Deputy Chairman, and Secretary General of China Energy Fund Committee.
Trained with special expertise in retinal surgery, Dr. Patrick Howas a fellow at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Ophthalmology at the Hong Kong Chinese University.
Since 1993, he has been a member of the 8th – 11th (National) Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee, and in 1995, he was appointed a member of the Preparatory Committee of the first Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government. In 1997, he became a member of the HKSAR Urban Council. In 2002, he joined the HKSAR Government as the Secretary for Home Affairs with a policy portfolio ranging from district administration, arts and culture, youth and religious matters, gaming and charities, news and information, to overall liaison with the civil society. He retired from his cabinet post on 1 July 2007.
Dr. Ho is now the Deputy Chairman and Secretary General of China Energy Fund Committee, a think-tank registered in Hong Kong, devoted to public diplomacy, with special emphasis on energy, cyber security and culture. It is a charitable NGO with special consultative status from the United Nations Social and Economic Council. Also, he is one of the Directors of the National Association of Study on Hong Kong and Macau. In July 2014, he was invited by Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, to serve on his High-level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport.
The spread of the internet is lowering barriers to economic participation, creating new opportunities and innovations across all sectors. By advancing the Internet of Things, the Internet economy promises to revolutionize our business models and unlock potentials for sustainable development. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes that the spread of information and communications technology and global interconnectedness has great potential to accelerate human progress, to bridge the digital divide and to develop knowledge societies. In SDG 9, world leaders call for significantly increasing access to information and communications technology and striving to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020.
Dr. Ho, and CEFC under his leadership, have been contributing to the sustainable development of the Internet economy by supporting initiatives in empowering access, bridging the digital gaps, building capacity and fostering dialogue on cyber security.