CARRIE YAU TSANG KA-LAI, the Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, was visibly impressed. After showing the writer a slide of Indian IT giant Infosys Technologies' Bangalore headquarters, she paused and remarked: 'Nobody could tell this is India - this is like Silicon Valley!' It is a comparison Ms Yau hopes will some day be made about Hong Kong as one of the IT centres of the world. To further this end, she recently embarked on a two-week tour of India, taking in all the software hotspots dotted around the vast nation. Having previously visited Dublin, Helsinki and Silicon Valley as part of the year-long research study conducted by the IT Manpower Taskforce, Ms Yau believes that recommendations will not be long coming. There is not a moment to lose, she emphasises, as Hong Kong runs the risk of lagging behind the rest of the world, even as it examines how it will eventually produce 30,000 skilled IT workers. 'We have to look at how we are going to meet this shortage of skilled IT workers,' said Ms Yau. In this respect, the trip to India was timely. After a gruelling succession of delayed flights and sleepless nights, Ms Yau visited the capital New Delhi and the two high-technology hubs of Bangalore and Hyderabad. 'It was a very rewarding and eye-opening experience, and a most useful update on the IT development of India,' said Ms Yu. 'India has become the major exporter of IT manpower because they have a very good foundation in education.' It is this approach to IT education that Ms Yau believes may need reforming in Hong Kong. She cites Indian e-solutions company NIIT, as one example of how a different perspective can produce spectacular results. 'Their education model is very attractive - it's entirely market driven, privately run, and meets with market needs,' said Ms Yau. Such an approach is anathema to Hong Kong's tertiary education providers, for so long dependent on public funding. NIIT's success comes from partnering with powerhouses such as Microsoft and Oracle to provide non-stop online and off-line training. Malaysia and Singapore already have education centres, and Shanghai recently set up two. 'I don't see why they shouldn't come to Hong Kong,' said Ms Yau. 'I would like to see them come and offer IT training in HK.' The realisation that the public sector alone cannot produce the kind of skilled IT workforce which Hong Kong covets is one that has existed for some years in India. The prestigious Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), for instance, utilises significant private sector involvement to churn out the numbers of graduates that Hong Kong can only dream of. Said Ms Yau: 'If Hong Kong is to solve this problem eventually, they will have to bring in new models of education.' Another issue Ms Yau hopes to address is the woefully inadequate Hong Kong representation in India's software centres. 'We observed that the United Kingdom is opening its third [trade] office and Singapore has numerous offices dotted around India,' said Ms Yau. 'We should step up our efforts to foster ties in India and establish ties with India.' A glance at a slide of Hyderabad's IT park provides an insight into what Hong Kong's future Cyber-Port will probably aspire to. The park houses an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) branch and corporate schools along with a host of global IT luminaries. The ideal is to promote learning within a corporate, globally-aligned environment. And the ultimate hope, of course, is that Hong Kong will one day produce software companies to rival firms such as Infosys Technologies, whose chief executive, Narayana Murthy, Ms Yau met while in Bangalore. Mr Murthy sees Hong Kong as having some tremendous advantages in its quest to develop itself as a global software hub. The free economy, proximity to China and advanced infrastructure were all factors cited by Mr Murthy. 'Given its connectivity, I would say that Hong Kong will be a very important player in the software development activities of the future,' said Mr Murthy. Ms Yau agreed that the SAR had the potential to play a pivotal role, particularly in the sphere of e-learning. 'Hong Kong has the potential of becoming an e-learning hub, given the state-of-the-art telecoms systems,' said Ms Yau. Mr Murthy refused to be drawn on the lessons Hong Kong could learn from India, but was more forthcoming about the potential for interaction between Indian and Chinese software companies. 'An ideal scenario would be for front-ending to be done by Indians and back-ending by Chinese companies,' he said. Reasoning that Indian companies had a better command of English and more proven track record in project management, he believed that by sourcing the design and programming to Chinese companies, a very powerful model could be created. 'It is a model that can beat the world,' said Mr Murthy. He believes it is imperative for his company to expand in East Asia, particularly China. 'China is a large country with an important fast-growing market,' said Mr Murthy. 'Any company which has global ambitions should certainly look at China very seriously.' Mr Murthy is also not worried about the 'brain drain' of Indian software workers. 'If a small percentage of Indians go abroad and create brand equity for the country - it's a good thing.' Opinion, main section, Page 8
