(Photo: CGTN)

Rise Technology Conference, the largest tech conference in Asia, got underway on Monday in Hong Kong. In its fourth year, Rise is bringing speakers from the world’s biggest companies together with the world’s most exciting startups. It has grown from 1,000 attendees in 2015 to an expected 15,000 attendees from more than 100 countries and regions this year.

The chief executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor attended the conference on Tuesday.

"Let me first welcome the Rise Conference to Hong Kong for the first time, and also welcome 15,000 participants from over 100 countries [and regions] to Hong Kong. And I hope you have a wonderful four-day Rise Conference in Hong Kong," Lam said.

When answering the question of why e-commerce or e-banking is not as popular in Hong Kong as in other places, Lam attributed that to the convenience of Hong Kong.

"Sometimes, we say we are the victim of our own success, because we are so convenient and compact. If you ask me why e-commerce or e-banking is not so popular in Hong Kong as in other places, [it’s] because [everything here] is so convenient,” Lam explained, adding that the city has the determination to go smart, and a blueprint on smart city has been published already.

Temi, the world’s first and truly intelligent mobile personal robot is also in the spotlight. Yossi Wolf, the founder and CEO of Temi personally carried out a demonstration. According to him, “the future is amazing and the possibility is endless."

"Virtual human" is the work of Digital Domain, an Academy Award winning digital production studio, and has attracted a lot of buzz. By capturing the facial expressions and body movements of a real person, the incredible technology can make you say anything. 

The technology of virtual human is on the rise but not without "danger," according to Daniel Seah, CEO of Digital Domain. 

"If I have a pleasure to invite any of you to our LA studio, then if you guys allow me to scan you for more than three hours, then we can duplicate you. We can make you speak everything you’ve never said before and make you do everything we want to. So we can be very dangerous," he said.

Moreover, Seah believed such technology would yield unusually brilliant results in the future. "I think the application can be really massive."