LCQ4: Innovation and technology-related experts in Government
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Following is a concern by the Hon Lee Kong-yu and a reply by the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, in the Legislative Council today (May 6):
Concern:
There are views explaining that Mainland cities that have actually accomplished relative success in development and innovation (I&T) advancement have actually all counted on the federal government’s holistic participation in developing platforms, co-ordinating resources and empowering business, which whether the federal government group has enough innovation skills to take part in I&T advancement efforts will straight affect the efficiency of policy execution. In this connection, will the Government notify this Council:
(1) of the present varieties of I&T-associated specialists in federal government expert grades (consisting of however not restricted to software application engineers (shows), systems experts, cybersecurity engineers, DevOps engineers and cloud engineers), with a breakdown by pertinent federal government departments, in addition to long-term and time-limited posts, and the percentage of personnel;
(2) whether it will, with recommendation to the very best market standard ratio in the market, set targets for the workforce ratio of I&T-associated experts in the Government for the coming 3 years, and reserve buffer workforce while sticking to the concept of preventing extreme recruitment, so regarding support future I&T efforts; and
(3) whether the Government has welcomed innovation specialists with experience in massive jobs to work as specialists to help different departments in better promoting digital and technological improvement, and whether it can supply cases to highlight the favorable effect of the participation of such professionals on the advancement of appropriate I&T jobs; if no such plans were made in the past, whether the Government has strategies to present such a practice?
Reply:
President,
Skill is the core engine driving digital change. While actively promoting the advancement of development and innovation (I&T) and digital change, we will likewise guarantee that the federal government group has the required understanding and abilities to accept innovative innovations such as synthetic intelligence (AI) and leverages market forces, thus boosting the effectiveness and quality of public services.
Relating to the concern raised by the Hon Lee Kwong-yu, the reply is as follows:
(1) and (2) The expert grades in the Government that are straight associated with infotech (IT) as discussed in the concern consist of the Analyst/Programmer Grade, the Computer Operator Grade and the Data Processor Grade. These IT experts are generally accountable for the research study, style, advancement, operation, and upkeep of details systems, in addition to the arrangement of different technical services (consisting of system and cyber security), task management assistance, and information entry jobs.
The Digital Policy Office (DPO) is accountable for handling the previously mentioned IT expert grades. Appropriate employee are released to various systems within the DPO, generally carrying out main co-ordination and assistance functions such as promoting the advancement of digital federal government, improving information governance, and cultivating market partnership. Employee are likewise published to different bureaux/departments (B/Ds) throughout the Government to support system operations and job execution, in addition to help in the application of pertinent digital policies and efforts. Since end-March this year, the facility of the 3 grades had to do with 2 200 in overall. The appropriate figures and breakdown by B/D are set out at Annex.
Promoting the advancement of I&T and AI is not the sole duty of IT expert grades; it likewise needs the involvement of the whole civil service and various sectors of the society. I&T-associated work is varied in nature, including a broad variety of policy locations, technical domains and execution plans, and including numerous occupations. The technological material is no longer restricted to conventional IT. At the exact same time, B/Ds likewise connect fantastic significance to supplying detailed assistance and allowing conditions for pertinent sectors. When evaluating the total human resources and abilities of the Government in driving I&T improvement, one need to not focus entirely on specific facility figures or set stiff targets for resource allowance.
To attend to the needs of different IT, digital change and I&T jobs, in addition to using civil servants, B/Ds likewise engage agreement personnel or acquire services from professionals having regard to functional requirements, task nature, innovation type, expert requirements, and resource allowance concerns. B/Ds might likewise flexibly redeploy existing workforce resources to fulfill functional needs. Beyond personnel recruitment and contracting out plans, the Government likewise stresses improvement and upgrade of abilities of its workforce. Through strengthened training, personnel are geared up with the current abilities and market practices to end up being flexible skill, thus supporting the significantly crucial work of federal government digital improvement and technology development.
(3) Under the management of the AI Efficacy Enhancement Team, the DPO has actually developed a devoted job force and welcomed innovation business with experience in massive jobs to help federal government departments in creating and executing AI-driven effectiveness improvement tasks. To even more support the Government’s digital change procedure, the DPO will generate market professionals in AI and information science, together with market-leading innovations, to offer technical assistance and tactical advisory services, and to help in training essential skills throughout various grades. This will assist sustain and scale up AI tasks while developing the Government’s internal AI skill swimming pool.
These market specialists are slowly coming on board. Embracing a “hand-holding” method through task management and execution, they will improve the capability of federal government workers accountable for AI jobs to recognize advanced innovations and use AI efficiently in practice. This will make sure that the Government’s digital and technological improvement jobs much better satisfy user requirements and expert requirements. The jobs under this effort will be gradually presented this year.
Thank you, President.