China ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship Seminar

A Seminar named "China ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship" was organized by Department of Computing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and supported by CityU EngD Society on 20 Feb 2014. The guest speaker was Dr. Chan Man Hung, Thomas (Director, Public Policy Research Institute & Head, China Business Centre, PolyU) who is a true China issue expert in our region. His seminar would address the China ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship from China National Policy direction.

In the beginning, Dr. Walter Fung (Teaching Fellow, Dept. of Computing, PolyU & Former Vice Chairman, CityU EngD Society) gave an opening speech and introduced our guest speaker Dr. Chan Man Hung, Thomas.

Then Dr. Chan Man Hung, Thomas discussed the different topics about China economy and policy. I would like to consolidate some points below:
- Comparison of IC/chip production, China is far behind USA, Taiwan and Korea.
- Semiconductor design is strong in Taiwan and Korea.
- However, China has large scale of economy in which is one of advantages.
- He quoted Alibaba (阿里巴巴) as success case on ICT innovation company and it expanded to On-line Financial Service. However, it has several risks included data security. He mentioned that he didn’t trust too much on any ISO certification (say ISO 27001) in China. People factor such as misconduct would be a risk.
- China’s weakness is technology independent.
- Comparison with USA, Hong Kong has no own bank so the financial risk cannot be contained. USA could use currency policy to prolong the financial bubble/crisis.
- China financial system is a close system until now. If financial system is opened in China, What will happen? He also said many Chinese live in foreign country (Banana – yellow skin but white inside). Could we believe them to have responsibility on China and its society well-being? One of risk in China is the next generation with high education but not commit to the society of China. They only consider personal well-being.
- The risk of China is inside but not outside.
- I asked a question “Could Huawei catch up Samsung in future?” Dr. Chan said it seems difficult because Huawei’s scope is narrow but Samsung is vertical integration company.

At the end, Dr. Fung presented a souvenir to Dr. Chan.

Reference:
Department of Computing, PolyU - http://www.comp.polyu.edu.hk/en/home/index.php
CityU EngD Society - http://www.engd.org/home.aspx