Smart City Forum 2016 - A Smart City: What's Hong Kong Waiting For?

Co-organized by Our Hong Kong Foundation (OHKF) and Smart City Consortium (SCC). A forum on smart city was held during the eight-day InnoTech Expo 2016 in late September. Seven experts from the Government and private sector discussed on Hong Kong's future as a smart city.  
 
In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Eric Yeung, SCC's Convenor, envisaged that smart cities would be established quickly around the world, and by 2020 the overall output value of all smart cities would amount to US$900 billion. The thriving market would benefit the development of science and technology as information technology, together with a large amount of data and cloud storage technology were key to transform an ordinary city to a smart city.
 
Ir. Dr. K F Tsang, SCC's Founding Member and Chairman of Internet of Things (IoT) Committee, presided at the forum, said more extensive training should be provided to young people for the advancement of smart cities. Such training should not be limited to those conducted in schools. It could also be training offered by enterprises – such as internships or summer program, Dr. Tsang suggested.
 
One of the key speakers was Director Wang Zhiqin who is a pioneer in developing 5G mobile communications technology. According to Wang, 5G is designed for Internet of Everything (IoE) with less delay and higher reliability. It can be used for automatic drive as "vehicles should be connected with each other and have the ability to avoid crashes at high speed, which requires data transfer with a very short time delay." Currently, 4G can only meet the requirements of mobile Internet service between people. Wang is presently the Director of the Institute of Communications Standards Research at the China Academy of Information & Communications Technology. 
 
OHKF organised the InnoTech Expo 2016 from 24 September to 1 October to help nurture talents of innovation and technology which is crucial for Hong Kong's long-term development.