HK urged to aim for the sky to boost economy
The skies of Hong Kong should be buzzing with drones, unmanned delivery vehicles and even flying taxis to help boost the economy, the government was advised on Thursday. The DAB, Smart City Consortium and a University of Science and Technology scholar said the authorities should come up with a legal framework to support the development of a "low-altitude economy" (LAE) in the city. At a press briefing, the founder and honorary president of the consortium, Winnie Tang, explained that a low-altitude economy encompasses activities occurring in the airspace up to 1,000 metres above ground level. This includes drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, and potentially even flying transport, she said. DAB lawmaker Elizabeth Quat said this is an area Hong Kong should be exploring. "Hong Kong's economy needs diversified development. We need to find a new way to stimulate the economy. We are aware that the low-altitude economy is one of the focuses on the mainland. It is one of the national strategic emerging industries," she said. "The [SAR] government has yet to initiate comprehensive planning for the low-altitude economy, and we think it is important to the future development in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area." Professor Li Mo from the department of computer science and engineering at the University of Science and Technology said Hong Kong is an ideal place to benefit from such emerging technology. "Hong Kong is a city or a place of high diversity. How do we really leverage the diversity we have to develop this LAE for different aspects? Maybe not only for transportation, not only for air taxi, not only for cargo, not only for delivery, but also for more, I would say, sensing building environment and collecting data, and making use of those data for other urban or smart city applications," Li said.