Smart city - Hong Kong falling behind

under a unified ID, and a successful contact tracing system that facilitated the city state’s fast and decisive response to the coronavirus pandemic. London’s Smarter London Together roadmap, which is an update to the Smart London plan first launched in 2013, takes a collaborative approach to make London the world’s smartest city. For example, the Mayor’s Civic Innovation Challenge bridges technology firms with local councils, public sector agencies and large corporations to tackle the city’s many social challenges. City Hall has also launched the London Office for Data Analytics (LODA) which facilitates data sharing and collaboration across London’s public service offices. All these initiatives alongside the city’s Comparing Hong Kong to Singapore and London track record with innovation dating back to the Industrial Revolution have made it the tech capital of Europe. Hong Kong had first released its Smart City Blueprint in 2017, but the rollout of the initiatives listed has been slow. This is most likely due to the government’s hands-off approach, in contrast to the governments’ leading roles in Singapore and London. The government has poured a lot of money into the expansion of Cyberport and Hong Kong Science Park, as well as setting up a Data Technology Hub and Advanced Manufacturing Centre in Tseung Kwan O, they have also given a lot of financial incentives for local enter-

What is a smart city? (According to Bakıcı et al. (2012),) A smart city is a high-tech intensive and advanced city that connects people, information and city elements using new technologies to create a sustainable, greener city, competitive and innovative commerce, and increased life quality. (According to Lombardi et al. (2012)) There are six components to a smart city:

Smart economy Smart people Smart governance Smart mobility Smart environment Smart living According to Eden Strategy Institute’s Top 50 Smart City Governments 2021, Hong Kong ranks 41st in 2021. She is behind her neighbours Taipei (19) and Guangzhou (36). The city is further behind when compared to other financial hubs. Singapore, London and New York City are all in the top 10, ranking 1st, 3rd and 6th respectively.

Why is Hong Kong falling so behind its competitors? We can largely categorise the issues into two aspects: the technological aspect and the human aspect.

Technological aspect Ever since the introduction of their Smart Nation strategy in 2014, Singapore has launched a series of initiatives that have overhauled all aspects of urban life. This includes government-led initiatives to digitize small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the LifeSG app that lets citizens access more than 40 government services

prises and universities. However, there are not enough support programmes or smart policies and infrastructure in place to promote an entrepreneurial culture, on the other hand, recent political developments have caused many companies to move their offices out of Hong Kong. Most recently, a proposed law targeting doxxing has caused the Asia Internet Coalition, an industry group backed by Facebook, Google and Twitter, to warn the government that foreign tech companies may stop investing in and providing services for the city. While the government launched a new open data policy in 2018, Hong Kong is still far behind international standards in terms of open data. According to the Hong Kong Open Data Index, there are critical gaps in some datasets and the formatting standards are inconsistent between departments. The fact that it only took a team of volunteer developers and open data advocates two days after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 to create the “COVID-19 in HK” website, which is still more user-friendly than that from the government, shows that the Hong Kong government still has a lot of catching up to do.

Human aspect While Singapore’s smart city plan has been mainly focused on technological improvements, certain aspects like the LifeSG app have resulted from, and six months of public consultation. The Singapore government has also shifted its efforts to more citizen-centric efforts. Singapore is also able to rely on an increasing number of highly skilled Indian and Chinese workers to sustain their smart city developments.

London’s city government has introduced many public participation platforms over the years. Talk London is an online platform where Londoners can engage with City Hall and express their views on policies affecting the city. Crowdfund London is the city’s local crowdfunding platform where anyone can propose an idea and receive financial backing from their local community to turn these ideas into reality.

Hong Kong, however, seems to be going in the opposite direction. Recent political tensions have deepened public mistrust of the government. Smart lampposts, a staple infrastructure project in other smart cities, have been met with suspicions of excessive surveillance, with protestors sawing off and taking down one of those lampposts during the height of the protests in 2019. Hong Kong’s contact tracing app LeaveHomeSafe has been met with similar security concerns, those fears have

Smart Cities

Hong Kong falling behind

only worsened when more than 400 email addresses were disclosed when a poorly formatted email was sent out. As a result, the app never reached widespread adoption among the population. The National Security Law passed last year did not only crack down on political rhetoric, but it has also led to difficulties in criticizing the government in the area of smart city development. G0v.hk, an open data advocacy group whose convenor sat on the advisory committee for the Open Data Index, disbanded on 30th June this year, citing changes in the recent atmosphere, restrictions on freedom of expression and access to information. This has led to a decrease in public participation. Recent political tensions and underlying issues like the housing crisis and ageing population has also led to a shortage in high-skill labour. Hong Kong’s population has declined for the first time since 2003, with migrations out of the city being a major contributor. Similar issues also mean that Hong Kong is struggling to import foreign high-skill workers to offset such a shortage despite loosening visa requirements for such workers. We may be witnessing the beginning of a brain drain in the city. Smart cities are not just about technological advances

The Hong Kong government published the Smart City Blueprint 2.0 last year, promising 130 new initiatives to bring Hong Kong back up post-COVID and position itself as a leading smart city. However, the blueprint only tackles technological advancements. If the Hong Kong government does not tackle the city’s underlying social issues and regain public trust, it is only inevitable that we see Asia’s World City fall out of the Top 50.