The View | Science Park, Cyberport and other bureaucratic misadventures
‘Business development that relies on the heavy hand of government to make it work is business development doomed to failure’
Another nail has just been banged into the coffin carrying hopes of developing hi-technology in Hong Kong. It may not be the biggest of nails but the announcement that the government has given up on digital radio broadcasting, indeed it plans to withdraw the service, make the SAR the first jurisdiction to have failed in introducing this not so new technology.
Elsewhere in the world digital broadcasting has been a massive success, fostering a proliferation of new radio stations while delivering high quality sound. In Hong Kong the extreme nervousness about content and the reluctance to challenge the vested interests of existing radio license holders combined to ensure that the digital radio experiment failed. Not only is this defeat an indication of the government’s failed broadcasting policy but for many local residents it means returning to either non-existent or barely audible radio reception.
In the background the Innovation and Technology Bureau is rapidly becoming a bad joke
Meanwhile, also on the consumer technology front, we have seen the problems over the introduction of the admittedly problematic Uber car-booking service, mainly because Hong Kong bureaucrats can’t get their heads around how to regulate it. The most visible result of this indecision is the conviction of five Uber drivers for using their cars illegally.
In the background the Innovation and Technology Bureau is rapidly becoming a bad joke. It is supposed to be encouraging hi-tech start ups but does so by introducing all manner of bureaucratic schemes that are designed for masters of form filling but not for innovative techies. These bureaucrats are happiest when finding ways to regulate technology.
Meanwhile if you really want a good chuckle over the government’s almost aggressive inability to apply new technology (in fact it’s hardly new at all) look at the HKSAR government website, which gives new meaning to the word clunky, is challenging to navigate and, of course, largely free of useful information.
Yet the Hong Kong government keeps chuntering on about commitment to technological innovation. In his last policy address the Chief Executive spoke of how he was planning to make the SAR a “smart city by using innovation and technology to enhance city management and improve people’s livelihood”. Worry not there is a consultant’s study here, presumably much like the myriad of other consultant studies that have either been ignored or worse, adopted.