Jake's View | Hong Kong needs to think way out of the box to realise its own digital innovation dreams
Our town is custom made to host a world pilot project for electric vehicles, for new ideas in waste disposal and recycling, for fully funded health care and for a hundred other great advances
Hong Kong has been ranked 68th in a global smart city index – way behind its main rival Singapore which came in second …
– SCMP City, November 9
The first thing in any survey of this kind is to ask who conducted it and what authority they have for their findings.
The answer in this case is a Swedish website called EasyPark which was set up 12 years ago as a smartphone app to help drivers find pay car parks in crowded cities and which has now grown outside Sweden.
As to its authority, well, as I say, this is a Swedish app that helps drivers find pay car parks and has ambitions to become more. I do not say that this condemns its findings on the spread of technology – but I do say that it makes them just a touch lightweight.
I am sure, however, this has not detracted from their appeal to the Singapore Ministry of Information. When I used to visit more often as an investment analyst it was rare to pick up the local news sheet, Pravda (Party Rendition and Authorized Version of Daily Announcements), and not find that Singapore had been named the world’s No. 2 brass doorknob maker or awarded some similar accolade.