Co-creating a Regenerative Future with Cross-Sector Wisdom and Dialogue at the 14th Social Enterprise Summit
HONG KONG
SAR - Media
OutReach - 4 November 2021 - The 14th Social Enterprise Summit ("SES") has officially launched today
at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Themed "Building Blocks of a Regenerative Future", SES 2021 took a hybrid
format, with over 70 speakers and representatives from 13 countries and regions,
aiming to leverage strengths of different sectors to advance social innovation
in the post-pandemic era. The four-day Summit consists of discussion panels
with dynamic and interactive events, social innovation visits and workshops,
that inspire participants' creativity with first-hand experience.
The theme of this year's Summit is "Building Blocks of a Regenerative
Future", which signifies a trend of shifting from prosperity to 'thrivability',
focusing on planetary and societal wellbeing. As nature has demonstrated its
innate capacity to regenerate, now is the time for all citizens to be equipped
as changemakers to our respective social biospheres, and to drive innovative
initiatives across different sectors for social good. Social Enterprise Summit held
an array of exciting activities in nine districts including the Social
Entrepreneurship Labs, Community Carnival, SE Bazaar, School Talks
& Workshops, and Community Tours during July to early November,
which aimed to outreach local community and inspire each other with new social
innovation ideas.
Mrs. Rebecca CHOY YUNG, Chair of Organising Committee of Social
Enterprise Summit expressed in her welcoming speech, "Despite the substantial
challenges ahead, many social entrepreneurs have shown that positive
change is possible. Since 2014, we have been scaling up social innovation and
empowering individuals through our community programs. This year, we have
expanded our programs to 9 districts in Hong Kong with the addition of Wanchai,
Kowloon City and Tai Po. Cross-sector participation and dialogues are extremely
robust. I am delighted to report that innovative ideas and pilot projects have
been nurtured in different districts by passionate innovators coming from
different backgrounds."
The keynote speaker, Mr Charles EISENSTEIN, author of "Sacred Economics:
Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition", explained the concepts of
demographic, economic and ecological maturity, as well as their relations to a
"Regenerative Future" in the Keynote Speech. Various macroeconomic and social policies
that helped accelerate the transition, and the roles that business, government,
NGOs, and academia might play were also discussed. Mr James LAW, JP, Founder,
Chairman and CEO of Cybertecture Architects, HK and Ir Andrew YOUNG, Associate
Director (Innovation) of Sino Group acted as keynote respondents and shared their
visions on a "Regenerative Future".
The subsequent session of "Public Innovation – Bridging the Gaps
Between the People, Private and Public Sectors" examined the importance of
tripartite collaboration among the public sector, business and the civic
society to driving a "Regenerative Future". The panel was hosted by Mr Warren
LUK, CEO of Good Lab, HK, with Ms Ada WONG, JP, Deputy Chair of Organising
Committee of Social Enterprise Summit, HK, Ms Sunkyung HAN, Founder and CEO of C.,
South Korea, and Ms Emily ONG, Deputy Executive Director of DesignSingapore
Council, Singapore to be the guest speakers. They shared Hong Kong cases and
discussed a few examples in Asian cities in the hope of encouraging
cross-sector partnership.
The thematic session of "Building Community Blocks" in the afternoon was
co-hosted by Mr Francis NGAI, Founder and CEO of Social Ventures Hong Kong and Ms
Tiffany FUNG, Impact Producer of SONOVA, Social Ventures Hong Kong to
facilitate dialogues with guest speakers. Ms Vivian LEE, Founder and Director
of ActionHouse International Limited, Mr Linus LEUNG, Founder of ACTIVE CONCEPT
Limited, Mr Sampson WONG, Co-founder of "When in Doubt, Take a Walk", and Mr
Manfred YUEN, Founder of Groundwork Architects & Associates explored, from the
points of view of people, business and social enterprise, on how different
sectors could leverage their own strengths to reinforce community cohesion via
social innovation.
Aligning with the
strategic focus of the SES, three-themed tracks on Day 1 and 2 highlighted the
prerequisites and groundwork that are essential to building a "Regenerative
Future". Track 1-"Co-Creating an Open Knowledge Hub for Ecosystem Development" focused
on building an open data bank to share insights on Environmental, Social and
Governance across the world. Track 2 - "Building Alliances for Regional
Collective Impact" brought together Asian social entrepreneurs to advance
social innovation with new strategies and tools. Track 3 - "Bridging Purpose
with Actions" will cover how resources can be channelled effectively to
purpose-led projects.
On Day 3 and 4,
delegates will be immersed in multiple dimensions of social innovation
including two workshops, a concluding session themed "Beyond Sustainability", and
three social innovation visits. The concluding session will be hosted by Dr
Ilex LAM, Chairman of iEnterprise Foundation. He will join hands with Ms Naomi
CHAN, National Executive Vice President of JCI Hong Kong, Dr Eddy LEE, Founder
of 350HK, Ms Nicolette TONG, Executive Vice President of The Wave and Mr YUEN
Shu Wah, Founding Chairman of Gratia Foundation Limited, to examine the vision
of sustainability in the post-pandemic era and the prospect of the future
"regenerative development.
For further details, please visit the SES's official website: https://ses.org.hk/
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About Social Enterprise Summit (SES)
Social Enterprise Summit
(SES) is a cross-sector platform to inspire and empower social innovation and
social entrepreneurship. The flagship International Symposium builds on the
experiences of over 70 speakers and attendances from 10+ locations to inspire,
innovate, connect and collaborate with delegates from the civic society,
businesses, government and academic sectors from Hong Kong, China; Asia Pacific
region and beyond to advance positive societal changes. Community engagement
activities are held in nine different districts in Hong Kong during the year to
expand the participation and reach beyond the conference rooms, applying
knowledge, social entrepreneurship and innovative mindsets to various day to
day life settings. Official Website: http://www.ses.org.hk