The Information and Software Industry Association (ISIA) has announced a 'megaplan' for a collaboration hub to help Hong Kong technology companies to partner with overseas vendors in bidding for major projects.
ISIA's chairperson Satti Wong described the hub as a virtual collaboration network, providing a marketplace for business matching and information exchange.
'It will be a demand-driven consortium, rather than a place for idea sharing,' Ms Wong said. 'We are inviting governments of different countries to list their needs and express their demands, then those small firms can seek partners - either from the same country or across territories - and bid on the enterprise tenders.'
The collaboration hub was backed by industry groups including the Hong Kong Information Technology Joint Council, the Internet Professionals Association, the Hong Kong and Mainland Software Industry Co-operation Association, the ASP Association and the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation.
ISIA recently signed agreements with the Shanghai Software Industry Association and the Association for the Promotion of Economic Information in Wuhan. The groups will share local information about market trends, business practices, company and product profiles over the collaboration platform.
'Some SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] in Shanghai said that they found difficulties in bidding for big tenders in the mainland, that they sometimes need to partner with some overseas vendors or system integrators. We are now providing such a place for both the Chinese and overseas companies.'