28 December 2021

As part of the HSUHK Innovation Project Competition 2022, the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) successfully organised three theme-based talks on three consecutive Thursdays in November 2021, enlightening over 150 students so that they could see the application of innovation to social issues around us in a whole new light.

With the strategic partners of the Institute of Youth Sustainability (IYSL) and the Wu Jieh Yee Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (WUCIE), the CTL’s annual student-oriented event, the HSUHK Innovation Project Competition 2022, which was held for the 7th time this year, aims to promote to our HSUHK students a culture of innovation and creativity and to raise the awareness of critical social issues locally or globally. This year, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4, 9, and 10 were chosen for our participating students, who would create their innovative multimedia projects based on these targets after participating in a series of theme-based tasks and skill-based workshops.

Kick-starting our first theme-based talk were three NGO representatives speaking on SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG10 (Reduce Inequalities) respectively. Mr James CHONG, Founder and CEO of Rolling Books, in addition to sharing his roller-coaster-like social entrepreneurship journey, encouraged our students to spread the joy of reading and the message of equal education. While our university and public libraries are just around the corner, James drew our attention to the limited access to books of newly-arrived children and also children from asylum families living in Hong Kong.

Menstruation or menstrual pain should no longer be a taboo or an embarrassment to discuss in public. Ms Bidhya Shrestha (Founder and Chairperson) and Ms Saiksha Gurung (Program Director) of Aama Ko Koseli (“Mother’s Token of Love”), a non-profit organisation aiming at empowering marginalised women of colours, invited the audience to voice out everyday issues, especially those the other sex might not comprehend. Only then could a voice surface to represent our different genders, loudly and proudly.

Echoing SDG9 (Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure), Dr Rocky LAM, in the capacity of Business Director of his successful consultancy business at Vantis Consulting Group, exemplified the importance of the digital infrastructure, technical management, and internet marketing tools. Assisting companies of different scales in flourishing, Rocky encouraged our students to see and seize the chances to innovate especially in times of crises.

Mr Perkins LO, Senior Business Development Manager of Hong Kong/ Taiwan Strategic Programs, Amazon Web Services (AWS), brought the talk series to a conclusion with another round of insights on SDG9. Using various examples to illustrate how Cloud technology encompasses different aspects of our daily lives, and social issues such as the homeless not having a proper address when applying for a job, Perkins inspired our students to be the engineers of tomorrow.