A Smart City Should First Understand the Daily Needs of Its Citizens

In the previous column, we mentioned that urban dwellers lead busy lives and face constant waiting. Given that Hong Kong's network infrastructure ranks among the best in the world, many mobile applications can be developed to provide "convenience without waiting" services. This is a small step towards developing a smart city, addressing the most urgent needs of its residents.

Observing the development of smart cities in some places in recent years, they often start with a grand blueprint. By leveraging a cloud computing platform centered on big data, they break down the data silos of government departments to achieve data sharing. This enables the realization of smart transportation, smart governance, smart healthcare, smart tourism, and even smart decision-making.

Indeed, the implementation of a smart city requires insight, goals, and well-planned advancement. However, after outlining these so-called smart projects, can their actual implementation be as smooth and beautiful as envisioned?

Generally, the development of a smart city is believed to go through four stages: electronic (digitalization), networking, intelligence, and wisdom.

Looking at the issues of electronic and networking stages, most government departments have already undertaken electronic work many years ago. Many government services that are closely related to people's livelihoods, such as weather inquiries, online submission of electronic forms, and online tax payments, have already been handled online. According to the "2016 Most and Least Frequently Provided Electronic Government Services" data published by the Innovation and Technology Bureau of the HKSAR Government, there are currently over 1,370 types of government application forms that can be submitted online. For online payments, citizens can use credit cards, debit cards, electronic checks, online banking, ATMs, mail payments, convenience stores, and PostPay to pay government bills and fees.

In addition, the most frequently accessed electronic services by citizens in 2016, with over 10 million inquiries, include the top five services. Apart from the fourth service, which is job inquiries from the Labour Department, the top three and fifth services are all from the Hong Kong Observatory and are 100% electronically implemented. As for electronic transaction items, the most and 100% electronic service is mail tracking by Hongkong Post. Citizens also frequently use the Leisure and Cultural Services Department's library reservation/renewal and the Treasury's government bill payment services, both with over 10 million instances, but their electronic implementation rates are only 69% and 52%, respectively.

Regarding the critical area of transportation services, it is not surprising that it is not among the 20 most frequently provided government services. For citizens, the demand for transportation is not just about electronic or networking stages but may have entered the intelligence or wisdom stage. For example, when will the bus arrive at the station, the current route of the bus, and the traffic conditions along the way to the destination can be queried through a smartphone. Furthermore, can the system automatically send relevant reminders to citizens in need?

Currently, the HKSAR Government is conducting a "smart government" study through a consultancy firm to propose development directions and specific recommendations. Based on summarized experiences from other regions, three issues need sufficient attention. Firstly, there is an overemphasis on technical means while neglecting the true needs of the citizens. Secondly, there is a focus on hardware investment while overlooking application development and user experience. Thirdly, the government's dominant role marginalizes the participation of the market and the community.

Cities are built for people, and without the three elements of demand, experience, and participation, achieving wisdom becomes difficult.

Dr. Angus Cheong Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Internet Research Alliance and Chief Data Consultant of uMax Data Technology Co., Ltd.

(Originally published in Hong Kong Economic Journal)