HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 23 November 2020 – The 13th Social Enterprise Summit (SES 2020) concluded successfully today, after three days of strong online engagement. COVID-19 not only highlights the value of social innovation it underscores the value of each and every one in our community. Increasingly corporations and investors are prioritizing social impact as a core business strategy for growth and sustainable development. Social enterprises instill solid social values and innovative ideas into the ecosystem while creating changes in the private sector over time.
This year’s call for action “Envision Citizens’ Innovation Towards 2030” was announced at the Concluding Session. Participants were given a list of words and were asked to select one that best described the kind of society they would like to see in ten years’ time. The most frequently chosen word was “Empower”.
At the closing ceremony, Mrs Rebecca CHOY YUNG, Chair of the Organising Committee of the Social Enterprise Summit said “SES is becoming a social innovation movement where cross sector change makers gather collective power to combat the increasingly unpredictable worldly challenges. Participants were eager to establish stronger networks and many resolves to taking action while adopting a long-term vision.”.
The concluding session was titled “Yesterday’s Heritage; Today’s Transformation; Tomorrow’s DYNAMIC INNOVATION”. It was hosted by Tony HUNG, artist and Founder of Travel Kind (HK), with other speakers including Ren WAN, Co-founder of JupYeah (HK), Rap CHAN, Co-founder and Illustrator of Dustykid (HK). They curated the session as a narrative with a script telling the story behind various initiatives for social good. Each story spoke of a social innovator’s mission, explained the targeted social impact of their work, and showed how “taking action” could create dynamic changes through collective power. Moreover, five student groups shared their award-winning social innovation projects to the audience.
On Saturday morning, the Asia Youth Entrepreneurship Exchange opened with a moderated Panel Discussion between six renowned social innovators from across Asia, namely Anya LIM, Co-Founder and Managing Director of ANTHILL Fabric Gallery (Philippines), David CHRISTIAN, Founder and CEO of Evo & Co (Indonesia), John MAK, Co-founder of MM Community (Myanmar), Peter PARK, Founder of Angelswing (Korea), Somsak BOOKAM, Founder and CEO of Local Alike (Thailand), and Yi LUO, Founder of Lao Tu (Mainland China). They were joined by six young changemakers from Hong Kong, namely Eric CHEUNG, Co-Founder of Dyelicious, Peann TAM, Co-Founder and Business Development Director of Eco-Greenergy, Himphen HUI, Co-founder of Collaction, Lawrence LUI, Co-founder and Executive Director of Longevity Design House, Eva WONG, Co-founder of WEDO GLOBAL, and Tsz Wai LOONG, Chief Executive of the Land Education Foundation. Each local social entrepreneur paired up with a regional counterpart and they discussed issues and shared stories across the important areas of rethinking sustainable fashion and textiles, innovating eco-friendly consumables, promoting civic engagement through community crowdsourcing, developing technology for human and urban resilience, building inclusive communities through cultural tourism, and reimagining urban-rural cultural connections.
The three-day SES 2020 online International Symposium brought together over 80 speakers from 15 locations to contribute to thirteen seminars, two thematic sessions, a workshop, a keynote speech, a policy dialogue, an exchange session, and a concluding session. Four sub-themes were featured in parallel sessions, namely “Community Empowerment”, “Digital Social Innovation”, “Sustainability and Business”, and “Education Innovation”. Meanwhile, an online social innovation exhibition showcased the latest work and the most recent accomplishments of the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund, including the new batch of intermediaries, the Food Support Flagship Project, the first “Pay-for-Success” project, etc. A series of short films on social innovation and stories about Hong Kong social innovators were also shown to help participants learn more about social innovation initiatives. The social innovation exhibition is open for one month until 18 December. Register here http://bit.ly/SES2020Reg to visit the online exhibition.
About Social Enterprise Summit
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 80 speakers from 15 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.
2020 Theme: “new normal · collective power” ︱ 19-21. 11. 2020 ︱ Online ︱
The turn of the decade 2020 begins with a pandemic affecting people around the world, raising attention to health and changing the way people work, study, commute or socialise. Everyone in our society will require some shifts to come out of the current situations. Collective efforts are needed to re-focus on fostering mutually reinforcing solutions, continuous communication towards common agendas and making swift decisions based on current data and measurement. This International Symposium will examine the process through 4 thematic tracks: Community Empowerment, Digital Social Innovation, Sustainability and Business as well as Education Innovation.
Community engagement activities are held in eight 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.
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