Strengthen the government governance system to improve administrative operational efficiency

President Xi pointed out that “the Chief Executive and the SAR Government are the masters of Hong Kong and the primary responsible parties for governing Hong Kong.” Since taking office, the Chief Executive has introduced new governance concepts, seeking a better integration of an effective government and an efficient market, and establishing a government culture that is “results-oriented.” Ultimately, the effectiveness of governance concepts and policy measures depends on execution. Execution cannot be separated from effective management and the implementation of responsibilities. The Policy Address proposes the establishment of a “department head accountability system,” institutionalizing and systematizing the accountability of department heads for departmental operations, and strengthening the civil servant appraisal mechanism. This changes the past overly lenient and undifferentiated appraisal method where nearly 99% of civil servants received salary increments, to continuously improve the overall operational efficiency of departments. I hope the authorities will soon refine the institutional details, such as specific appraisal standards, corresponding reward and punishment measures, and clarify whether, after expanding the functions of the current Civil Service Appointments Board through subsidiary legislation, the second-level investigations will be open to public supervision, whether the recommendations of independent investigation panels will be binding, and whether there will be an appeal mechanism, etc.

Innovate the Northern Metropolis Development model to promote industrial implementation and clustering

Making good use of market forces is key to effectively promoting the development of the Northern Metropolis and the innovation and technology industries. I welcome the Policy Address’s simplification of a series of administrative measures to remove barriers and loosen restrictions, such as through measures like “shareholding,” “debt financing,” and “land equity participation” in different financing schemes. I believe this can reduce the constraints on private enterprises settling and investing in the Northern Metropolis. More importantly, the Policy Address proposes research requiring bidding enterprises to submit technical proposals and development plans, allowing the authorities to more comprehensively consider the investments, technologies, economic contributions, and tax revenues brought by the relevant enterprises’ settlement and development. This is key to achieving “industry binding” in the Northern Metropolis.

To mobilize market participation, in addition to innovative land policies, there must also be substantial leading enterprises taking root, injecting confidence into the market. Attracting enterprises to settle and assisting their growth requires enabling products and services to be applied in more scenarios. I strongly agree with the “scenario-based investment attraction” concept proposed in the Policy Address. It is suggested that the government, on one hand, open up more application scenarios in government and public institutions; on the other hand, proactively support enterprises in creating value-added application scenarios, and timely release lists of scenario applications, build platforms for matching supply and demand in open scenarios, and attract relevant enterprises to participate in scenario construction.
 

Explore AI-driven research to promote AI application orientation

Hong Kong’s research strengths lie in basic research. The country has pointed out the need to accelerate the exploration of new research paradigms driven by artificial intelligence and speed up the construction and application of scientific large models. Compared to large language models, scientific large models represent a deep integration of AI and basic sciences, with higher development thresholds, and their current maturity is relatively low. Hong Kong can explore playing an active role in the frontier areas of scientific large models, promoting two-way cooperation between basic science researchers and artificial intelligence researchers, as well as multidisciplinary integration and development.

For a long time, application has been a weakness in Hong Kong’s innovation and technology. I agree with adopting an application-oriented strategy to achieve the AI-ization of industries. It is suggested that the government strengthen industry-academia-research integration to promote the intelligent transformation of industries. On the other hand, empowering public services with AI for digital transformation can improve service efficiency and quality. The Policy Address keeps pace with the times by establishing an “AI Efficiency Enhancement Group” to promote government governance into a new era assisted by algorithms. I hope the authorities, on the basis of ensuring security, will accelerate the enrichment of AI government application scenarios, particularly by using AI to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in recommending suitable funding schemes and public service supports, and providing citizens with more convenient and considerate government services.