On January 4th, the Digital Economy Development New Opportunities Summit, hosted by the GBA Int'l Info Tech Industry Association (GBAITA), was successfully held at the HKEX Connect Hall. This summit provided a platform for in-depth research and exchange of digital economy-related issues through white papers, keynote speeches, and roundtable forums. Mr. Ricky Leung, the consultant representative of the Hong Kong China Network Security Association (HKCNSA) and Deputy Director, Cyber Security and Analytics of Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), was invited to attend the summit and had in-depth discussions with experts, scholars, and entrepreneurs on the new opportunities brought by digital transformation to economic development.
During the opening ceremony, Mr. Leung Chun-ying, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and President of the GBAITA, delivered the opening speech. He emphasized the need for collaboration, integration, and innovation between the physical and digital economies in the future development of the national digital economy. This includes enhancing the intelligence level and competitiveness of traditional industries, promoting digital transformation in various industries, strengthening unified management and optimized utilization of data resources, establishing data governance systems, regulating data acquisition, storage, circulation, and usage, and enhancing data security protection. Additionally, Hong Kong should leverage its advantages as an international financial, trade, and shipping center to facilitate global connectivity in the digital economy and activate the development of the digital economy within the Greater Bay Area.
Mr. Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, delivered the keynote speech at the summit. He believes that the digital economy is a global trend and a crucial driving force for economic development. Digitalization brings transformative changes to production activities, business operations, and commercial models, helping companies improve efficiency, competitiveness, and explore new business opportunities. It also promotes urban intelligence and the enhancement of public services. Hong Kong, as an international financial center and innovation and technology hub, will promote the development of the digital economy through five strategies: constructing a top-level framework for digital economy policies, governance, and implementation; accelerating digital infrastructure construction; facilitating data security, flow, and utilization; expediting digital transformation; and nurturing talent. These efforts will create a vibrant ecosystem.
The summit featured three roundtable forums, inviting experts from the political, business, academic, and industry sectors to discuss key issues related to data flow supporting the digital economy development in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau, the feasibility and path for Hong Kong to become an international data exchange, and the standards of Web3.0. During the forums, experts explored crucial issues related to cross-border data flow from the perspectives of policies, technologies, and privacy protection, providing in-depth insights into regional cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau. In addition, participants analyzed Hong Kong's position, advantages, and challenges in the global data exchange field and put forward specific recommendations to attract global data businesses and enhance Hong Kong's status in global data circulation.
This summit not only provided an opportunity for interactive communication among participants but also fostered collaboration between the government and enterprises to jointly promote the development and innovation of the digital economy. Through sharing experiences, exploring cooperation opportunities, and seeking solutions, participants contributed to the sustainable development of the digital economy.
In the future, HKCNSA will continue to pay attention to the trends in digital economy development, devote efforts to promoting the development and innovation of information technology and internet security, and collaborate with the industry to explore the challenges and opportunities in cybersecurity and data protection. By doing so, it aims to promote the stable development of the digital economy and contribute to the digital economy development in the Greater Bay Area.