Year in the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2023, providing personalised deal information for the Hong Kong retail industry.

The ITIB organises the Business of Innovation and Technology Week in April, during which various I&T events will be held in Hong Kong, including signature events, the Digital Economy Summit and the InnoEX, as well as the inaugural Hong Kong World Youth Science Conference.

Themed “Innovations for A Smarter World”, the InnoEX will bring together exhibitors from 13 countries and regions and different technology sectors, including organisations from Hong Kong, 16 Mainland provinces and cities, and countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Canada, India and Thailand. By showcasing cutting-edge technology solutions and promoting dialogue at various seminars and exchanges, the exhibition seeks to promote cross-sectoral and cross-territory I&T development and collaboration. Interested parties from the trade can register free of charge at the HKTDC's website (www.hktdc.com/event/innoex/en).

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