Opening remarks

20/3/2014

International Symposium for Social Innovation
Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Professor de Bont, Professor Chan, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

 

I am delighted that this symposium is taking place. Hong Kong, one of the major nodes of the global economy, holds up to view many of the global challenges that have arisen from the tension between current patterns of wealth creation on one side, and the needs of society and the capacity of the environment to sustain humanity on the other.

 

The challenge is most obviously seen in the increasing imbalance in wealth and opportunity within societies. Globally this is put in stark terms by the cold mathematics of Gini coefficients, and Hong Kong's figures are some of the most chilling of these. In response, the warm words of leaders from the Pope to the Presidents of China and the USA have summoned the world to action. I was particularly struck by the New Year message from the Archbishop of Canterbury, reminding us of the words of Nelson Mandela that "dealing with poverty is not an act of charity, it is an act of justice". He went on to suggest that our New Year resolution ought to be "not just to do things slightly differently, but to set our eyes on changing the world around us."

 

18 months ago the then new Government here in Hong Kong acted by re-establishing a Commission on Poverty. The Commission has a broad remit. As well as pursuing conventional approaches of strengthening welfare and investing in families it is also looking to stimulate innovation in approaches to tackling poverty. While poverty is not a new problem for society, changing economic and social trends are creating new causes. They can also create new opportunities for addressing the problem. Innovative and entrepreneurial people are needed to find and develop those opportunities.

 

As I see it, social innovation is a broad term to describe the search for transforming actions that will help us to address those global challenges through local action. This city needs social innovation no less than London, Seoul, Johannesburg, Sao Paulo, Amsterdam or Detroit, but, no less than they, I think this city has resources, ideas and skills to share with the world.

 

This institute in which we are met is one such resource, a place to bring together the skills and insight of many to generate understanding, stimulate fresh ideas and transform those ideas into workable initiatives. The task force that I chair and the new fund to promote the development of social innovation and entrepreneurship in the cause of poverty reduction is another resource. I see potential for great synergy between the two.

 

It was said, long ago, that "the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard". A common trap we can fall into is to try to deal with poverty by doing things to the poor, rather than seeking understanding of the causes of poverty and means of giving agency to those we label as poor. Both the institute and the fund place great emphasis on giving agency to those in need. Within the discipline of design is a deep understanding of techniques that can give the intended users or beneficiaries of initiatives effective voice in the exploration of issues and development of actions to address them. For the Fund, an objective we have set is to stimulate programmes that attract and develop people from disadvantaged communities to establish sustaining businesses for themselves that have social impact at their heart. You could say we are trying to expand the supply of people who may be clients for this institute. We also aim to expand the infrastructure of networks for sharing information, connecting social entrepreneurs with skills, mentoring and appropriate financing mechanisms, bridging gaps so that there is a more robust ecosystem within which ideas can move from design to testing to scaling up with greater ease.

 

As an educator myself, I am particularly glad to see how the Institute has opened the door to young people, to help them to realize their dreams and show their care for society, and by combining their dreams and their hearts, to make a difference for the world. I look forward to the SIE Fund work well in collaboration with the Institute in the years ahead.

 

I would invite you to consider this Institute and the Fund together as an innovation designed to generate further innovation that addresses social need. I am very conscious, though, that innovation only has value when it leads to good results. Our eyes should always be on achieving impact rather than generating activity. And that is the challenge I put to all of you here today, how are you going to take the ideas and insight shared in the discussions today on into effective partnerships for action to help make this city a better home in itself and, through local action, help to address the challenges that face our global home?

 

 

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