香港政府二零零九至一零年施政報告:【策創新天】 / Government of Hong Kong "The 2009-10 Policy Address: Breaking New Ground Together"

Below are my comments posted at Fresh Designer's blog site regarding "The 2009-10 Policy Address: Breaking New Ground Together" published by the Government of Hong Kong.

OK, it took me abt 30 minutes to skim the English version of the Policy Address 2009-10 (while watching CSI on TV). So, the following comments are based on a less-than-cursory review of the above-mentioned document.

* I agree with you the focus on「燈泡事件」is "gotcha" politics and media sensationalism, something that really distracts the public away from in-depth debates on the substance and merit of the Policy Address.

* The idea of a knowledge-based economy is fine except it is perhaps 12-15 years late compared to the western economies. But again, if China's industries are still very much in the development stage, then it is better late than never for HK to take advantage of the late-start and try to beat the other more "matured" competitors.

* With respect to the six "new" target industries (in addition to the 4 existing pillar sectors), I do not get a good sense whether the development policy is demand- or supply-driven. I can only assume that the demands will come from Mainland (esp the southern regions) and HK is supplying the technologies and know-how. However, mainlanders will "buy" only if HK has a good branding strategy to go along with each target industry (apart from value for money). HK's film/cultural industry may have a good start because of known past successes. But I am not so sure abt the Environmental Industry and the Education Industry. I believe success for these two will be more regional than national, let alone international. The Testing and Certification Services is an interesting proposal. It is opportune to offer solutions to improve China's tainted reputations (pun intended). But, will this service be linked to ASME, ISO, and all the other internationally recognized standard associations/processes? And, how will HK help the Chinese producers with complying with WTO labelling rules and product safety regulatory regimes of other bilateral and multilateral organizations, as well as the foreign markets? More importantly, I would submit that the revitalization of the "Made-in-China" branding effort will not succeed solely based on the Testing and Certification Services of Hong Kong (to me as a consumer, it's still made-in-China and certified by China).

* The policy's focus on "Progressive Society" is good, esp the part on mental health, given the dense population, little personal space and stressed life-style of the HK society.

* Based on comments from bloggers and on-line media, it appears the govt still has a long way to go in gaining the public's trust and support. Since I do not live in HK, I am not up-to-date on the dynamics btwn the government and the governed. Perhaps, in addition to "National Education", the HK govt should start in its own backyard first with getting the ppl on side !!!

So much for now from the "peanut gallery".

References:

* Government of Hong Kong "The 2009-10 Policy Address: Breaking New Ground Together" http://www.policyaddress.gov.hk/09-10/eng/docs/policy.pdf

* 香港政府二零零九至一零年施政報告:【策創新天】 http://www.policyaddress.gov.hk/09-10/chi/index.html

* Fresh Designer's blog article: http://freshdesigner.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-post_18.html