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Friday, March 13, 2020, 11:14
How HK can succeed in three data-related smart city trends
By Winnie Tang
Friday, March 13, 2020, 11:14 By Winnie Tang

While ASEAN countries are benefiting from rapid economic development, they are also facing problems in terms of housing, the environment, and public safety issues caused by an increasing urban population. They hope to solve these issues with smart city solutions. On the other hand, developed countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan have their own challenges, such as inadequate social efficiency, insufficient energy and an aging population. Therefore, they are seeking smart city solutions as well.

Research institute IDC estimates that the budget for Singapore’s smart city development will be the highest in the next few years, followed by New York City, Tokyo, London, Beijing, and Shanghai. This year alone, many cities around the world are expected to spend at least US$1 billion each to meet smart city criteria.

Of the five major smart city development trends that every economy focuses on, three are data-related; namely, data use, digital trust, and data-driven public safety. Hong Kong is no exception. How can we leverage the trends and strengthen our position in the global smart city race?

Let’s talk about data use first. The intelligence of smart cities is largely based on massive data. However, it is not easy to integrate fragmented data to unlock their values. Therefore, IDC predicts that 30 percent of smart city projects will fail due to unclear key performance indicators (KPI), making it difficult for assessment and consequently for convincing clients to allocate funds. In other words, how to produce measurable results from data is the most critical issue.

Of the five major smart city development trends that every economy focuses on, three are data-related; namely, data use, digital trust, and data-driven public safety

Last year, William Priest, chief executive officer of the Geospatial Commission in the UK, shared his experience on how spatial data can drive the economy and government operations. The commission, which is part of the cabinet office, aims to open spatial data, that is, data linked by geographic locations, for free to promote the economy and efficiency. Although the commission was established only two years ago, it has been very active during the period and has achieved significant results. It is quite impressive.

What results has it created? The UK is facing the problem of aging infrastructure, while the demand for services has continued to increase, ranging from identifying housing development plots, flood prediction, public transport efficiency, etc. There is an urgent need to use the existing resources more efficiently. But how can spatial data solve the problems?

Through a digital spatial data workflow, the land conveyance service was shortened from 90 days to a few hours. A common spatial database can benefit the public utilities, construction and telecommunications industries. At the same time, the authorities estimate that if they could maintain a detailed record on the exact locations of underground infrastructure, thereby avoiding crisscrossing of proposed pipes with the existing facilities, project efficiency can be improved while minimizing service interruptions. Ultimately, the government can have better planning, saving the government’s infrastructure expenditure by 4.6 billion pounds (US$5.8 billion) annually.

How to do this? It relies on data, not fragmented but in an integrated manner. In the past, for the same location, different sources can have different ways of presentation on the same event, which makes it difficult to link up the data to draw useful information, let alone insight. Therefore, to facilitate the integration to realize the value of data, it is crucial to connect by geographical locations.

In October, the commission published the Linked Identifiers Best Practice Guide. This recommends that every geographical object in the nation, including buildings, waterways and roads, should have a unique identifier or code. Linking the data with these codes saves time to get an exact overview of the information connected to a particular location. This simple and clever approach helps transform scattered data into meaningful information for activities like managing a road network or responding to an emergency.

In addition, Priest suggested a single platform for the convenience of data use.

As for Hong Kong, fortunately, we are moving in this direction of building a single platform, called “Common Spatial Data Infrastructure” (CSDl). However, in terms of connecting data from all parties, especially connecting by geographical locations to facilitate the analysis and promotion of creative industries, we still have not moved forward. Therefore, I expect that the Innovation and Technology Bureau and the Development Bureau should join forces to make this happen so that we can really unlock the value of data.

Secondly, how to enhance trust in the digital world?

A smart city deploys a large number of sensing devices and recording cameras, which will inevitably lead to privacy concerns. Therefore, IDC predicts that 75 percent of new-generation technology facilities to be installed in public places in the future will require “strict policy frameworks”; that is, policies on how and what data to be collected, used and shared.

The recent controversy of the smart lamppost project in Hong Kong is a good example. Earlier, the project, intended to collect public data and images, aroused a public outcry on privacy. Fortunately, after much discussion within the community, a consensus was reached to replace cameras with other devices, such as optical radars and thermal detectors, so as to gain public support to continue with the project.

In short, to minimize the risk of implementation, the authority has to work with more stakeholders, citizens and advocacy groups to help gain public trust.

Thirdly, how to nurture more smart people?

Data-driven public safety and the accompanying resources issues are also important for the future development of a smart city.

This is because the huge internet of things, comprising sensors and video cameras, is likely to be a target of hacking. It is estimated that 20 percent of cybersecurity incidents will be triggered by the issue, forcing smart cities to invest heavily in protecting cybersecurity software and training human resources. The agency estimated that the budget for these two areas will have a double-digit growth.

However, the global shortage of talent will become the major hindrance of cybersecurity and thus the development of a smart city.

How to nurture more talents for the future? A recent research report titled “The Work of the Future” by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of the United States gave some suggestions. As the automation technology is expected to drive further polarization of the job market, resulting in more-severe income inequity, the report suggested that the government should substantially invest in postsecondary education and four-year university courses to make higher education more accessible to all so as to close the income gap.

On top of these, I believe that problem-solving ability is even more important. Be it fending off a hacker’s network attack or enabling man-machine cooperation, the uniqueness of human beings is that they can flexibly apply knowledge, skills and experience to tackle issues. Today’s new generation may have the innate ability to use digital tools efficiently, but their problem-solving skills require more training. For this reason, I introduced a geographic information system to local primary and secondary schools in 2016, making it free for students, because this software can help them compile, compare, and analyze data, and then identify solutions. With these abilities, they can become truly smart citizens in the future.

This year, I hope Hong Kong will lay a solid foundation and continue to move forward on the road to smart city development.

The author is an adjunct professor at the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.


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