According to Jeremy Richard Godfrey, chief information officer for Hong Kong government, Hong Kong plans to increase its information technology budget for 2010, aiming to develop five major innovative technology projects.

Godfrey told local media the government will launch a special measure to allocate HKD63 million to the education department for the promotion of a one-year Internet education activity. The fund for this activity nearly takes the entire increased budget. He emphasized that once the HKD63 million budget is approved, it will directly affect the total budget of the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and the total annual budget will reach HKD580 million.

Godfrey also pointed out that the budget for Hong Kong's IT projects such as building of a administrative computer system has been increased from HKD12.42 million in 2009 to HKD14.46 million, including HKD7.15 million for some small projects.

Starting from November 2010, the Hong Kong government will include five major innovative technology projects in its budget and these projects will cost up to USD923 million. In addition, budget for these projects will be the highest in the next few years, added Godfrey.

The five new projects are: re-building of a public information system for Hong Kong police; enhancing the construction of technology infrastructure for Hong Kong's police teams; enhancing the construction of information system infrastructure for Hong Kong's Inland Revenue Department; realizing a comprehensive financial aid system for students; and providing a traffic management system.