This morning, the Financial Secretary gave his second
Budget Speech. Here is a list of IT-related initiatives from the Budget Speech: Major initiatives (from the Budget speech)
- conduct a one-year education programme to teach Internet users, especially young students, how to use the Internet appropriately and safely. (63 million | 500 jobs) (Para 27)
- promote cooperation between SZ and Hong Kong by "Shenzhen-Hong Kong Innovation Circle". This aims at attracting more overseas enterprises to conduct scentific research in Hong Kong (Para 59-61)
- exploring the feasibility of and the development plans for Phase 3 of the Park (Para 64)
- increase the number of calls for Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) applications and expand the funded technology areas. The criteria for the Internship Programme under the ITF will be relaxed. The grant ceiling for each project funded under the Small Entrepreneur Research Assistance Programme will be raised to $4 million. (Para 67)
- set up a dedicated office to co-ordinate work on the development of a creative economy ($300 millions for 3 years)(Para 69)
- develop a territory-wide electronic health record system ($840 million for 3 years, among other initiatives)(Para 106)
- set up a dedicated portal for the elderly to provide one-stop information service on elderly services and the silver hair market. Various computer courses will also be offered by the Elder Academies (Para 116)
