MOTION ON “ACCELERATING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SMART GOVERNMENT TO BETTER ASSIST THE PUBLIC IN INTEGRATING INTO THE LIFE IN THE GREATER BAY AREA”
Deputy President, a smart government is one that makes use of advanced technologies, such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence, to enhance the level of intelligentization of the Government in its daily operation, regulatory work, provision of services and decision-making, so as to facilitate the Government to evolve from traditional management to a modern mode of governance that is both highly efficient and technology-based. I would like to thank Mr Dennis LEUNG for proposing this motion today to urge the SAR Government to accelerate the development of a smart government to better assist the public in integrating into the life in the Greater Bay Area (“GBA”). I will support the original motion and the two amendments.
The “e-Government services” platform is an important part of the construction of a smart government. In order to assist the public in integrating into the life in GBA, the SAR Government has set up a thematic website for “Cross-boundary Public Services” and additional self-service kiosks to make it more convenient for the public to use public services and to save them the trouble of travelling across the boundary. However, further improvements can be made to the thematic website. For example, consideration can be given to introducing online customer services or smart assistants for answering enquiries, so that users can receive timely and appropriate assistance when they encounter problems. At the same time, prominent announcement pages should be put up for major policy adjustments or updates of application procedures, so that users can be informed of these kinds of latest information in the first instance.
In fact, the development of “e-Government services” platforms in Mainland provinces and municipalities has been very rapid. For example, Shenzhen’s “iShenzhen” provides a full range of government, public and convenient services to citizens and enterprises, truly realizing a “single portal for online government services”. In contrast, Hong Kong is still lagging behind in this area of development, which needs ongoing optimization and improvement.
After repeated rounds of improvement and promotion by the Digital Policy Office, the number of actual users and registered users of “iAM Smart” have increased significantly, which is commendable. However, there is in fact no obvious improvement regarding the situation in which users will have to be redirected to the websites of other departments after logging into the platform. It is hoped that the platform will continue to evolve, so that as time goes by, most of the applications for government services can be processed in a “zero redirection” and “paperless” manner with “no face-to-face meeting”.
The Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Center announced in February the launch of the first artificial intelligence (“AI”) model “HKGAI V1” in Hong Kong. “HKGAI V1” has been fine-tuned and trained by DeepSeek, and is now put to trial use in more than 70 departments to assist in certain document processing tasks. Apart from enhancing the administrative efficiency within the Government, “HKGAI V1” is also expected to facilitate the public’s access to government services. For instance, many government websites, such as the Education Bureau’s website, the 1823 website and the Buildings Department’s website have provided chatbots or smart assistants for answering questions. However, they can only handle some very basic enquiries at the moment. Their intelligence level needs further improvement. If we can speed up the integration of the Hong Kong version of AI into these government websites to enhance the intelligence of their chatbots and assistants, I believe that they will be able to provide more accurate and humanized answers to improve the overall experience of the public in using government services.
In terms of enhancing its government services capacity, Guangzhou has fully adopted the big DeepSeek model in the provision of government services, so as to promote the in-depth application of AI models in the areas of government service efficiency, livelihood services and city governance. Shenzhen has also applied DeepSeek to enhance the level of intelligentization of government services. The Mainland has in fact accumulated a wealth of successful experience in building a smart government, providing Hong Kong with opportunities to learn and draw reference from it. Hong Kong should advocate the establishment of a regional cooperation and exchange platform for the two places to share the latest technology achievements in relation to government services as well as management experience, so as to jointly promote the wisdom of regional governance.
To overcome the bottleneck of constructing a smart government in Hong Kong, we should not focus on how to apply technology. It is more important to adopt new concepts of governance. The SAR Government should establish a set of governance principles that centre around the needs of the public. The purpose of service provision should shift from “what services the Government can provide” to “what services the users (i.e. the public) need”. In this regard, the Government should proactively learn from commercial organizations and adopt the concept of “putting the customer first”. For instance, at present, the application procedures for the direct issuance of Hong Kong full driving licence still have to be gone through in person over the counter. Moreover, the appointment quota and the number of same-day queue tickets cannot meet the actual demand of applicants at all. Many people have to spend a long time queuing up every day. If the Government can replace the over-the-counter procedures by including the said applications into “iAM Smart”, it should be a good example of people-centred governance.
Deputy President, smart government is not only about technological advancement, but also about how to integrate technology with the needs of the public.
I so submit, thank you.