Institute of Big Data Governance Established to Promote Best Practices in Self-regulated Data Governance
Picture 1: The Institute of Big Data Governance (IBDG) hosted its Launch Ceremony
(Hong Kong, 5 December 2018) – The Institute of Big Data Governance (IBDG) hosted its Launch Ceremony today and kicked off its mission through the Digital Economy and Big Data Governance Symposium, with Mr. Paul Chan, Financial Secretary, as the Guest of Honour to witness the launch of IBDG.
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IBDG was founded by Ir. Allen Yeung, former Government CIO of the HKSAR Government, and Mr. Herbert Chia, Venture Partner of Sequoia Capital China, with an array of industry leaders from technology and business sectors from Alibaba, Amazon Web Services, Bank of China, Cyberport, EY, Google, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, Microsoft, SAP, Smart City Consortium and Tencent as a non-profit, neutral and open forum for promoting good data governance through engaging industry stakeholders including big data users, regulators, governments and institutions across Hong Kong and other economies, with the vision and mission in building Hong Kong as a global data hub.
Picture 2: Ir Allen Yeung, Founding Chairman of IBDG, mentioned that the industry players must work together under self-governance, above and beyond laws and regulations, to ensure healthy development for the big data industry before any outbreak of major incidents that may seriously hamper such growth.
Ir Allen Yeung, Founding Chairman of IBDG, said “According to International Data Corporation, current market size of worldwide revenue for big data and business analytics solutions stood at US$166 billion in 2017 and expects to reach $260 billion in 2022. The big data era will bring forth immense opportunities for businesses and innovative development if we are able to overcome the challenges in ensuring data privacy is well protected and used according to proper standards. We believe industry players must work together under self-governance, above and beyond laws and regulations, to ensure healthy development for the big data industry before any outbreak of major incidents that may seriously hamper such growth. IBDG will soon publish best practices for data governance for its members to follow.”
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Furthermore, countries around the world are putting up data residency laws and promulgating stricter data flow regulations such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation of EU countries). “IBDG aims to act as a conduit for industry stakeholders to develop a mechanism to facilitate and streamline cross border data flow using Hong Kong’s unique position, under one-country and two-systems. Under the 9+2 Great Bay Area collaboration framework, cross border data flow becomes an important enabler,” Ir Yeung added.
Picture 3: Mr. Stephen Wong, Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data commented that It is essential for us to establish proper data governance in order to ensure protection of personal data and establish Hong Kong’s reputation for cross-border trade and commerce
To kick-off its series of industry engagement activities, the Digital Economy and Big Data Governance Symposium was held today where views from regulators, researchers, technology and business sectors were shared. Mr. Stephen Wong, Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, said during the Keynote Speech that “It is essential for us to establish proper data governance in order to ensure protection of personal data and establish Hong Kong’s reputation for cross-border trade and commerce. I congratulate Allen and the Council Members for setting up IBDG which shall play an important role to promote self-regulated data governance practices to facilitate strong growth momentum for Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area.”
Picture 4: Mr. Herbert Chia, the Convenor for Advisors of IBDG commented that more company begin to experiment with big data in their operation, the common concern with implementing big data revolves around the notion of Data Privacy.
Mr. Herbert Chia, the Convenor for Advisors of IBDG commented during his Keynote Speech that “As more company begin to experiment with big data in their operation, the common concern with implementing big data revolves around the notion of “Data Privacy”. Moreover AI often uncovers significant inconsistencies in the course of bad data quality. When their disappointment exceeds their enthusiasm, results tend to fail. Governance must be sensitive to reticence, the harm to individuals when data is not used properly. Success Data governance requires a full understanding of the impact of big data on full range of social consideration not just those related to privacy.”
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Mr. Rocky Cheng, General Manager of Information Technology of Bank of China said in the panel discussion that “Data is a valuable asset in the organization which can uncover customer and market insights to create the business value. To do so, it is essential for the organization to build up its data expertise, governance model and mechanism to manage the data asset in order to avoid confusion or misuse. Data collaboration between organizations and industries across cities and regions is an emerging direction. A high confidence level of data security and consistency is mandatory to ensure the compliance and accountability.”
Albert Wong, CEO, HKSTP said, “We are happy to be a part of IBDG and contribute to the larger I&T ecosystem in Hong Kong. Indeed, good governance, ethics and privacy are of the highest priorities when we share data with the different companies and start-ups at Science Park. HKSTP has been actively driving Big Data initiatives to assist start-ups and companies in developing and adopting data-driven smart city solutions, and we provide these services through collaborative efforts with many leading technology partners. For example, our Data Studio, launched at the Park in 2017, offers a rich dataset library across various disciplines such as health, finance, environment, education and transportation. These datasets are subscribed by nearly 600 developers from 42 publishers.”
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With the formation of IBDG, the core mission at the outset is to conduct a series of activities to engage industry practitioners to gain stronger appreciation of the need for big data governance, as well as to establish standards, principles and best practices for industry members to carry out self-regulated governance. Through harnessing the support from different sectors, the IBDG aims to facilitate and streamline cross border data flow for sustainable growth and enhancement of competitiveness for our businesses.