A new One-Stop Access Portal will be rolled out in mid-2006 to deliver citizen-centric e-government services, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer says.

Also, a three-year pilot scheme to open up the intellectual property rights in Government IT systems for commercial exploitation will be launched in the first quarter, and a new mechanism will be formed to strengthen the governance of IT projects from April.

The Digital 21 Strategy Advisory Committee today reviewed the progress made in the past year in implementing the strategy and discussed the targets and actions for the coming year.

Members noted the Government made good progress in the eight main areas of action under the strategy, which is the blueprint for driving the development and adoption of information and communications technology in Hong Kong.

Strategy review consultation

The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer said preparatory work for the next round of Digital 21 Strategy review has started. Discussion with members will start soon and a draft document will be ready for public consultation later this year.

The updated strategy, to be promulgated in early 2007, will be the blueprint for information and communications technology development in Hong Kong from 2007 to 2010.

The committee also discussed the outcome of the business review of the Hongkong Post Certification Authority. Hongkong Post will conduct a Request for Proposal exercise in the first half this year to invite the private sector to participate in running e-Cert services and form new value-added services and businesses to engender a self-financing public certification authority operation.

Household computers

Members also noted results of the 2005 Survey on IT Usage & Penetration in the Household & Business Sectors in Hong Kong.

Findings showed 70.1% of all domestic households had a personal computer at home, while 92.2% of them had an Internet connection, representing 64.6% of all homes.