Hong Kong Competitiveness Seminar

This morning (25 June 2011 - Saturday) I attended the seminar entitled "What is the direction of Hong Kong Competitiveness? How to establish the Innovation and Technology Bureau?" co-organized by Beijing-Hong Kong Academic Exchange Centre, TechMatrix Research Centre, and Hong Kong Professionals and Senior Executives Association. I would like to summarize some discussion of the seminar for sharing.

The first speaker was Dr. Ni (倪鵬飛) and he analyzed the competitiveness among different cities in China especially Hong Kong.

The analysis framework was introduced. He emphasized that Innovation and Technology was core competitiveness of city.

Hong Kong is still number one in General Competitiveness. (The first six ranking is Hong Kong, Shanghai, Bejing, Shenzhen, Taipei and Guangzhou.) However, Hong Kong was behind in science technology competitiveness and only ranked 26.

Then Dr. Ni identified three opportunities and challenges. They were:

- Good Asia and China economic development trend

- After economic crisis, innovation and technology would be more and more important. The technology revolution would be come.

- Global and local competitiveness on innovation and technology was serious.

Hong Kong ten advantages on Innovation and Technology were described included international level universities, finance system, legal system, information technology, location advantage, good economic foundation, integrity government, freedom economic area, good management of enterprise, and academic freedom.

However, Dr. Ni pointed out the deficient of Innovation and Technology development in Hong Kong.

- No momentum for developing innovation and technology in enterprise such as risk management, motivation measures and culture & environment.

- No condition for developing innovation and technology in enterprise such as integrated strategy mechanism, service platform, education and talent insufficient.

After that, Dr. Ni suggested the positioning and strategy for Hong Kong's innovation and technology development. Hong Kong should become Global City and positioning Hong Kong to be "Global Innovation and Technology Centre", "Asia IP Trading and Servicing Centre", "Oversea Innovation and Creative Design Centre for Mainland China", etc.

Some strategies were suggested to enforce the development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong such as implementation of CEPA supplementary document 7, etc. At the end, Dr. Ni concluded it should be enhanced the responsibility of Hong Kong Government and he supported to establish "Innovation and Technology Bureau".

The group discussion was performed. (Left: Dr. Samson Tam Wai Ho (譚偉豪), Mrs. Fanny Law (羅范椒芬), Mr. LAU Kong Wah (劉江華), Ms. Emily Lau Wai-hing (劉慧卿), Prof. Chan Chi-fai, Andrew (陳志輝) and Dr. Ni (倪鵬飛))

Mrs. Fanny Law presented different ranking system for Hong Kong.

She compared three ranking systems and summarized that Hong Kong were weak in science, technology and innovation among the evaluation.

Then she introduced Hong Kong's industries structure.

Finally, Mrs. Law concluded four points should be implemented in Hong Kong. They were Innovation and Technology Strategy Enhancement, Investment on Higher Education, Open HR market and matching National Development Strategy.

During the discussion, Mr. LAU Kong Wah suggested to form Professional Service Centre to assist Hong Kong's professionals to develop their business in China. Moreover, he mentioned the change of concept about relationship between Government and Market.

Ms. Emily Lau Wai-hing described the advantage of Hong Kong is Freedom, Legal and System. She pointed out the investment on research and technology was less than 2% of Hong Kong GDP.

Dr. Samson Tam suggested to enhance Internet Economic and to develop other kind of industry which China was not able to do. Moreover, he suggested not only Hong Kong people used Hong Kong product, but also Guangdong people also use Hong Kong product, so as to enlarge the market and good for innovation and technology development in Hong Kong.

At the end, all guests supported to establish Innovation and Technology Bureau in Hong Kong.

After the seminar, my Australia friend introduced the restaurant for Pakistani, Indian adn Arabic food called "Ziafat restaurant" in TST.

Then we saw a drama called "Boundless Movement" (遍地芳菲) to commemorate Centenary of China's 1911 Revolution (纪念辛亥革命100周年).

Reference:

Beijing-Hong Kong Academic Exchange Centre - http://www.bhkaec.org.hk/

TechMatrix Research Centre - http://www.techmatrix.hk/en/

Hong Kong Professionals and Senior Executives Association - http://www.hkpasea.org/

Ziafat restaurant: 6/F, Harilela Mansion, 81 Nathan Road, TST, Kowloon, HK.

Boundless Movement (遍地芳菲) - http://www.hkrep.com/tc_chi/season/2011-season2-1.html

Technical Workshop - On-site Detection of Radioactive Contamination

The Technical Workshop entitled “On-Site Detection of Radioactive Contamination” was co-organized by Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS), Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification (HKCTC), and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) on 21 & 22 June 2011.

Many people misunderstand that all radiation could be measured easily by using radiation detection meter. The background knowledge and technique were underestimated. After this workshop, we knew more in-depth on the detection of radioactive contamination and had a chance to use different type of radiation detector. Therefore, I would like to share some information I learnt from the workshop below.

In the beginning, Mr. WW Wong (Sr. Accreditation Officer, HKAS) gave an opening speech. The workshop aimed to enhance the knowledge on radioactive contamination detection because of increasing the test demand after the accident of Fukushima, Japan.

The first speaker was Mr. AU Sze Mun (Physicist, Radiation Health Unit, Department of Health) and his presentation title was “Practice and limitations of on-site detection of radioactive contamination”.

Firstly, Mr. AU introduced some basics on radioactivity to us. Antoine Henri Becquerel (15 December 1852 – 25 August 1908) was introduced. He is a French physicist, Nobel laureate, and the discoverer of radioactivity along with Marie Curie and Pierre Curie. They won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903.

The some common nuclides’ half-life were shown such as Tc-99m, Au-198, I-131, Co-60, etc. Moreover, the natural radiation exposure was mentioned.

The iodine-131 contamination characteristics were described. The information was from “Radionuclide and Radiation Protection Data Handbook 2002. (See reference)

Some agents for cleaning radioactive contamination were introduced.

Moreover, the transport package for radioactive source was also very important.

It could be referred to IAEA Safety Standards – Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material – No. TS-R-1 (2009).

After that Mr. AU discussed many contamination cases to us such as Chernobyl in 1986, Goiania in 1986, Tokaimura – 1999, and Fukushima, Japan in 2011.

Since the accident in Japan was so serious on 11 March 2011, IAEA posted the draft standard entitled “Criteria for Use in Preparedness and Response for a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency – No. GSG-2” on 14 March 2011 on the website.

Then Hong Kong Daya Bay Contingency Plan was also posted for public. The Operational Intervention Levels (OILs) in Hong Kong was above 30 Bq/cm².

The OILs used in Germany were briefed for reference.

Evaluation of surface contamination were found using ISO standard (ISO 7503-1, -2 & -3).

Different types of surface contamination monitor were shown and the square head one was commonly used in the Hong Kong government.

It should be care about the unit of the meter. HK government used Bq/ cm² for standard mixture (with specific calibration factor).

The calibration of surface contamination monitors should follow ISO 8769.

Some reference sources were introduced such as C-14 (156keV), Pm-147 (225keV), Cl-36 (710keV), Sr-90+Y-90 (2274keV) and Am-241 (5544keV), where () is Max Energy in keV.

Eventhough the calibration and reference standard was available, the interlaboratory comparison results were up to about 40% deviation.

The Mr. AU discussed to measure the actual sample should be identified the source of contamination. It may be the package, content or both.

Some surface contamination needed to use wipes for removable contamination. It was an indirect measurement.

The wipes paper was demonstrated. Then the removal factor was discussed such as F=0.1 if it is not determined experimentally.

The following photos showed the conducting contamination survey.

The second speaker was Mr. Yip Sung Tat and his topic named “Detection and Measurement of Radiation by hand-held equipment.

His talk was more focused on safety such as dosage for non-radiation worker to be introduced.

He explained the different between dose rate meter and surface contamination monitor.

ABCD was introduced before use the monitor. They stand for Assess, Battery, Calibration and Detectable.

The photo showed the battery check.

The real detection reading was shown.

The label for radioactive source and its package were briefed.

China standard GB18871 was mentioned.

After that Mr. Yip demonstrated how to use different monitors and the sources.

I tried to use the special monitor (Gamma Dose Rate meter). It needed to use the body of the rod.

The workshop location was in Science Centre North Block, CUHK and it was also called Charles Kuen Kao Building.

I also saw Chen Ning Yang Reading Room. Both are Nobel Prize winner in Physics.

My previous related article:

Ionizing Radiation Safety - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2011/03/ionization-radiation-safety.html

Reference:
Radionuclide and Radiation Protection Data Handbook 2002 - http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/files/Radionuclide_Data_Handbook%20final.pdf
IAEA Safety Standards – Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material – No. TS-R-1 (2009) - http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1384_web.pdf

Criteria for Use in Preparedness and Response for a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency – No. GSG-2 - http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1467_web.pdf

Hong Kong Daya Bay Contingency Plan - http://www.sb.gov.hk/eng/emergency/dbcp/dbcpeng.pdf

ISO 7503-1:1988 - Evaluation of surface contamination - Part 1: Beta-emitters (maximum beta energy greater than 0,15 MeV) and alpha-emitters

ISO 7503-2:1988 - Evaluation of surface contamination -- Part 2: Tritium surface contamination

ISO 7503-3:1996 - Evaluation of surface contamination -- Part 3: Isomeric transition and electron capture emitters, low energy beta-emitters (E bêtamax less than 0,15 MeV)

ISO 8769:2010 Reference sources - Calibration of surface contamination monitors - Alpha-, beta- and photon emitters

ISO 8769-2:1996 Reference sources for the calibration of surface contamination monitors - Part 2: Electrons of energy less than 0,15 MeV and photons of energy less than 1,5 MeV

GB18871-2002 电离辐射防护与辐射源安全基本标准