News

The SIE Fund has introduced the “Smart Silver” Digital Inclusion Programme for Elders which provides regular and fixed-point digital training courses and technical support to help elderly people integrate into the digital era and enjoy the benefits of digital technologies. A launching ceremony was held on 13 December at Lok Fu Place to mark the commencement of the Programme. Officiating at the ceremony were the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong; the Commissioner for Digital Policy, Mr Tony Wong; and the Chairperson of the SIE Fund Task Force, Mr Kevin Orr. Actress Alice Fung was also invited to share with fellow senior citizens her experience of using digital technologies. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, 75 elderly volunteers were also invited to the event to share the joy.

The prize presentation ceremony of the Elderly IT Stars Recognition Scheme was also held on the same day to recognise 13 "Elderly IT Stars" who have demonstrated their commitment to using digital technologies to improve their quality of life. During the two-day Fun Day held on 13 and 14 December, game booths and information panels were set up at the venue to let the public learn more about the Government's digital inclusion initiatives for elders.

Please visit this webpage for more information about the “Smart Silver” Digital Inclusion Programme for Elders.

Chairperson of the SIE Fund Task Force Dr Jane Lee was interviewed in an episode of the radio programme 新紫荊廣場 of the Putonghua channel of Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) and had conversations with the host Ms Joyce Yeung and Ms Jessie Yu Sau-chu, a member of the Commission on Poverty, around the theme “social innovation contributes to poverty alleviation” and highlighting the Fund’s 10 years of achievements as well as its plans and prospect.

In the interview, Dr Lee shared how the SIE Fund created social impact through funding different projects including FOOD-CO, the Gerontechnology Platform, CharityToday, and various innovative projects. Concluding the interview, Dr Lee remarked that the SIE Fund will strengthen its efforts in supporting the Government’s strategy of “targeted poverty alleviation” and will join hands with different sectors of society to foster social innovation, addressing the most concerned poverty issues and the needs of vulnerable groups.

The interview was broadcast on 18 January and the audio clip is available on the webpage of RTHK’s Putonghua channel.

In 2021, the SIE Fund funded four innovative projects themed on inter-generational digital inclusion, including the SmartConnect programme launched by the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council.  A sharing ceremony was held by the Council on 12 December 2023 to share the programme’s accomplishments.

In her speech delivered at the event, Dr Jane Lee, Chairperson of the SIE Fund Task Force, stated that SmartConnect has adopted a multi-faceted approach to help senior citizens make good use of digital technology, and the Fund is pleased to see the close communication between the elderly and the youngsters through which both parties greatly benefitted.

SmartConnect has engaged the Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University as its research partner which provides analysis of the programme’s impact and advice on its development. Research findings suggest that the programme has significantly enhanced the elderly’s mastery of digital devices while the collaboration of the young and old has effectively mitigated stereotyping and fostered intergenerational communication and inclusion.

Elderly and youngster participants were also invited to share their experiences and what they learned. They appreciated the programme for enhancing intergenerational communication and mutual understanding.

Please visit this web page for more information about SmartConnect.

As the highlight of the promotional activities celebrating the 10th anniversary of the SIE Fund, the Social Innovation Carnival was held at the Central Market from 24 to 26, November 2023, with the theme of "Innovate to Create Impact for Poverty Alleviation". The carnival featured about 20 booths, showcasing innovative products, services and solutions that address social needs. Workshops were also held to let the public gain first-hand experience to understand how social innovation helps the needy.

Attending the carnival and officiating at the SIE Fund 10th Anniversary Celebration Ceremony on 25 November, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, pointed out that the Fund’s achievements have been well recognised, including having supported more than 500 social innovation projects to address the needs of various grassroots groups while strengthening the work of poverty alleviation in Hong Kong. Other officiating guests at the ceremony included the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong; the Chairperson of the SIE Fund Task Force, Dr Jane Lee; the Under Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Ho Kai-ming; the Under Secretary for Education, Mr Sze Chun-fai; and the Commissioner for Efficiency and Secretary-General of the SIE Fund Task Force Secretariat, Miss Patricia So.

A roving exhibition was also held on the second floor of the Central Market from 24 to 30 November, with its focus on featuring the intermediaries' innovative programmes, flagship projects, and other major initiatives, in addition to displaying real-life products or models of some of the innovative projects.

Chairperson of the SIE Fund Task Force Dr Jane Lee joined other social innovators to share their experiences and aspiration in a series of four episodes of interview segments in the radio programme “Our Way Out” on Commercial Radio CR1.

As the guest for the first episode, Dr Lee talked about the changes in the social innovation ecosystem in the past ten years and elaborated on the future development of the SIE Fund. She also revealed that a host of activities in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Fund will roll out and members of the public will be invited to participate.

Interviewees of the other three episodes include Queenie Man, founder of “Sensory Restaurant on Wheels”; Zip Cheung, founder of “OHH Dear Communications”; Connie Ng, officer-in-charge of the flagship project “FOOD-CO”; Nathan Hui, co-founder of “NeuroGym”; Alvin Cheung, co-founder of “HandyRehab”; and Prof Catherine So, founder of “Online and Home-based Robot for Autism Behavioral Intervention”. They will summarise from the perspectives of innovative approach, cross-sector collaboration and application of technology how projects supported by the SIE Fund achieved “targeted poverty alleviation” and "make dreams come true".

Beginning on 24 July, the series runs for four consecutive Mondays in the programme “Our Way Out” on Commercial Radio CR1. Audio clips will also be available on the 881903 website.

More information about activities in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the SIE Fund will be released in due course.

Chairperson of the SIE Fund Task Force Dr Jane Lee, together with Vice-chairperson Alvin Miu and representatives of the Secretariat, attended a press conference of the funded project CharityToday. Launched by St. James’ Settlement and applying information technology to social service, CharityToday is a new one-stop search and application platform for assistance programmes. Through this digital platform, beneficiaries of subsidy programmes can enjoy dignity, convenience and a diversity of choices.

“CharityToday has pioneered a new model of charitable support. It is hoped that more generous corporations will launch their programmes on this platform and that more stored value facilities will join to make good use of technology to provide greater convenience and suitable aid to people in need,” said Dr Lee at the event.

Please visit this webpage for more details about CharityToday.

The SIE Fund has recently appointed four organisations as the third batch of intermediaries to launch a new round of innovative programmes with a view to providing support for more social entrepreneurs, thereby fostering the continuous development of the social innovation ecosystem. The four intermediaries appointed are Fullness Social Enterprises Society Ltd (FSES), the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS), MakerBay Foundation Limited (MakerBay) and Oxfam Hong Kong (Oxfam).

MakerBay and Oxfam are first-time appointees with new innovative programmes "Impact Innovation Lab" and "Grant for Good" to be launched respectively, whereas FSES and HKCSS continue to join hands with the SIE Fund to enhance their current programmes namely "Innovator Farm” and "Impact Incubator" to create more social benefits. It is expected that the four intermediaries will fund and incubate more than 240 innovative projects during the three-year engagement period.

The new round of innovative programmes is expected to be launched in the second quarter of this year. More information can be found here.

The Government announced appointments to the SIE Fund Task Force under the Commission on Poverty for a term of one and a half years from 1 January 2023 to 30 June 2024. Please refer to the press release for more information. Membership list of the SIE Fund Task Force is also available in the "Task Force" section of this website.

The SIE Fund Task Force and the Secretariat paid a visit to the Wong Tai Sin District Health Centre (WTS DHC) on 7 December 2022 to gain a better understanding of the operation of a district health centre and services provided for users of different ages with the adoption of technology. Operated by the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council, the WTS DHC provides health promotion, health risk factors assessment, chronic disease management services and community rehabilitation programmes to the local community.

The visit enabled the Task Force to understand the latest development and needs of district services and facilitated the Fund’s work of fostering innovative ideas, products and services to meet social needs.

Over the years, the SIE Fund has participated in the Social Enterprise Summit, a spectacular event of the social innovation circle. The International Symposium of the 15th Social Enterprise Summit was held from 24 to 27 November 2022. The SIE Fund, as in previous years, hosted the Social Innovation Exhibition at the Symposium’s venue to introduce the Fund’s major works and achievements.

This year, a Youth Summit marked the third day of the International Symposium. Echoing the theme, the SIE Fund held the Young Entrepreneur Showcase on that day to feature 32 funded projects established by young social entrepreneurs. Through this Showcase, the public could understand more about the innovative ideas and aspirations of the project founders whilst the young social entrepreneurs could exchange views among themselves and explore opportunities for collaborations with other parties. The Showcase would also help inspire more young people to become social innovators, fostering the further development of the social innovation ecosystem.

Launched in 2017, SIE Fund’s food support flagship project FOOD-CO has brought significant enhancement to the efficiency of Hong Kong’s food support services through the application of technology and cross-sector collaboration and promoted “save and share” through diverse activities in the community. It has so far facilitated more than 10 000 transactions of food donation, with food weighing over 1 500 tonnes in total.

To honour and recognise the contributions of the partners, the project’s intermediary St. James’ Settlement organised “The Partners’ Recognition Ceremony 2022” on 21 November 2022. Officiating at the ceremony, the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Professor Sun Dong remarked that he was glad that representatives of donor organisations and FOOD-CO’s partners were getting together to share the delight of the project’s achievements. He added that he would be pleased to see the SIE Fund continuing with its role in fostering social innovation, and creating social value through facilitating cross-sector collaboration, introducing flexible funding models and promoting the use of technology among different sectors (click here for the speech [Chinese version only]). In his speech, the Vice-chairperson of the SIE Fund Task Force Alvin Miu stated the Fund was grateful that in its five years of operation FOOD-CO has proficiently enhanced the overall effectiveness of food support services in Hong Kong, with continuous growth in the number of service points, meals served and people who benefit.

The SIE Fund Task Force paid a visit to the Gerontech and Innovation Expo on 3 November 2022 to keep abreast of the latest development of gerontechnology and exchange views with practitioners of the sector. The Expo this year showcased more than 700 gerontechnology products and solutions presented by over 180 exhibitors from Hong Kong and other parts of the world. It also hosted five themed pavilions, one of which being “Smart City Smart Service”. The Gerontechnology Platform funded by the SIE Fund was one of the exhibitors in the pavilion, through which the work and achievements of the Platform were introduced to the public.

As the second flagship project of the SIE Fund, the Gerontechnology Platform was launched in 2021. It aims to link up different stakeholders on the supply and demand sides and enhance synergy by way of engagement, cross-sector partnership and collaboration, with a view to fostering the development of the gerontechnology ecosystem.

The SIE Fund has engaged intermediaries as strategic partners to design and deliver funding and incubation programmes to meet the needs of the social innovation space. To this end, two batches of intermediaries were engaged in 2015 and 2020 to design and deliver innovative programmes.

 

Services of the batch of intermediaries engaged by the SIE Fund in 2020 are due to expire and the Fund is planning to appoint the third batch of intermediaries in the latter half of 2022 to sustain the momentum successfully created within the social innovation space and facilitate further development and enhancement of the ecosystem.

 

The SIE Fund is now inviting proposals from interested parties to apply for the role of intermediaries for designing and administering innovative programmes to support social innovators or ventures of different forms and at different stages of development. Proposals from entities established in Hong Kong which share the Fund’s objective are welcome.

 

The deadline for submission of proposals is at 18:00 hr on 4 August 2022 (Thursday). 

The SIE Fund has engaged intermediaries as strategic partners to design and deliver funding and incubation programmes meeting the needs of the social innovation space. To this end, the Fund has engaged two batches of four intermediaries in 2015 and 2020 to design and deliver “Innovative Programmes”. Since the services of the second batch of intermediaries are due to expire, the SIE Fund is planning to engage a new batch of intermediaries to further take forward the Fund’s work.

The SIE Fund is organising two online exchange sessions with stakeholders in mid April 2022 to collect views from the social innovation sector regarding the engagement work, including –

(a) the existing gaps and opportunities in the social innovation ecosystem;
(b) how the SIE Fund, through the new batch of intermediaries, helps fill the gaps and seizes the opportunities; and
(c) the essential engagement terms for engaging the most suitable intermediaries.

Interested individuals and organisations are welcome to attend either one of the online sessions to share your views and suggestions with us –

Session 1 - 20 April (3pm - 5pm)
Session 2 - 22 April (3pm - 5pm)

Please register through the link below:
https://www.idea.gov.hk/sie/stakeholder-engagement-session-2022

The confirmation email with online meeting link will be shared with you through registered email nearer the time.

Those unable to attend the above sessions are also welcome to send your views to siefund@effo.gov.hk on or before 22 April 2022.

The SIE Fund’s food support flagship project FOOD-CO has recorded remarkable achievements since its launch in 2017. Thanks to the efforts of the intermediary St. James' Settlement (SJS) and support from its partners, FOOD-CO has seen more than 8 600 transactions of food donation, with food weighing over 1 300 tonnes in total. To honour and recognise the contributions of the partners, SJS organised the FOOD-CO Partners’ Recognition Ceremony 2019-2021 on 17 December 2021.

Officiating at the ceremony, Dr Jane Lee, Chairperson of SIE Fund Task Force, praised FOOD-CO for the adoption of technology and a novel operation mode to address social problems. She thanked SJS and its partners for their efforts that brought new and enhanced functions such as an automated one-stop logistics system for food delivery and temporary storage, a one-stop volunteer recruitment and training platform, and an artificial intelligence chat robot (i.e. Chatbot) that makes the donation process more convenient. She also wished the success of FOOD-CO would inspire more social service providers to apply technology to their services for better efficiency and bigger impact.

The ceremony also marked the start of the 3-day FOOD-CO Christmas Carnival, at which members of the public knew more about saving and sharing food through art displays, bazaar and game booths.

Commenced in January 2021, the Gerontechnology Platform is the second flagship project of the SIE Fund. A collaborative coalition of ten organisations led by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) has been appointed as the intermediary to design, develop and operate an inclusive one-stop Gerontechnology Platform, with the aim of fostering the development and application of gerontechnology to address the challenges and seize the opportunities arising from the ageing population. The project has been making satisfactory progress since its commencement, with a newly released research report among its latest achievements.

On 1 December 2021, HKCSS held a launching ceremony for the Gerontechnology Platform at which the findings of the research report entitled “Building an Age-Friendly City - Embedding Gerontechnology Into Everyday Life” were also revealed. The research examined the development of the gerontechnology ecosystem since the "Landscape Study on Gerontechnology and Innovation in Hong Kong" conducted in 2017. While noting the narrowing of gaps in the ecosystem, the report also provides recommendations for improvements in various areas. Representatives of product and service users also attended to share with attendants how they benefit from the Platform.

The launching ceremony was followed by an annual summit at which participants exchanged views around the theme "An Age-Friendly & Carer-Friendly Smart City".

In view of the challenges posed by the ageing population, the SIE Fund launched its second flagship project, the Gerontechnology Platform, in January 2021, aiming to foster the development of the gerontechnology ecosystem in Hong Kong. While the project is making progress, the SIE Fund Task Force (Task Force) will stay tuned for the latest development of the sector.

On 4 November 2021, the Task Force visited the fifth Gerontech and Innovation Expo cum Summit jointly hosted by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Hong Kong Council of Social Service. More than 160 exhibitors showcase over 600 gerontechnology products and solutions, including 11 companies and organisations funded by the SIE Fund. Task Force members did not just learn about the latest trend and development of gerontechnology, they also exchanged views with exhibitors to understand the needs of the sector and different stakeholders, getting the SIE Fund prepared to further promote the development of the gerontechnology ecosystem.

The SIE Fund has funded four innovative projects seeking to promote inter-generational digital inclusion by engaging young people to, through employment or volunteer work, make good use of their digital knowledge to help the elderly increase their understanding and adoption of digital technologies, and at the same time foster inter-generational harmony and enhance social cohesion.

The four organisations funded for implementing the innovative projects are the Harmony Garden Lutheran Centre for the Elderly, the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups Youth Employment Network, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Institute of Active Ageing, and the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council Ltd respectively. The four projects will all commence in October 2021 and last for 1.5 years to 2.5 years. It is expected that more than 3 700 elderlies and nearly 450 youths will be benefitted. The projects will not only address effectively social needs under the epidemic, but also promote sustainable inter-generational digital inclusion and create long term social impact.

For details of the projects, please refer to the press release for more information or visit this page.

Jointly funded by the SIE Fund and The Community Chest of Hong Kong and administered by The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS), the Community Housing Movement recently won the Gold Award and Best Collaborative Award in the Wofoo Asian Award for Advancing Family Well-Being (Wofoo 3A Project) 2020 held by the Consortium of Institutes on Family in the Asian Region (CIFA). CIFA is a regional organisation in Asia providing a platform for trans-disciplinary collaboration with the ultimate goal to strengthen family functioning and promote family health in the region while contributing to the body of knowledge in relationship science in the international arena. The Wofoo 3A Project serves to give recognition to outstanding initiatives in the Asian region that have advanced an innovative idea, model, or paradigm that can improve the quality of life for families and enhance their well-being. CIFA described the Community Housing Movement as not only meeting the housing needs but also having a strong focus on improving citizen’s personal, family and community life.  
The Community Housing Movement was also the Social Equality and Inclusion Winner of the Constellations Awards organised by the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN).  The organiser highlighted the collaboration of partners in the Movement involving HKCSS, The Community Chest of Hong Kong, the SIE Fund, landlords, non-governmental organisations and social enterprises, as well as the government.  As a Singapore-based network of impact investors, AVPN aims to foster social investment in the Asian region.

The SIE Fund has been exploring ways to address the challenges and opportunities arising from an ageing population through innovative means and more extensive cross-sector collaboration. On 28 April 2021, the SIE Fund Task Force, keen to keep abreast of the latest development and application of gerontechnology (gerontech), visited two service centres in Shatin operating under the Jockey Club “age at home” Gerontech Education and Rental Service scheme funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and administered by The Hong Kong Council of Social Service. The Jockey Club “age at home” Gerontech Education and Rental Service Centre, which exhibits gerontech equipment and provides educational activities and consultancy and equipment rental services, is operated jointly by Hong Kong Red Cross and Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service – Hong Kong, whereas the Gerontech Cleaning and Maintenance Service Centre operated by St. James' Settlement offers one-stop services for cleaning, disinfection, quality check, maintenance and re-packaging of rental equipment. While enabling members of the Task Force to understand more about the application of gerontech, the visit provided a good reference for the Fund on fostering the development of the gerontech ecosystem in Hong Kong.

To foster the development and application of gerontech in Hong Kong, the SIE Fund has earlier appointed an intermediary to develop an inclusive Gerontech Platform to facilitate exchange and collaboration among different stakeholders on the supply and demand sides, and link up those organisations engaged in promoting the development of gerontech in the society. The aim is to gather the efforts of all stakeholders to address the ageing issue in a holistic manner. The project has commenced in January 2021 and will last for three years. Please visit this webpage for more information about the project.

With the passage of the Appropriation Bill 2021 by the Legislative Council on 28 April 2021, an injection of $500 million to the SIE Fund will be made in 2021-22 as set out in the Chief Executive’s 2020 Policy Address Supplement.

The funding injection would allow the SIE Fund to further promote social innovation and nurture social entrepreneurship as a means to alleviating poverty and social exclusion as well as fostering the well-being and cohesion of the society. In addition to the ongoing initiatives such as the establishment of the Gerontechnology Platform and collaboration with intermediaries to support social entrepreneurs and innovative projects, the Fund would continue to explore other approaches to enable more innovative ideas, products and services to address social needs and create greater and more lasting social impact.

The SIE Fund has commissioned The University of Hong Kong to conduct the “Second Evaluation Study of the SIE Fund” (“Second Evaluation Study”) with the aim of evaluating the performance of the initiatives of the Fund in achieving its objectives. Following on from the research period covered by the First Evaluation Study, the Second Evaluation Study further examines the overall performance of the Fund, the impact of intermediaries as well as projects and initiatives funded or supported by the Fund on a longitudinal basis during the period from July 2020 to December 2023. The Study will also come up with recommendations of improvements at all levels.

With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus epidemic, the use of digital products to receive instant information and maintain close connection with the society has been intensified. The elderly, who generally have lower digital literacy, have therefore become more isolated and vulnerable. Meanwhile, more and more young people, who are in general well-versed in digital technologies, have become unemployed or underemployed under the epidemic.

The SIE Fund is now inviting funding proposals for projects that will enhance the capability and interest of the elderly in learning and adopting digital technologies with the participation/employment of the youth. The aim is to unleash the talents of the youth to meet the digital needs of the elderly, encourage elderly learning and at the same time promote inter-generational harmony and social cohesion.

The proposed projects have to comprise two elements, namely (a) intervention(s) seeking to enhance the capability and interest of the elderly in learning and adopting digital technologies; and (b) engagement/employment of young people to support or provide the intervention(s). Interested and eligible parties have to submit their proposals to the SIE Fund Task Force Secretariat no later than 6pm on 31 May 2021. Please refer to the following for more details:

• Invitation Brief and Appendix 1 "More Information about the SIE Fund"
• Appendix 2 "Template for Business Plan Proposal"
• Appendix 3 "Template for Budget of Proposal"

For enquiry, please call 2165 7389 (9:30am to 12:30pm and 2pm to 6pm, Monday to Friday except Public Holiday) or send email to siefund@effo.gov.hk.

It is set out in the Chief Executive’s 2020 Policy Address Supplement that “An injection of $500 million to the SIE Fund will be made in 2021-22”. The proposed funding injection was discussed at the meeting of the Legislative Council Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting held on 11 January 2021. The panel paper setting out details of the funding injection proposal can be found here.

The Administration’s response to the motion passed at the meeting and a follow-up paper to provide supplementary information requested by Members at the meeting were issued on 22 January 2021 and 26 January 2021 respectively.

The SIE Fund has appointed a collaborative coalition of ten organisations led by The Hong Kong Council of Social Service as an intermediary to design, develop and operate an inclusive one-stop Gerontechnology Platform to promote the development of the gerontechnology ecosystem in Hong Kong.

The Gerontechnology Platform is the second flagship project of the SIE Fund. The project has commenced on 1 January 2021 and will last for three years. The Platform will comprise four basic functionalities, namely (1) a knowledge hub; (2) network and capacity building; (3) consultancy, localisation and testing support; and (4) impact assessment. It will link up different stakeholders on the supply and demand sides and enhance synergy by way of engagement, cross-sector partnership and collaboration, with the aim of fostering the development and application of gerontechnology to enhance the well-being, quality of life, independence and self-reliance of the elderly as well as provide support to their families, caregivers, healthcare staff and institutions, particularly under the "new normal".

More details can be found here.

Seeking to catalyse the pilot development of the innovative financing model of Pay-for-Success (PFS, also known as Social Impact Bond) in Hong Kong, the SIE Fund has taken up the role of Commissioner for the first PFS project in Hong Kong launched recently.

The PFS project "Start from the Beginning - Chinese Supporting Scheme for Non-Chinese Speaking Students (NCS) in Kindergarten" was rolled out by Oxfam Hong Kong (Oxfam) in September 2020. It seeks to scale up an existing programme of Oxfam with the objective of helping NCS kindergarten students improve their Chinese proficiency and learning motivation, enhancing kindergarten teachers' capability of teaching NCS students Chinese, and thereby relieving the poverty and social exclusion issues of NCS students in the long run.

This scale-up PFS project comprises curriculum enrichment, learning and teaching material enhancement, student support, teacher empowerment, parent support, development of an on-line learning community platform, organisation of seminars and workshops, etc., to cater for the needs of NCS students, kindergartens, teachers, and parents.

More details of the project can be found here.

The SIE Fund has engaged the University of Hong Kong to conduct an evaluation study of the Fund (“1st Study”) since 2016 with the objective of evaluating the effectiveness of the initiatives of the Fund in achieving the Fund’s objectives.  Following the completion of the 1st Study covering up to end June 2020 in terms of research period, the Fund intends to engage a consultant to conduct the 2nd Evaluation Study of the Fund (“2nd Study”) to further evaluate the performance of the SIE Fund covering the research period of July 2020 to December 2023.

The SIE Fund is now inviting proposals from interested parties to act as the consultant to conduct the 2nd Study.  An invitation brief setting out the scope of the study, the eligibility and submission requirements, the assessment process and selection criteria, the  key engagement terms, etc. is available for download here. Proposals should be submitted by 6pm on 23 November 2020 (Monday).

Two identical briefing sessions for this invitation exercise will be conducted at 10:30am on 8 September 2020 (Tuesday) and 2:30pm on 11 September 2020 (Friday) respectively.  The briefing sessions will be conducted in Cantonese and supplemented with English terminology.  Interested parties may click here to register for either session.  Depending on the latest development of the epidemic, the briefing sessions may be conducted on-line.

For enquiry, please call 2165 7389 (9:30am to 12:30pm and 2pm to 6pm, Monday to Friday except Public Holiday) or send email to siefund@effo.gov.hk.

Information of importance

• Invitation brief and appendices
• Registration for the briefing sessions
• Presentation materials for the briefing sessions

The government has announced the membership of the new term of Commission on Poverty (CoP) and its Task Forces with an office term running from 1 July 2020 to 31 December 2022.  Please refer to the press release and CoP website for details. Membership of the SIE Fund Task Force is also available in the "Task Force" section of this website.

The SIE Fund has successfully appointed four organisations as the second batch of intermediaries recently. They are Fullness Social Enterprises Society Ltd, The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, PolyU Technology and Consultancy Co Ltd and The Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention, Hong Kong.

New rounds of innovative programmes are being launched by the new batch of intermediaries respectively with a view to sustaining the momentum within the social innovation sector and facilitating further development and enhancement of the ecosystem. While individual programmes are unique in their own rights, collectively they cater to different development stages of ventures by nurturing and supporting social innovators to develop innovative projects with diversity and impact. Please refer to the press release for further details. More information about programmes of the second batch of intermediaries can be found here.

The SIE Fund has recently appointed the Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention, Hong Kong (SRACP) as an intermediary to design and administer a brand new innovative programme "BEHub" under the Fund.

With ten-year solid experience in nurturing and incubating the ideas, prototypes, start-ups and scale-up businesses of disadvantaged groups, the SRACP will launch the "BEHub" programme in September 2020 for about three years to foster interactions between the social innovators and the disadvantaged people and nurture the disadvantaged people to become social innovators to help solve the difficulties encountered by the disadvantaged groups. "BEHub" will empower the social innovators to grow and succeed through provision of professional and comprehensive services and facilitate people from different sectors in supporting the social innovators by building up a professional infrastructure. More details of the programme will be announced by SRACP nearer the time. For enquiries, please contact the programme team by calling 3590 5908 or by sending e-mail to sm_esse@sracp.org.hk.

The SIE Fund has recently appointed Fullness Social Enterprises Society Ltd (FSES) as an intermediary to design and administer a new innovative programme called “Innovator Farm” under the Fund.

Leveraging its expertise and experience in bringing social entrepreneurship education to secondary and post-secondary schools and incubating young social entrepreneurs for the Hong Kong society, FSES will launch the three-year "Innovator Farm" programme in June 2020 to inspire youths, primarily those aged 15 to 25, to brainstorm innovative ideas and creative solutions and turn them into prototypes and start-up businesses so as to address the problems of poverty and social exclusion in Hong Kong. A systematic yet playful social innovation and entrepreneurship learning journey will be introduced to unleash the potential of the youths by providing them with tailored incubation and network with stakeholders from different sectors including social, business, education, government, etc. More details of the programme will be announced by FSES in May 2020. For enquiries, please contact the programme team by telephone at 9385 5784 or by e-mail at if@fses.hk..

The SIE Fund is still in the process of appointing intermediaries for running different innovative programmes. Announcement will be made upon further appointment.

In response to the latest development of the Novel Coronavirus Epidemic, the SIE Fund welcomes innovative solutions specifically addressing the needs of the community in combating the epidemic or the needs of Hong Kong residents directly affected by the epidemic. Proposals should be promptly submitted to the innovative programme "Impact Incubator" under the Fund without waiting for the Programme's application deadline on 31 March 2020.

For those proposals which give timely responses to the current epidemic situation, the SIE Fund will give priority consideration and speed up the assessment process.

For details, please visit the website of Impact Incubator.

The SIE Fund has reappointed the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) as an intermediary to design and administer the innovative programme "Impact Incubator" under the Fund.

HKCSS was first appointed as the intermediary of the SIE Fund in 2015. By providing a one-stop platform that supports and incubates innovative projects in various stages, and connects social entrepreneurs to knowledge, resources and networks of social welfare agencies, social enterprises, philanthropic foundations, business associations, professional bodies, etc., HKCSS launched the “Impact Incubator” programme to help social entrepreneurs implement innovative solutions to address poverty and social exclusion problems in Hong Kong and drive sustainable impact.

Following HKCSS' completion of the first term of intermediary service in September 2019, the SIE Fund has recently reappointed HKCSS as the intermediary to implement the "Impact Incubator" programme for another three years starting from February 2020. Riding on the expertise and experience gained in the past few years, HKCSS will strengthen the programme in its new term of service by providing social entrepreneurs with more tailored incubation service and enhanced support in terms of social impact assessment. The new round of "Impact Incubator" programme has commenced in February 2020. Interested parties please refer to the programme website for details.

The SIE Fund is in the process of appointing more intermediaries for running different innovative programmes. Announcement will be made upon further appointment.

The SIE Fund has reappointed PolyU Technology and Consultancy Co Ltd (PolyU) as an intermediary to design and administer the innovative programme "Good Seed" under the Fund.

PolyU was first appointed as the intermediary of the SIE Fund in 2015. By leveraging its expertise and resources in the application of design, technology and business concepts, PolyU launched the "Good Seed" programme to help students or alumni of higher education institutions brainstorm innovative ideas and creative solutions, and accordingly develop prototypes to tackle social issues and address the needs of the underprivileged.

Following PolyU's completion of the first term of intermediary service in August 2019, the SIE Fund has recently appointed PolyU again as the intermediary to implement the "Good Seed" programme for another 3.5 years starting from December 2019. Riding on the expertise and experience gained in the past few years, PolyU will enhance the programme in its new term of service by increasing the amount of grant for each funded project and providing funded social innovators with more structured and tailored mentorship involving experts recruited from different sectors and professions. The new round of “Good Seed” programme will commence in the first quarter of 2020. Interested parties may refer to the programme website www.goodseed.hk for details.

The SIE Fund is in the process of appointing more intermediaries for running different innovative programmes. Announcement will be made upon further appointment.

Hong Kong’s population is ageing rapidly. Gerontechnology, which helps enhance the well-being, quality of life, independence and self-reliance of the elderly and provides support to the families, caregivers, healthcare staff and institutions, is widely considered as the key to addressing the challenges and tapping the opportunities arising from the ageing population.
Since 2016, the SIE Fund has been exploring innovative ways and more extensive cross-sector collaboration to address the ageing issue. In view of the potential of gerontechnology, the SIE Fund has decided to engage one intermediary to design, develop and operate an inclusive platform so as to facilitate the development of the gerontechnology ecosystem in Hong Kong. The platform should serve to link up different stakeholders on the supply side and connect them with the demand side by way of engagement, cross-sector partnerships and collaborations. The initiative will be taken forward as the second flagship project of the Fund.
The Fund is now inviting interested parties to submit proposals to act as the intermediary of the gerontechnology platform. Proposals should be submitted by 6pm on 23 July 2019 (Tuesday). Please click here for details and relevant documents or click here for the press release.

The SIE Fund has engaged intermediaries to take forward Innovative Programmes since 2015 to provide funding and other support for innovative projects. Innovative Programmes of the current intermediaries will complete soon.  With the end of the last round of application under HKCSS’ Impact Incubator on 31 March 2019, funding application by innovative projects will be closed for the time being until the launch of Innovation Programmes by the new batch of intermediaries.  Details of the new batch of intermediaries and Innovative Programmes are expected to be announced in the third quarter of 2019.  Individuals and organisations with innovative ideas in addressing poverty issues and wish to seek financial support in the latter part of 2019 to implement innovative projects are advised to stay tuned for updates.

Meanwhile, innovative projects with the theme on addressing the needs of the elderly can participate in the Silver Innovator Competition organised by HKCSS which is open for entries from April to 30 June 2019.  Winning projects are entitled to funding support from the SIE Fund.  Please refer to the website of Impact Incubator for more information.

Spring is the season of vitality. At the SIE Fund Task Force vigour also surged after the festive Lunar New Year. The fifth meeting of the third term Task Force was held on 25 February. Progress of the Fund's work was reviewed and other matters regarding the Fund's operation were discussed with a view to catalysing social innovation that will deliver impacts in addressing social problems in Hong Kong. More about our new initiatives will be announced in due course.

The SIE Fund has engaged intermediaries as strategic partners to take forward initiatives under Capacity Building and Innovative Programmes since 2015 with the aim of attracting, inspiring and nurturing social entrepreneurship to develop innovations that address poverty and social exclusion and seek to foster the well-being and cohesion of the society. The first batch of intermediaries have attained notable achievements and it is decided that a new batch of intermediaries are to be engaged to further take forward the Fund's work.

The SIE Fund is now inviting proposals from interested parties to apply for the role of intermediaries for designing and administering Innovative Programmes to nurture and incubate social innovators or ventures of different forms and at different stages of development. Proposals from entities established in Hong Kong which share the Fund’s objective are welcome.

Proposals should be submitted by 6pm on 28 March 2019 (Thursday).

As one of the sponsoring parties, the SIE Fund is glad to see the achievement attained by the Community Housing Movement. Launched in 2017 by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, the Movement has so far solicited more than 400 housing units provided by passionate property owners and developers and some 200 households have moved in. A major development was seen early last year with the rolling out of the Good Homes project at To Kwa Wan Road - the largest project under the Movement to date providing 61 units - by the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council. A sharing session cum recognition ceremony was held on 6 January to give credit to the "floor captains" who are tenants taking the lead in building bonds among the residents. Officiating at the event, Secretary for Transport and Housing Mr Frank Chan praised the Movement and the Good Homes project for being more than just flat-sharing but also facilitating mutual support among residents.

The Task Force continues to put effort to the work of exploring new ways to drive impacts in addressing poverty and social exclusion. The 4th meeting of the third term Task Force was held on 17 December. At the meeting, Task Force members reviewed and exchanged views on various plans that would help boost cross-sector collaboration and the development of the social innovation ecosystem. Stay tuned to keep abreast of our latest development and new initiatives.

Social innovation is not just about ideation but also implementation to drive impacts. Recently, Prof Johanna Mair and Dr Christian Seelos from Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS) visited Hong Kong and shared their research findings and thoughts on the subject at a sharing session titled "When Social Innovation Goes Wrong". The event was co-organised by Stanford PACS, Department of Applied Social Sciences of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Fullness Social Enterprise Society, and sponsored by the SIE Fund.
The two speakers are well versed in social enterprises. Through case studies, they have identified the key to success for social businesses. Their insights were shared with Task Force members and some 160 participants coming from diverse sectors including social entrepreneurship, academia, social service, business, research and the government. There was a lively discussion and all were keen to see the social innovation ecosystem prospering as a result of collective efforts.

Launched by the Enable Foundation and sponsored by the SIE Fund, the Social Innovation Design Lab (SI.DLab) aims to enable young designers to co-create solutions with senior citizens, social service agencies and other organisations to address social issues associated with ageing.  Led by Chairperson Dr Jane Lee, Task Force members paid a visit to SI.DLab recently to keep abreast of its various projects.

"Fine Dying" is a project that engages 200 design students and 100 elders to co-design "Objects of Death". Among them is the paper-made burial ash scatterer "The Envelope" which has won two design-related awards lately.

Through “Dementia Going”, design students talk with dementia patients and together they co-create drawings and exhibits that let members of the public experience how dementia is like so as to enhance empathy for the patients.

The visit concluded with an exchange of views between the SI.DLab team and Task Force members who praised the team for the people-oriented approach in their projects.  Please visit the website of Enable Foundation for more about their projects of co-creation.

Being the first of its kind in Hong Kong, FOOD-CO has been launched under the Fund’s food support flagship project as an all-round collaborative platform.  It harnesses information technology and data analysis to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the overall food support service in the city. Led by Dr Jane Lee, Chairperson of the SIE Fund Task Force, a delegation of the Task Force and the Secretariat recently visited the Kindness Centre (Shek Kip Mei) of the project’s intermediary St. James’ Settlement (SJS).  Josephine Lee, Chief Executive Officer of SJS and Connie Ng, SJS’ Senior Manager, Charity Services gave an update on the operation of FOOD-CO.  Since its launch in 2017, around 270 tonnes of donated food and more than 1600 transactions have been handled via the platform, a remarkable achievement by which Task Force members were impressed.

FOOD-CO provides a platform that links up stakeholders, facilitating efficient donation, collection and distribution of surplus food.  When sharing their experience using the platform, representatives of donating corporates and food support service providers praised it for successfully expediting the distribution of food to needy service points. Task Force members then shared their views.  Both parties expressed the aspiration to contribute to the further development of the platform to benefit more people.

Please visit the FOOD-CO website for more information about its programmes and give your support.

Since its launch, the SIE Fund has taken on a host of initiatives which are advancing in good progress and bearing fruits. Amid these achievements, the Fund spares no effort to explore new ways to drive the further development of the social innovation ecosystem for incubation of more innovative ideas. The third meeting of the third term Task Force was held on 26 October at which plans for upcoming work were reviewed and discussed and Task Force members generously shared their insights. More programmes are expected to roll out soon. Please visit our website for updates.

The second meeting of the third term Task Force was held on 20 August. Work plans on further enhancement of the social innovation arena with bigger support to social entrepreneurs were discussed. More details on new initiatives will be unveiled in due course. Please stay tuned for more.

Following to taking office on 1st July 2018, the Task Force of the third term held its first meeting on 31 July. Before holding discussions on the work of the SIE Fund, members exchanged their views and expectations towards the Task Force and the Fund. Many insightful ideas were shared. With the extended membership and with members coming from a wider spectrum of social sectors, it is believed that the Task Force will be able to bring in more innovative ideas and support from the community.

Following the successful conclusion of the Sharing Session of the Stakeholder Engagement Programme, the SIE Fund organised four rounds of site visits in June 2018. Over 100 participants from 42 organisations evaluated first-hand the existing situation, challenges and opportunities of the application of gerontechnology in Hong Kong. Two sessions of workshops will be organised in July and August to brainstorm ideas and co-create solutions for shaping the scope and design of the future gerontechnology platform, as well as to explore the desirable outcome objectives to be attained by the platform.

More information about the site visits can be found in the "post-visits report".

The government had announced the membership of the new term of Commission on Poverty (CoP) and its Task Forces which will run from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2020.  Please refer to the press release for details. New membership of the SIE Fund Task Force is also available in the "Task Force" section of this website.

The SIE Fund has newly launched a three-staged stakeholder engagement programme with the ultimate goal of establishing a “gerontechnology platform” to link up different stakeholders in facilitating the development of the gerontechnology ecosystem in Hong Kong.

The sharing session held on 9 May lifted the curtain of the stakeholder engagement programme. Over 90 participants from 55 organisations of a wide spectrum of sectors including technology and research institutes, academics, product developers and distributors, product and service users, non-governmental organisations, businesses, social ventures, funders, etc, attended. Seven distinguished speakers coming from Hong Kong Council of Social Service, Hong Kong R&D Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management Enabling Technologies, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks, Our Hong Kong Foundation, Pine Care Group, Shun Hing Group and Social Welfare Department shared their experience, views and plans in the gerontechnology field and together provided a comprehensive overview of the current landscape and latest development of the gerontechnology ecosystem in Hong Kong.

Site visits will be organised in June to enable stakeholders to evaluate first-hand the existing situation, challenges and opportunities of the gerontechnology ecosystem. A stakeholder engagement workshop will be held in July to gather stakeholders to brainstorm the scope and desired outcome objectives of the future gerontechnology platform and co-design solutions.

• Video records of the sharing session

The FOOD-CO platform of the Food Support Flagship Project has grown fast with flying colours since its launch in May 2017. Task Force Chairperson Prof Stephen Cheung recently led members of the Task Force and the Secretariat to visit two FOOD-CO service points in Kwai Tsing District. An introduction to FOOD-CO’s operation was given by Ms Josephine Lee, Chief Executive Officer of St. James’ Settlement, the intermediary for the Food Support Flagship Project.
As a service point under FOOD-CO, St. James’ Settlement Kindness Centre (Kwai Chung) provides food assistance services through its food bank while discount markets are held from time to time. The team also paid a visit to Asbury Methodist Social Service (which offers hot meals) and met the representatives of food donors and food support service operators who all praised FOOD-CO for successfully enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of food support service while addressing the issues of food wastage.
Please visit the FOOD-CO website for more information about its programmes and show your support.

The Commission on Poverty (CoP) Summit 2018 was held on 24 March.  As in previous summits, there was a session at which each Task Forces under the CoP presented its work progress and achievement. The reporting of SIE Fund was commenced by a video which featured how the Fund collaborated with different sectors to foster the development of the social innovation space whereby innovative solutions delivered social impact and brought hope, dignity and self-worth to the disadvantaged groups. The video was followed by SIE Fund Task Force Chairperson Prof Stephen Cheung recapitulating the Fund's achievement, the most notable of which included having overshot the targets set for the three priority areas of Research, Capacity Building and Innovative Programmes. Prof Cheung then went on to give an introduction of initiatives being explored. To give the attendants a detailed account of the Fund's accomplishments, a set of newly published brochure and infographic leaflet was distributed. Please visit CoP’s website for more about the Summit.

(Photo source: press release of Information Services Department)

The SIE Fund will soon launch the "Social Innovation Co-working Space Subsidy Scheme" to provide subsidy to social entrepreneurs and ventures for leasing desks or offices in co-working space with supporting services where they can co-work, co-make and co-create with their counterparts. The Scheme adopts the "money-follows-user" approach in providing subsidy to the successful applicants who may choose and lease desks or offices in any of the co-working spaces registered under the Scheme to suit the needs of their operation. Co-working spaces interested in registering under the Scheme are now invited to apply for registration. 

Last year the Fund saw encouraging results on various fronts, the most notable ones being the progress in supporting innovative ventures, the development of FOOD-CO food support platform and the launch of a new round of Shared Value initiatives. Deliberating on upcoming work for the new year, a Task Force meeting was held on 16 January. Plans for new initiatives were discussed. Stay tuned for more about the Fund's development.

The Fund’s latest achievement in funding innovative ventures was introduced at a ceremony on 19 November. As of October 2017, 83 ventures have been approved for funding through the Fund’s intermediaries. Officiating at the ceremony, the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, commended the contribution of the Task Force and the intermediaries as well as the dedication of the venture owners who had offered diverse measures to address social needs and bring hope to various underprivileged groups, whereas Chairperson of the Task Force, Prof Stephen Cheung, expresses his gratitude to all organisations and individuals for their support. Representatives of a number of ventures were also invited to share their experience in realising their ideas. Read more about the ceremony from the press release and our Facebook Fan Page, while details of the ventures are available here.

The SIE Fund supports innovative ventures of different types and stage to create social impact to address poverty and social exclusion. To bring inspiration to the public and to spark more innovative poverty-alleviating ideas, an interactive exhibition truck - “Social Innovation Flow” – is being launched to tour the city to introduce how these ventures strive to address social needs. A media briefing session was held on 13 November at which the truck was unveiled by Chief Secretary for Administration Mr Matthew Cheung and Chairperson of the Task Force Prof. Stephen Cheung. Attention of the media was drawn to the “Interactive Zone” with three innovative ventures and their products showcased to demonstrate how they would help people in need in diverse ways. Ten short videos produced by youth teams sponsored by the Fund will also be played. Each video will feature an innovative venture funded by the Fund, enhancing public understanding of social innovation through a more impactful means.

“Social Innovation Flow” will be paying visits to over 50 spots in Hong Kong for the next six months starting from 26 November. For more details, please stay tuned to our Facebook Page.

The 2017 Social Enterprise Summit was held from 5th to 10th of November. Being one of the sponsoring organisations and a partner of the event at which overseas speakers gathered and shared their insights, SIE Fund seized the opportunity to invite two of them to speak in two sharing sessions held for members of the Task Force and civil service colleagues. In the first session, Mr Geoff Mulgan (Chief Executive of Nesta, UK) gave an account of the approach of experimenting by pilots and engaging different sectors in formulating and implementing public services. In another session, Mr Colin Downe (Sales and Partnership Director, The WildHearts Group, UK) explained how buying from social ventures enabled organisations to enjoy quality products and services and helped to create social good with the same spending. Both talks were insightful and well-received. Meanwhile, at one of Summit’s session “Keys you should know about Public Funding”, the secretariat was invited to introduce the Fund and other details.

We continue to share with you the Fund's latest news and activities through our newsletters. Topics covered in the newly published 2017 Q4 edition include the Shared Value Forum, progress in the funding of innovative ventures, development of the SI CEO Competition, release of short films produced by youth teams, as well as upcoming outreaching event and the food carnival organised by FOOD-CO. Check out stories in full here or visit the "Newsletter" section for past issues.

Entering the final quarter of the year and looking forward to next year’s work, the 13th meeting of the second term Task Force was held on 16 October. New initiatives that would take the work of addressing poverty problems and social exclusion further were reviewed and discussed. We will continue to share with you latest news about the Fund’s development. Stay connected for more.

The SIE Fund advocates innovation in business and encourages corporations to apply the Creating Share Valued (CSV) strategy by which a company benefits from a profitable business while addressing specific social issues. The “Shared Value: Creating Competitive Advantage” Forum in 2015 marked the commencement of our Shared Value Initiative. To take our work further, we are embarking on the 2017-18 Initiative with the second Shared Value Forum held on 21 September as the kick-off event. Around 230 leaders from the local and international business, government and civil society attended and participated in discussions, seeking insight from world-renowned speakers and showcases of successful business plans. 

The 12th meeting of the second term Task Force was held on 12 September. Besides progress review, the meeting had detailed discussions on new initiatives for addressing the city’s poverty problems. More updates about the Fund’s development will be shared in due course so please stay tuned to our website.

Want to have a short cut to grasp the latest development of the Fund? You may wish to check it out from the latest issue of our newsletter. The Q3 edition newly published reports on the progress of the SI CEO Competition, launch of the FOOD-CO platform for the Food Support Flagship Project, release of findings of HK's first gerontechnology landscape study, new initiatives in applied research, as well as the Social Innovation Short Film Sponsorship Scheme. Click here to read the stories in full or visit the 'Newsletter' section for past issues.

Research findings of the city's first gerontechnology landscape study were released on 12 June. Closely following it was a cross-sector workshop held on 20 June to deepen discussions on the subject. Over 60 participants from a wide spectrum of sectors including social service units, product developers and manufacturers, product and service users, businesses, social ventures, advisory bodies and government bureaux and departments gathered together and shared their perspectives regarding how to foster the development and application of gerontechnology products and services in Hong Kong. It is hoped that the workshop will pave the way for a wider collaboration, through which new ideas, products and services will be generated to grab the opportunities in the silver hair market and better serve the needs of the elderly.

A report on this stakeholder engagement activity can be found here.

The Fund has attained significant progress on various fronts in recent months. More social ventures were funded, delivering diverse solutions to address social needs; the SI CEO Competition held the final pitching and award ceremony in April and the winners will enter into the next stage of the programme including overseas exploration trips on social innovation and idea implementation; the intermediary for the Food Support Flagship Project launched the FOOD-CO, a collaborative platform for food support, in May in three pilot districts; the study on gerontechnology in Hong Kong was completed with its findings released on 12 June. While other initiatives are also in the pipeline, the 11th meeting of the second term Task Force was held on 13 June to look into more ways to foster the development of the social innovation ecosystem. Stay connected to check out our latest development.

The issue of ageing population has been arousing extensive public concerns. In order to help stakeholders get hold of the current situation of elderly care products and services and thereby explore innovative solutions to address the needs, the SIE Fund has recently engaged the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) to conduct a study on gerontechnology. Major findings of the study conducted by Our Hong Kong Foundation in partnership with HKCSS have been released lately.

Statistics suggest that in about twenty years, the number of people aged 65 or above will make up about 30% of the population in Hong Kong. Being better educated and better off, the future ageing population is expected to seek a more self-reliant and quality living in their later years. Meanwhile, many gerontech products are available in the market but are far from popular. Besides, the unmet demands now and in future in the silver hair market are yet to be exploited. We hope that the study will raise the awareness of the stakeholders and public about gerontechology and draw stakeholders’ attention towards these unserved demands, leading to the development of products and services that will enhance the living quality of the elderly, support the caregivers, and improve the quality and efficiency of elderly care services. (Read more from the press release.)

We are pleased to share the latest development of the Food Support Flagship Project. St. James' Settlement, as the intermediary of the Project, has launched the FOOD-CO platform in three pilot districts namely Kwai Tsing, Kwun Tong and Yuen Long in May 2017. This inclusive and collaborative platform not only shares information on the demand and supply of food items and related services but also promotes best practices among food support service providers and food donors, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of food support services in Hong Kong. Members of the public and people in need can locate service points in their districts and get hold of their service details using the on-line Food Sharing Map. The platform is expected to cover all 18 districts in Hong Kong starting from 2018. More details are available at the FOOD-CO website and from the press release. Please stay connected for further updates on the Project and give your support.

With the success of the Shared Value Initiative in 2015, the SIE Fund will maintain the momentum with a series of activities starting from the second half of the year to encourage corporations to apply the Creating Shared Value (CSV) approach in their business strategies for addressing social needs while exploring new business opportunities.

We are now inviting interested organisations to submit proposals on provision of project development, management and publicity services for delivering the 2017 Shared Value Initiative. Interested parties may refer to the following for details and submission of proposals:

• Invitation Brief (PDF)
• Proposal Template (MS Word)
• Programme Booklet of 2015 Shared Value Forum (PDF)

The closing date and time for the submission of proposal is Hong Kong Time 18:00 on 12 June 2017 (Monday). For enquiry, please call our hotline at (852) 2165 7321 or send email to siefund@eu.gov.hk.

Winners of the SI CEO Competition for Tertiary Students were decided in the final pitching held on 22 April amid applause, professional assessments and inspiring comments from the judges and audience. The champion goes to ElderTreks which also wins the “Most Social Innovative Award” and the “Most Liked Award (Live Voting)”. The team, comprising four students from City University of Hong Kong, proposes to organise community tours and hire elderly as tour guides with an aim both to enhance social engagement of elderly and to facilitate inter-generation engagement. The top three winners are awarded a start-up fund of HK$150,000, HK$100,000, and HK$50,000 respectively and will continue receiving CEO mentorship, with each member also winning a social innovation trip to UK or Singapore and corporate internship opportunity. 

In his welcome speech for the final pitching and award presentation ceremony, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, commended the Competition for demonstrating not only successful cross-sector collaborations but also a new way for parties from different professions to create social value. He also looked forward to the early implementation of the students’ business plans to benefit people in need.

We continue to bring you updates of the Fund’s activities through our newsletter. Stories in the newly published 2017 Q2 issue include public voting for the SI CEO Competition, approval of more funded ventures, the progress of intermediaries’ programmes, updates of the Food Support Flagship Project, as well as the latest development of the “Hong Kong Social Innovators” section. Please click here for stories in full, or here for past issues of our newsletter.

The Task Force has been working at full throttle in masterminding the Fund’s development. While many initiatives will roll out soon, the tenth meeting of the second term Task Force was held on 28 March. Latest progress of various programmes including the Food Support Flagship Project and Shared Value Initiative was reviewed. More information about these projects will be shared in due course. Watch this space for updates.

While the five finalists of SI CEO Competition are preparing for the final pitching to be held on 22 April, another contest for the “Most Liked Award” is now staged with the winner to be decided by public voting. 
The teams have each prepared a synopsis of their business ideas in a one-minute video. Members of the public can watch the videos at the voting site and cast their votes to support their favorite teams. The team with the most votes will be the winner of the “Most Liked Award”. The voting is open from now till 6 April. Voters can also enter into a lucky draw, and have a chance to win the grand prize of an afternoon tea (for four) voucher for The Lobby of Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong (valued over HK$1,300). Another 20 lucky voters will be drawn and each will be awarded cinema vouchers valued HK$200.

Trade Promotion Competition Licence no. : 48364

Thanks to the shortlisting judging panel, the five finalists for SI CEO Competition have been selected. The teams and their proposals are as follows:

1.House Doctor
Team member: Christopher CHEUNG Sze-Wan (HKU)

2. Habhub
Team member: Rachel CHENG Yuet-Yee (HKUST) & Rocco CHENG Lok -Sun (HKAPA)

3. ElderTreks
Team members: Valent CHEUNG Chiu-Ying, Francis SZE Chek-Fai, Michelle KWOK Yi-Ling & Leon LEE Ho-Wai (CityU)

4. Value Chain Hostel
Team members: CHAN Ka-Lok, CHANG Yau-Shing, YOU Long-Fung and PANG Chi-Shing (HSMC)

5.QiDai
Team members: WONG Chun-Wai (CityU), CHAN Man-Hoi & WONG Hiu-Lam(PolyU)

We received overwhelming response from over 350 students from 26 tertiary institutions. There were 139 submissions received, 13 of which were nominated by organisations. Our gratitude to all who participated in and offered support to the competition. Congratulations to all finalists and we wish you every success in the final pitching! For a glimpse of the business plans, please visit https://www.youth.gov.hk/en/special/siceo/finalists.htm .

While many of the Fund’s initiatives have been running in high gear, the Task Force also spares no effort to identify other opportunities of bringing in more measures that will help address the problems of poverty and social exclusion. The ninth meeting of the second term Task Force was held on 27 February to discuss potential initiatives for further facilitation of the development of the social innovation ecosystem. Please stay tuned to check out latest news on our development.

SIE Fund's intermediary PolyU Technology and Consultancy Company Limited concluded the second year of the SIE funded Good Seed Programme with an Award Presentation Ceremony held on 25 February. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Prof Stephen Cheung, Chairperson of the SIE Fund Task Force, commended PolyU for bringing in about 500 potential social entrepreneurs and 28 innovative ventures to HK's social innovation space in the past two years. Prof Cheung also expressed his aspiration to see more innovative ideas to be incubated and realised through the Good Seed Programme in the coming year.
A social innovation forum was also held following the award presentation ceremony. The two events formed part of PolyU's 80th anniversary celebration activities.

The Valentine's Day is approaching, and now you have a new and meaningful option of sending your regards to persons you care about through the SIE mobile app. A new function has been newly added to the "Interactive Corner". Users can write and send their message through Facebook, WhatsApp or email, together with an introduction of one of the Fund's innovative ventures, thus encouraging the recipients to patronise those ventures to spread their empathy to the less fortunate. Want to make the festive day more meaningful? 

We are glad to announce that the SI CEO Competition has proudly entered into another stage with 139 proposals received (submission closed on 13 January). We are also delighted to see diverse innovative ways to address issues in care for elderly, food support and social inclusion being proposed by the students. All the proposals are now being evaluated by the shortlisting judging panel and five finalists are expected to be announced in February. The finalists will undergo a mentorship programme with coaching by CEOs and senior executives of renowned corporations to help them equip themselves for the final pitching and compete for various awards. We extend our gratitude to all participating students, judges, mentors and supporting partners.
Stay tuned for news on the Competition, you may follow our Facebook page for updates.

Thanks to the support of our stakeholders, we are glad to see the Fund having substantial progress in various aspects. Our intermediaries continue with their programmes to nurture ideas; more funded ventures are being approved; the SI CEO Competition enters the next stage as submission of proposals closes; St. James' Settlement is geared up for the Food Support Flagship Project. To plan for upcoming jobs the second term Task Force held its eighth meeting on 23 January. We look forward to seeing new initiatives to add to the current efforts of fostering the social innovation eco-system and inspiration of ideas. Stay connected to check out our latest development.

The Task Force started its outreaching and stakeholder engaging activities in 2017 with a visit to the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) on 20 January. Joining us were members from other task forces under the Commission on Poverty. Received by Mr Peter Mok, Head of Incubation Programmes of HKSTP, the delegates were enlighted on a wide diversity of facilities being provided to support entrepreneurship, such as the Data Studio for startups to develop solutions to create social, economic and environmental impact; the co-working spaces for local and overseas projects and university technology transfer, etc. The visit also came with demonstrations from the resident companies on various fronts of innovation, ranging from biotechnology, application of artificial intelligence to social technology. As shared by all participants, it was a fruitful and inspiring trip which had deepened their understanding on the latest technology innovations and the full range of support for budding entrepreneurs through the provision of co-working spaces and associated professional supporting services.

We are glad to present the first quarter newsletter of 2017 at the start of the year. Stories covered in this issue include news about the SI CEO Competition, updates on funded ventures, latest results of capacity building programmes, round-up of SENSE's first year activities, as well as the development of “HKSI”. Please click here for stories in full or visit the "Newsletter" section for past issues. Your feedback or ideas are always welcome.

Riding on the momentum of the experiential programmes, the SI Talk was held on 27 October for participating students of the SI CEO Competition at the Good Lab in Cheung Sha Wan. The talk invited distinguished guests from the SI and business sectors to give advice to the students on starting up and running of social ventures.
Five speakers, including Ms Ada Wong, JP (Convenor of Make A Difference), Ms Cora Chu (Chief Executive Officer, Dialogue Experience), Mr Erwin Huang (Chief Executive Officer, WebOrganic), Mr Pat-Nie Woo (Director of Strategic Development, KPMG) and Mr Albert Wong (Director of PwC Consulting Hong Kong Ltd), spoke on the development of social entrepreneurship in Hong Kong and the success factors of implementing innovative projects.
During the “Human Library” interactive group discussions that followed, seven “walking dictionaries” shared their experience and answered questions from participants. They were Mr Kelvin Cheung (Founder & CEO of FoodCycle and UnLtdHK), Mr Herbert Wu (Founder of The Second Box), Mr Wayne Chau (Founder & CEO of Agent of Change), Ms Aries Lee (Founder of HOHOLIFE), Mr Dodo Cheng (Founder of HOPEmade sharing kitchen), Ms Gigi Lo (Founder of Translate for Her) and Ms Connie Ng (Senior Service Manager [Charity Services] in St. James’ Settlement).
About 80 students participated in the event and seized the precious opportunity to seek further advice from the guests even after the close of the session to prepare themselves for the Competition. Please visit the photo album at SIE Fund Facebook Fanpage for highlights of the event.

The latest issue of our newsletter is published, bringing you the Fund's news and activities. Stories in this issue include the Commission on Poverty Summit, approval of more funded ventures, latest development of the Nurturing Social Minds programme, progress of the SI CEO Competition, as well as experience sharing with renowned social innovators. Please click here for stories in full or visit the "Newsletter" section for past issues.

A series of experiential programmes was hosted in mid-October as a part of the Social Innovation CEO Competition (SI CEO Competition) co-organised by the SIE Fund and Youth.gov.hk. The programmes provide valuable opportunities for tertiary students aspiring to take part in the Competition to gain firsthand experience about various social issues, to understand the difficulties and challenges faced by social service providers, and to be inspired in developing their innovative and effective business plans.

The experiential programmes revolve around the three sub-themes of the Competition, i.e. care for elderly, food support and social inclusion.  In the programmes, participants wore specially-designed elderly simulation gear to experience the daily life of an elderly, took part in the routine operation of the food support service providers, and interacted with students of ethnic minorities in the dyeing activities. They were cheered up by CEOs of renowned enterprises and famous artists who were guests also participating in the programmes. The CEOs also shared their valuable experience in starting and running businesses.

Please visit the SI CEO Facebook Fan Page for more about the programmes and latest information of the Competition.

The Commission on Poverty (CoP) Summit of this year was held on 15 October. It started with speeches delivered by the Chief Executive and the Chief Secretary for Administration, followed by the reporting of each Task Force (TF) under CoP on its major work respectively.  With the aid of a video, Professor Stephen Cheung, Chairperson of the TF of the SIE Fund, gave an account of the work progress, in which he had highlighted the innovative elements of various initiatives and introduced the directions of our forthcoming work. A brochure and an infographic leaflet on the Fund were also distributed.
Two discussion panels were held in the afternoon session, with experts from different sectors to share their experience and insights of their participation in poverty alleviation and promotion of social innovation in Hong Kong. The one with the theme "Innovations for Empowerment" was chaired by SIE Fund TF member, Mr Chua Hoi-wai. At the end, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam; the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung; the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man; the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim; and the Acting Secretary for Home Affairs, Ms Florence Hui, had an open discussion with Summit participants on poverty alleviation issues.
Please visit the CoP's website for details about the Summit.

It was a vibrant week for the city's social innovation circle as three major events, namely the Philanthropy for Better Cities Forum (Forum), the Social Enterprise Summit (SE Summit) and the Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF), were held in a row from 22nd to 27th September under the collective title of Hong Kong International Philanthropy and Social Enterprise Week.
The SIE Fund had played actively in the events. Kim Salkeld, Head of Efficiency Unit and Secretary-General of the Fund, spoke at one of the discussion sessions of the Forum on the role of the public sector in driving cross-sector collaboration. Apart from being the co-organiser of the SE Summit, the Efficiency Unit also hosted a session on Creating Shared Value with Patricia Lau, Deputy Head of Efficiency Unit, serving as the facilitator. The SIE Fund was also one of the supporting organisations of the SEWF.
As in previous years, we held separate sessions for our stakeholders and partners and invited forum speakers to talk about subjects on the latest development in the social innovation arena. This year, two seminars, one on food support and the other on B-corp and shared value, were held and the audience engaged in fruitful discussion with the speakers.

The Commission on Poverty (CoP) has commissioned a radio programme series being broadcast on eight consecutive Wednesday nights from 13 July. In the programme, the Chief Secretary for Administration, ex-officio and non-official members of the CoP, representatives from non-governmental organisations, beneficiaries and others share their views on various issues related to poverty alleviation.

The 7th episode, on Community Care Fund and SIE Fund, was aired on 24 August. The Chief Secretary for Administration Mrs Carrie Lam and Task Force Chairperson Prof Stephen Cheung were interviewed in the latter part of the programme. They started with the background and objective of the SIE Fund, and introduced several innovative ventures as examples of how technology and innovative ideas can deliver great social impact. Check out the audio clip (Cantonese only) here or visit the CoP website for more details about the programme series.

August 21 was not a day with a sunny morning, yet it was a great day for one of our innovative ventures Youth.ROC. It was the day young runners joining the training and life coaching programme participated in the Hong Kong Streetathon@Central organised by RunOurCity to testify to the programme's success. To show support to the event and the runners we set up a booth at the carnival held alongside the races at the Central Promenade. Over 350 runners and visitors found their enjoyable moments at the 3D photo-taking zone of our booth and got to learn more about us from display panels. Distinguished guests visiting our booth included Mr John Tsang, Financial Secretary; Mr Clement Cheung, Secretary for the Civil Service; and Dr Peter Lam, Chairman of Hong Kong Tourism Board. Check out more records of happy moments from our Facebook Fanpage!

We continue to bring you the Fund's latest progress and news on upcoming events through our quarterly newsletter. The newly published Q3 edition shares with you the rolling out of the first batch of innovative ventures, engagement of the intermediary for the Food Support Flagship Project, launch of "HKSI", latest development of intermediary programme Nurturing Social Minds, as well as the upcoming SI CEO Competition held jointly with Youth.gov.hk. Click here for stories in full or visit the "Newsletter" section for past issues; or you may subscribe here to receive future issues through email. 

Here comes the good news from our intermediary The Yeh Family Philanthropy (YFP) on its Nurturing Social Minds programme. Riding on the successful experience with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, YFP has reached an agreement with the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) to run a similar credit-bearing course on Social Entrepreneurship and Venture Philanthropy in the coming semester. With more universities offering the course, it is expected that more prospective social innovators will be given the chances to work with social businesses to incubate their ideas, eventually bringing new blood and innovation to the ecosystem.

We are pleased to announce the engagement of St. James' Settlement (SJS) as the intermediary to launch the Fund's first flagship project in capacity building to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of food support services in Hong Kong. SJS is tasked to design, build and operate an inclusive platform for sharing of information on the demand and supply of food items and related services as well as best practices among food support service providers and stakeholders. The platform will be launched as a pilot in three districts in mid-2017, and is expected to cover all 18 districts in Hong Kong by mid-2019. Read more from our press release and stay connected for further updates on the project.

The needs of youth are diverse and vary from one person to another. Whilst some seek support for their entrepreneurial agenda, some need direction and guidance to a better path in their life voyages. The Task Force and staff members of the Secretariat, together with members of other task forces of the Commission on Poverty, visited Fullness Hair Salon on 17 June to learn how job training and life coaching programmes can combine to help support youth-at-risk. A real-life case was firstly presented by an apprentice on his advance in personal development under the guidance of the salon with due respect and friendship, followed by a briefing of the President and Directors of Fullness Social Enterprises Society (FSES) on the development journey of FSES, social entrepreneurship and the engagement of academia, education and religion sectors etc in social innovation to help build a flourishing ecosystem for social innovation and entrepreneurship. Through the visit, participants had gained valuable inspirations from the successful business model of the salon and the social impact contributed to the community with the dedication and commitment of FSES.

Following the launch of the first batch of innovative ventures, the Fund will continue to receive, process and support new funding applications to bring more and wider relief measures for poverty alleviation and social exclusion. In parallel, new opportunities in the social innovation arena are being explored to further the objectives of the Fund. The seventh meeting of the second term Task Force was held on 1 June to review blueprint of various potential initiatives for the Fund in the next three to five years. Stay tuned to keep abreast of our latest development.

The SIE Fund is keen to explore a wider diversity of opportunities to support social innovation and one of which is impact investing. Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), a Singapore-based collaborative network of philanthropies and impact investors, staged its annual conference from 23 to 25 May in Hong Kong for the first time and with the Fund as its Lead Partner. Through the conference, participants, including the SIE Fund Task Force and the Secretariat, were given the opportunity to share with the practitioners on the latest development and stories relating to venture philanthropy and impact investing across the region.

It was another great day for the SIE Fund! The first batch of 25 innovative ventures funded under Innovative Programmes was formally introduced to the public at a kick-off ceremony. Officiating at the ceremony, Chief Secretary for Administration Mrs Carrie Lam commended these ventures and their teams for combining creativity and the commitment to help neighbours in need to find new pathways for a better development of the city. Whilst concluding the encouraging achievement, Chairperson of the Task Force Prof Stephen Cheung called for more innovative ideas and continuous support from the community. More about the ceremony can be found in the press release and the photo album in our Facebook Fan Page. And don’t miss our new section where individual ventures are featured.

We are most delighted to witness the growth of the ecosystem of social innovation with the launch of the 25 innovative ventures today. Apart from ideas, products and services, it is equally important to bring a constant stream of new blood to the social entrepreneur sector to sustain a flourishing ecosystem. To inspire more ideas and encourage more participants, we have set up a platform at this website to share the stories of "Hong Kong Social Innovators" (HKSIs). Despite their diverse background and expertise, the HKSIs have exceled in driving changes and delivering impact through a wide spectrum of businesses. We hope their stories will ignite a wider participation in social innovation to help tackle poverty and social exclusion. Check out their stories here.

Enhancing public understanding of our work and engaging members of different sectors are central to SIE Fund's operation in the delivery of its objective to nurture a stimulating environment for social innovation. To this end we have been producing the quarterly newsletter since 2014, and the newsletter for the second quarter of 2016 is newly published. This issue brings you the latest development of our work including intermediaries’ programmes, Shared Value initiative, Evaluation Study and so on, as well as upcoming events like the AVPN Conference and TDC Entrepreneur Day. Please click here for stories in full or visit the ‘Newsletter’ section for past issues.

The SIE Fund cherishes every opportunity to learn from champions in the social innovation arenas, local and overseas. Besides driving impact through funding innovative projects, we are also exploring a wider diversity of social investment opportunities.

Ashoka is a global network connecting and supporting social entrepreneurs. Mr Mark Cheng, Director, Ashoka Europe was invited to speak at a sharing session attended by Task Force members and staff members of the Secretariat. With profound experience in social finance, Mark drew on examples in the UK to illustrate how subsidised funding helped energise a social investment market to support social enterprises. The inspiring talk ended with his foresight of a flourishing market in Hong Kong, and concluded by a fruitful discussion with Task Force members.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advocated by the United Nations have aroused the awareness of many visionary minds and organisations around the globe. The APAC Ideas for Action is one of those. Its annual conference with the theme "In Dialogue with SDGS" was held on 19 March at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. SIE Fund was one of the co-hosts of the event and Task Force member Yvonne Li was among the guest speakers at a discussion panel on "Cutting-edge Trend and Problems Faced by Social Enterprises". She talked about the role of the Fund in supporting innovative solutions to social issues as well as her experience in founding the China Dyslexia Foundation. Her sharing gave invaluable insight to the audience who had a concern in the well-being of all.

The fifth meeting of the second term Task Force was held on 29 January. At the meeting, the Task Force had reviewed the progress of the Fund and shared their views on the direction of the tasks ahead. All suggestions will be taken into account in the formulation of the work plan for the Fund, which will be further scrutinised by Task Force for finalisation.

PolyU Technology and Consultancy Company Limited declared the start of Good Seed 2016 at the kick-off ceremony on 16 January. Being run for the second year, the intermediary's programme will continue to help participants apply design and technology in incubating innovative ideas. It also offers funding and mentor support for prototype projects. Good Seed 2016 is open to students and alumni of higher education institutions and is accepting applications until 2 March. Interested parties can visit the official website at www.goodseed.hk for more details.

At the same occasion, 10 winning projects of Good Seed 2015 approved for grant of funding support from the SIE Fund for implementation were also announced. Best wishes to the winning teams and their projects.

We are glad to present the first quarter newsletter of 2016. This issue brings you the latest progress of the intermediaries' programmes, Shared Value initiative, Evaluation Study, as well as the Food Support Flagship Project. It also highlights the coming of a new section at the website to showcase prominent "SI People" and their innovative projects. Please click here for stories in full or visit the "Newsletter" section where past issues are available.

The Task Force appreciates every opportunity of learning through visiting social innovation projects and meeting their operators. The latest visit was to the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association which serves primarily people in recovery of mental illness by programmes facilitating re-integration into the society. In recent years the Association is extending its scope of services to promoting all-round physical, mental and spiritual well-being. Joining the Task Force and staff members of the Secretariat in the visit included representatives of the Intermediaries and the Home Affairs Bureau. The first stop was at the Association’s Head Office and sheltered workshop, followed by its social enterprise, Café 330 at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Our visitors gained first-hand experience of the Association’s operation model and how it helps its beneficiaries attain self-reliance and self-esteem.

While approaching the end of 2015, it is also the first anniversary of the second term Task Force. The Fund’s initiatives have seen good progress in the year. The Shared Value initiative was launched; engagement of intermediaries for Capacity Building and Innovative Programmes is on track; the intermediary for the food support flagship project will soon be appointed; the research project of evaluation study is at the stage of proposal assessment. The fourth meeting of the second term Task Force was held on 25 November. Upon the results of these initiatives, Task Force members deliberated on various subjects pursuant to the Fund’s vision of being a catalyst for social innovation in Hong Kong.

We are glad to announce the completion of second stage activities of our Shared Value initiative with the conclusion of three workshops. Riding on the momentum of the forum held on 9 September, three workshops, the last one being on 12 November, were conducted. A total of 50 senior executives from different companies of diverse trades took part. Through group discussions and exercises, participants got to know how to apply innovative ideas and company assets to formulate business initiatives that create shared value for the company and the community. We are working with our partner CSR Asia in taking forward third and fourth stage activities which will provide coaching and mentoring for the interested companies to develop and implement Creating Shared Value business plans. More details will be released in due course.

The invitation for proposals for conducting the Evaluation Study of the SIE Fund came to a close at 12:00 noon today.  Stay tuned for further news.

The Shared Value concept guides companies to think about social innovation that creates more value for themselves, their shareholders and the societies in which they operate. The SIE Fund, a catalyst for social innovation, encourages businesses to apply the “Creating Shared Value” (CSV) approach in their business strategies. A discussion session with the theme of “Creating Shared Value” was hosted by the SIE Fund Secretariat on 2 November at the Social Enterprise Summit. Ms Mara Chiorean, Executive Director of CSR Asia and Mr Joe Ngai, Director and Managing Partner of McKinsey HK spoke on the subject. These two consultancy firms are active players in CSV advocacy and their experience brought valuable insights to the 80 plus participants.

Following the Summit, the Secretariat held another seminar on impact investing on 3 November. The speakers were Mr Xu Yong Guang, Chairman of Narada Foundation from China; Mr Joe Ludlow, ex-Director, Impact Investments of Nesta from UK; and Ms Karen McGregor, CEO of Firstport from UK. They shared about social innovation ecosystem as well as impact investment environment in China, UK and Scotland. There were about 40 attendants, including members of the Task Force, government officials and colleagues from the Secretariat.

The latest issue of our newsletter is published, bringing you news about the Fund’s activities. In this issue you will find an introduction of the newly launched Shared Value initiative, invitation of proposals for the Evaluation Study, latest status of the food support flagship project, the Social Innovation Jam Campus Tour, and the Commission on Poverty Summit. Please click here for stories in full or visit the ‘Newsletter’ section for previous issues.

The Commission on Poverty Summit was held on 10 October, at which each Task Force gave an account of its work progress. A video summarising the Fund’s development in the previous year was shown, followed by an introduction of the direction of forthcoming work by Task Force Chairperson Prof Stephen Cheung. A brochure and an infographic leaflet were also distributed. In the later part of the Summit Prof Cheung joined the Chief Executive, the Chief Secretary for Administration, principal officials / under secretary of the relevant bureaux and the Chairpersons of other Task Forces in a discussion session to exchange views with the participants on subjects related to poverty alleviation. (Please visit the Press Release section of the Commission’s website for details.)

The Fund’s intermediary programmes keep advancing. Under the capacity-building programme of Nurturing Social Minds launched by one of the Fund’s intermediaries the Yeh Family Philanthropy Limited (YFP), the second class on Social Entrepreneurship and Venture Philanthropy commenced on 16 September. Mrs Patricia Lau from the Fund’s Secretariat was invited to give a welcome speech and introduce the Fund to MBA and other postgraduate and undergraduate students in the class. The course is run by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School in collaboration with YFP. It aims to provide students with the opportunity to examine and help develop innovative approaches for social businesses to deliver social value and achieve sustainability. Details of the programme can be found here.

The Social Innovation Jam is starting a new round of tour in campuses of tertiary education institutions, showcasing brilliant social innovation examples from around the world. The opening ceremony, held at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKiEd), was officiated by Prof. Stephen Cheung Yan-leung, Chairperson of the SIE Fund Task Force, and the Men Soccer Team of HKiEd were invited to give a mini soccer performance. The two-month campus tour will run around seven tertiary education institutions.

The SIE Fund has newly launched an initiative of promoting the concept of “Shared Value” among Hong Kong’s businesses. A Forum with the theme of “Shared Value: Creating Competitive Advantage” was held on 9 September as the first of a series of activities. The Shared Value concept suggests a new win-win business approach by which a company can gain a unique competitive advantage and enjoy a commercial return by applying its assets and expertise to delivering products and services that address unmet social needs. The Forum brought together more than 160 business leaders from major corporations who sought insight from speakers including Mr Mark Kramer, the initiator of the Global “Creating Shared Value” movement. In her welcome message, the Chief Secretary for Administration Mrs Carrie Lam called upon the active partnership of Hong Kong’s businesses in addressing societal threats through utilising their creativity and innovation in developing new business practices that can flourish through respect for people and for the planet as well as attention to profit. 

Since the establishment of the SIE Fund, the Task Force has been putting forward a number of initiatives.  To better understand the impact of them, the Task Force has decided to conduct an Evaluation Study to assess the effectiveness of these initiatives in achieving the Fund’s objectives.

The invitation exercise was closed at 12:00 noon, 3 November 2015. Stay tuned for further news.

The invitation for provision of intermediary service for food support flagship project was closed on 11 August.  A total of eight organisations have submitted their proposals. The SIE Fund would like to express our gratitude for all the support and invaluable opinions. The assessment by Task Force is expected to be finished by end of this year.

The invitation exercise for provision of intermediary service for food support flagship project came to a close at 12:00 noon today (11 August 2015). Stay tuned for further news.

The SIE Fund advocates innovative approach to address poverty problems and to bring social impact. Yet, is social impact measurable? Social Return on Investment (SROI) is a useful tool that decision makers and project managers can apply to quantify impact of their projects and identify areas for improvement. Dr Terence Yuen, CEO of Hong Kong Institute of Social Impact Analysts, was invited by the Task Force Secretariat to give a talk on the subject for staff members of the Secretariat and colleagues from various government departments. Dr Yuen started with the background and principles of SROI, then illustrated its application by a real case. In concluding the talk, he looked forward to a wider application of the concept in Hong Kong, to start with sectors where data is abundant.

While meetings are crucial for the Task Force to deliberate on the Fund’s development, visits to social innovation projects also play an important role in bringing in insights. Accompanied by colleagues from the Home Affairs Bureau and the Labour and Welfare Bureau, the Task Force and the Secretariat recently paid a visit to the children and youth centre operated by The Hub Hong Kong. The centre serves children of low income families in Sham Shui Po, providing a place for them to do homework and organising recreational activities so that children in difficult circumstances can enjoy an equal opportunity for physical and psychosocial development. An introduction of the centre’s facilities and service was given by the Centre-in-Charge. The center’s Chairman and Co-founder Mr David Boehm elaborated on their mission and objective and the Hub’s operation.  During the visit, Task Force visitors also shared with the centre the services of other social service providers.

Technologies change our living, sometimes with social impact. Organised by Samsung Electronics H.K. Co., Ltd., the competition “Solve For Tomorrow” is calling tertiary school students to team up to design mobile apps that provide aids to students with special educational needs. SIE Fund is one of the strategic partners of the competition. A briefing session was held on 18 July. Representing the SIE Fund Task Force Secretariat, Deputy Head of Efficiency Unit Mrs Patricia Lau invited young people to join the competition - which bore the same vision as the Fund’s in encouraging innovative solutions to social problems – and make use of their innovative ideas to help those in need.

The SIE Fund aims to foster the development of an ecosystem to nurtures social entrepreneurs. Young people are endowed with ideas and passions. Given suitable support and guidance they may be able to come up with new businesses that can tackle social problems. Co-organised by the SIE Fund, the "Youth Entrepreneurship Forum" (青年創業論壇 - 社企的創與營) was held on 14 July. Knowledgeable practitioners and instructors offered practical advice on social entrepreneurship. On behalf of the Task Force Secretariat, Deputy Head of Efficiency Unit Mrs Patricia Lau spoke on the role of the SIE Fund and support the Fund can provide. Examples of young entrepreneurs were cited to give inspiration to the audience who were potential entrepreneurs.

The Fund’s initiatives are making good progress. All intermediary programmes are running smoothly; we are expecting proposals for the food support flagship project; the Shared Value Forum and the research project are under preparation. While these projects are gaining momentum, the current term Task Force held the third meeting to consider potential new initiatives and programmes to further develop the social innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in Hong Kong. Stay connected with us through this website for more news and updates.

Our third quarter newsletter is newly published, bringing you latest news about the Fund. Topics covered in this issue are the food support flagship project, the upcoming Shared Value Forum, progress of Intermediaries’ programmes, our reach-out exhibitions, and a research project under preparation. Please click here to read the stories in full, or visit the ‘Newsletter’ section for past issues.

"Shared Value" is a new business concept by which corporations enhance their profitability while at the same time deliver social values. The SIE Fund is going to hold a forum - "Shared Value: Creating Competitive Advantage" – on 9 September, inviting business leaders in Hong Kong to explore how businesses can apply the idea to seize new market opportunities and help tackle poverty. One of the founding proponents of Shared Value, Mark Kramer, will bring his insight to the forum. Speakers from renowned companies will also share their stories and experience. 

The closing date for submission of intermediary proposal for the food support flagship project has been extended from 21 July to 11 August. 
At the briefing session of the invitation exercise conducted on 15 June, some participants expressed the views that, having regard to the complexity of the project, more time would be required for preparation of a quality proposal to meet the requirements.  In this light, the Task Force agreed to extend the closing date of the invitation by three weeks to 11 August.
More information about the briefing session, including video record and highlights of Q&A session, has been uploaded in the flagship section of this website.

The SIE Fund is inviting proposals on intermediary service for the food support flagship project. A briefing session was conducted on 15 June to help interested parties understand more about the invitation exercise. Representatives of the Task Force Secretariat began with an overview of food support services in Hong Kong and continued to introduce the roles of the intermediary as well as eligibility, application procedures and assessment criteria. About 80 persons from some 40 organisations including food support operators, NGOs, IT companies and consultancy firms attended. Many stayed behind after the briefing, seizing the chance for networking and meeting potential partners.
Interested parties may refer to the presentation slides.

The SIE Fund was meeting future entrepreneurs again shortly after the TDC Entrepreneur Day. Introducing the Fund and its intermediary programmes, Task Force Member Mr Timothy Ma was one of the speakers at the  "Social Innovation in Hong Kong" seminar held by the School of Professional and Continuing Education of The University of Hong Kong on 6 June. The lecture room was filled by about 50 enthusiasts who showed great interest in intermediaries' programmes and some even asked for advice on writing proposals. The other speaker of the seminar was Mr Ted Kwan, Chair of Fullness Christian Social Enterprise Limited who gave a detailed account of the development and impact of social innovation in Hong Kong.

Dignity Kitchen is a spectacular social business in Singapore integrating food court, vocational training, social entrepreneur incubation, as well as conservation of heritage cuisine. Through job training and placement, it helps the disabled and disadvantaged reclaim dignity and earn a better living as workers or operators of food stalls. Is this operation model applicable here? To learn more, the SIE Fund Secretariat has invited Mr Koh Seng Choon, Executive Director of Dignity Kitchen to deliver a talk on 1 June to share his insight. Also present were representatives of the Fund’s intermediaries who appreciated the occasion, and there were fruitful exchanges of views with our guest from Singapore.

For the first time SIE Fund was participating in the Entrepreneur Day organised by the HK Trade Development Council and held on 29 to 30 May at the HK Convention and Exhibition Centre. In the setting of a café, our booth featured the respective “specialties” of the four intermediaries as well as “mottos” of five groups of entrepreneurs. A talk on “Social Entrepreneur: Fund Raising Strategy” was also held on 30 May with Ms Doris Leung, Founder and CEO of Diamond Cab speaking on her experience in entrepreneurship and fund raising, followed by an introduction of the SIE Fund given by a representative of the Task Force Secretariat. Please visit our Facebook page for more stories.

A host of events are in the queue for launch, and we are too eager to bring you the latest news. Instead of waiting for the Q3 issue in July, a special issue of the SIE Fund newsletter is published, covering invitation of applications for providing intermediary service for the flagship project, our presence at TDC’s Entrepreneur Day and the SI seminar held by HKU SPACE, as well as the coming schedule of Social Innovation Jam. Please click here or visit the ‘Newsletter’ section for stories in full.

We are glad to share another encouraging progress in the Fund’s development. SOW (Asia) Foundation Limited (SOW Asia), one of the Fund’s intermediaries, has launched its Capacity Building programme “Fast Forward” on 27 May. Comprising awareness-building outreach events, workshops, provision of mentors and connecting social entrepreneurs to investors, “Fast Forward” will equip social ventures with the business skills and ability to attract appropriate capital and to expand operation. With the rolling out of “Fast Forward”, all four intermediaries have launched their programmes. Find out more about “Fast Forward” from “Intermediaries’ Programmes” section of this website or the website of SOW Asia.

The SIE Fund is now inviting applications from interested organisations to take up the role of intermediary for food support flagship project. The chosen intermediary will help start up a platform to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the overall food support service in Hong Kong. Please visit the Flagship section of this website for more details. Deadline for application is at 12:00 noon on 21 July 2015.

The first batch of intermediaries are rolling out their programmes for Capacity Building and Innovative Programmes. On 12 May, “Nurturing Social Minds” was officially launched by The Yeh Family Philanthropy Limited (YFP) at a ceremony officiated by Chief Secretary for Administration Mrs Carrie Lam, Vice-chairperson of the SIE Fund Task Force Dr Joseph Lee and Chair of YFP Mrs Yvette Fung. The programme provides MBA students and senior undergraduates the opportunities to work with a partner social venture to tackle real life social problems. While commending YFP, the Task Force and participating students for their contributions to the programme, Mrs Lam also put her trust in the students for creating new businesses and inspiring existing organisations for new services to address the poverty issue of the society. More information about the programme can be found in “Intermediaries’ Programmes” section of this website or the programme’s website.

How do small ideas bring about big impact? Find out from our  three-week roadshow “Social Innovation Jam” - a showcase of local and overseas social innovation ideas! In the opening tour, artiste Mr Timmy Hung tried the power-generating soccer “Soccket” together with his son, while Mr Chong Chan Yau, President of Hong Kong Blind Union demonstrated the products which are designed for the visually impaired.

The SIE Fund is never at rest. The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS), one of the Fund’s intermediaries, unveiled its programme Impact Incubator on 21 April at a ceremony officiated by Chief Secretary for Administration Mrs Carrie Lam, Chairperson of HKCSS Mr Bernard Chan, and Chairperson of the SIE Fund Task Force Prof Stephen Cheung. Leveraging on networks and resources from social welfare agencies, social enterprises, philanthropy foundations, business associations and professional bodies, Impact Incubator provides a cross-sectoral, one-stop support platform to help social innovation implementers generate innovative ideas and sustainable solutions with application of business approaches to address the problems of poverty. Find out more from “Intermediaries’ Programmes” section of this website or the Impact Incubator website.

The SIE Fund is keen on building connection with social innovation practitioners. We have gone beyond Hong Kong, seizing the opportunities to learn from overseas countries. Recently, we participated in the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network Conference held in Singapore. On behalf of the Task Force Secretariat, Mrs Patricia Lau, Deputy Head of Efficiency Unit, shared with audience the background, principles, implementation as well as future strategies of the Fund at a thematic session on Hong Kong. She was joined by Mr Scott Lawson, Chief Executive Officer, SOW (Asia) Foundation Ltd (one of the Fund’s); Mr Ricky Yu, Founder of Light Be (Social Realty) Co. Ltd and Mr Francis Ngai, founder of Social Ventures Hong Kong (SVHK) in a fruitful dialogue with the participants. The exchange of views involving the three parties, namely the government, intermediaries and social innovation implementers on the same occasion was highly commended by the audience. The Secretariat also visited local social innovation projects, giving extra value to the tour.

E² (Entrepreneur Square) is a platform facilitating crossover of insights and ideas of the technology and social sectors in Hong Kong. The E² Day is one of their events with dual purposes of letting practitioners share ideas and startups pitch innovative projects. The SIE Fund is the strategic sponsor of E² Day 2015 held on 18 April. On behalf of the Fund, Mr Kim Salkeld, Head of Efficiency Unit joined the judging panel in selecting the winning teams and projects and gave closing remarks. Elements of poverty-alleviation were being emphasized in the pitching session.

The SIE Fund is advancing to a new stage while the intermediaries are launching their programmes. At the same time, the Task Force is devoting the greatest effort to the Fund’s operation. The second meeting of the second term Task Force was held on 17 April. Progress of the Fund’s undertakings was reviewed. Forthcoming tasks, including those accompanying the implementation of intermediaries’ programmes, were discussed. Stay tuned, and we will bring you the latest news about the Fund.

We usually call a project successful if it can “do more with less”. This implies comparing costs and benefits. But how can we measure benefits, especially in the delivery of public services? This is the question asked at the seminar “Social Impact Assessment for Public Services” held by the Task Force Secretariat, and the answer came from our speaker Mr Daniel Fujiwara. With over 10 years of experience working in government and international organisations, Mr Fujiwara is the founding Director of SImetrica, a renowned research consultancy in the UK in policy evaluation and social impact measurement. Mr Fujiwara introduced the theories, tools and applications of social impact assessment, supplemented by cases in the UK. The seminar was attended by about 120 colleagues of various Government bureaux and departments.

The latest issue of our newsletter is published, bringing you the Fund’s news and activities. In this issue you will find a summary report of the Social Innovation Video Competition, the Fund participating at exhibitions, rolling out of intermediaries’ programmes, and the upcoming invitation exercise for an intermediary for the food support flagship project.  Please click here or visit the ‘Newsletter’ section for stories in full.

You may have heard of TED which is gaining popularity worldwide as a brand of idea-exchanging events. In Hong Kong, a salon with the theme of rethinking philanthropy was held lately by TEDxWanChai. Head of Efficiency Unit Mr Kim Salkeld was one of the speakers. Mr Salkeld shared his views on how the Government can drive social innovation through sponsoring researches (which help identify priorities) and policies and regulations (which facilitate extensive participation). The SIE Fund was cited as a new approach in such effort. The Fund aims to strengthen the ecosystem and to leverage on the expertise and networks of intermediaries to identify, nurture and coach social entrepreneurs to set up businesses with social impact to tackle poverty and social exclusion.

Hurrah! Engagement agreements were signed between the SIE Fund and the four intermediaries, namely The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS), PolyU Technology and Consultancy Company Limited (PolyU), SOW (Asia) Foundation Limited (SOW (Asia)), and The Yeh Family Philanthropy Limited (YFP).

The four intermediaries are tasked to design and administer various programmes for Capacity Building and Innovative Programmes. As reported earlier, the Good Seed programme organised by PolyU and the social entrepreneurship and venture philanthropy course held in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology by YFP are already on the go. Programmes of HKCSS and SOW (Asia) will be launched soon. Please stay tuned for more updates.

The Chinese New Year holiday is over and the SIE Fund Task Force is back to the active mode. Task Force Members gathered at the office of the Efficiency Unit on 5 March, not for celebrating the festival but a workshop.

In the workshop, Task Force Members and staff members of the Secretariat practiced the use of “Strategic Visioning”. It is a tool for structured thinking that helps an organisation to review the environment and its situation and to come up with visions and actions. This workshop is a timely warm-up for the Task Force before it engages in challenging tasks to come.

Winners of the Social Innovation Video Competition were revealed earlier. How did they come up with the concepts? The three winning teams were invited to an interview by the radio programme “笑容從家開始” of RTHK Radio 5 to share what triggered their ideas and how they thought about poverty problems. Accompanying them was Mrs Patricia Lau from the SIE Fund Task Force Secretariat, who was also one of the adjudicators for the Competition. Mrs Lau recapped the objective of the Competition and commended the students’ innovative ideas. Click here to listen to the interview (audio clip in Cantonese only), then you may understand more about the videos.

Chinese New Year is just a few days ahead. Festive mood is surging. While you may have planned for the holiday already, the SIE Fund Task Force is still working in high gear. Joined by three new members, the first meeting of the second term Task Force was held on 12 February. Progress of the Fund’s projects was reviewed and future development of the Fund discussed. Stay tuned for the latest news about our programmes.

A course on social entrepreneurship and venture philanthropy run by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School has started recently. The course is held in collaboration with one of SIE Fund’s intermediaries-to-be, the Yeh Family Philanthropy Limited, and with funding support from the Fund. It aims to provide students with opportunities to work with social enterprises on poverty alleviating projects delivering social values and business sustainability. At its first session held on 7 February, Mrs Patricia Lau from the Fund’s secretariat was invited to give a welcome speech and introduce the Fund.

To help people have a better understanding of social entrepreneurship and consider it as a future career, a seminar ‘Social Entrepreneur - A Career That Makes A Difference’ was held in the 25th Education & Careers Expo.  Mr. Wayne Chau , Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Agent of Change Company Limited was invited to share his experience in starting a social enterprise. While Mr. Gary Tang, Supervisor of The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups talked about the general trend of social entrepreneurship. Around thirty people attended the seminar.

Advocates and practitioners of social innovation worldwide are striving to turn ideas into results. The SIE Fund is keen to learn from these experts. Mrs Chris Sigaloff, the director of Kennisland which is an independent think tank in the Netherlands, was invited by the SIE Fund secretariat to share her experience in turning ideas into fruitful projects. Two talks were held on 2 February, focusing on engaging stakeholders in the education field and in the public sector respectively. The talks were attended by about 80 participants including school principals, representatives from education institutions and civil servants from different government bureaux and departments.

The SIE Task Force has been visiting organisations and operators of social innovation projects in order to gain a better understanding of the various types of service and operation models.  Recently, a visit was paid to the “Gingko House” at the Jao Tsung-I Academy.

Gingko House provides catering service and runs businesses including restaurants, catering, organic farm and food manufacturing.  It is also a forerunner in providing jobs opportunities to the elderly and is employing more than 450 seniors.

The Social Innovation Video Competition Award Presentation Ceremony came to an end with more than two hundred guests joining the event. Local pop band C AllStar were invited to perform and present the awards. The Champion went to “Social Animation” from Sir Ellis Kadoorie Secondary School (West Kowloon).

Funded by the SIE Fund and organised by one of its Intermediaries PolyU Technology and Consultancy Company Limited, the "Good Seed" programme is now inviting applications from students and alumnus of higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The objective of the programme is to equip potential social innovation implementers with the necessary skills and knowledge including use of design and technology. Participants have the chance to receive funding from the SIE Fund for implementation of innovative poverty-alleviating ideas.

The programme is set out in three stages: interactive and action-oriented learning, idea competition, and project implementation.  Each winner in the competition will be granted HK$100,000 for project implementation and support of PolyU, NGOs, and mentorship of design, technology and business professionals will be arranged.  Application form and other details are available at the programme website www.goodseed.hk.

The Chief Executive presented the 2015 Policy Address on 14 January.  SIE Fund is being mentioned among various poverty alleviation measures.  Highlighted in Chapter 3 - Poverty Alleviation and Support for the Disadvantaged of the Policy Agenda are the tasks of the SIE Fund which include engaging intermediaries for capacity building and innovative programmes, preparation for the flagship project on food assistance, considering how best to strengthen social innovation ecosystem and encouraging the use of innovative commercial practices to address social needs.

These initiatives are being undertaken by the second term Task Force at full strength.  As engagement arrangements with the intermediaries are to be finalised, a series of programmes including funding schemes will be launched soon. It is expected that more people will contribute their innovative ideas, and that a vibrant social innovation ecosystem will help pull together cross-sector efforts for alleviation of poverty problem.

The 2015 first quarter newsletter of the SIE Fund was newly published. To mark a new milestone in the development of the Fund, the newsletter was given a facelift.  Besides having a new layout design, the newsletter will be distributed to our major stakeholders and partners via email directly to further enhance communication. Stories in this issue include a brief summary of our progress, announcement of intermediaries-to-be, and updates of the Social Innovation Video Competition.  Please click here or visit the ‘Newsletter’ section for the full content.

The SIE Fund announced on 3 December 2014 four organisations, namely The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, PolyU Technology and Consultancy Company Limited, SOW (Asia) Foundation Ltd, and The Yeh Family Philanthropy Limited, as Intermediaries-to-be.  Collectively, they will cover both the Fund’s priority objectives of Capacity Building and development of Innovative Projects.  Details of their programmes will be announced at a later stage.

The appointment of intermediaries enables the SIE Fund to ride on existing knowledge, experience and networks in the social innovation space to help strengthen the ecosystem.  These four intermediaries will contribute with their own strengths, leverage resources from each other and bring in their collaborative partners, facilitating the idea generation, incubation and implementation of new businesses that address the problems of poverty and social exclusion in the community.

Read more from our press release and booklet.

Twenty finalists for the Social Innovation Video Competition were selected. From now till 14 December, visit the voting page to watch all the finalist entries and pick your favourite. All voters will automatically be entered into a lucky draw to win Quiksilver cash coupons. Voters may also be able to get two tickets for the award presentation ceremony to enjoy live performance by the pop singer group C AllStar.

The government had announced the membership of the second term Commission on Poverty (CoP) and its Task Forces which will run from 1 December 2014 to 30 June 2017.  New membership of the SIE Fund Task Force is available in the section "Task Force" of this website.

Meanwhile, the 15th meeting of the CoP was held on 29 November. In the meeting, Chairperson of the SIE Fund Task Force Professor Stephen Cheung briefed the Commission with the aid of a video on the latest development and upcoming work of the Fund, including progress of engaging intermediaries and preparation work for the food support flagship project.

SIE Fund aims to facilitate cross-sector collaboration to help build an ecosystem for nurturing social entrepreneurs and incubating innovative ideas to support poverty relief in Hong Kong. Mrs Patricia Lau, Deputy Head of Efficiency Unit of the SAR Government, was invited to speak at the Foundation Philanthropy Roundtable 2014 organised recently by the socially oriented consultancy firm Asia Value Advisors. On behalf of the secretariat of the SIE Fund Task Force, Mrs Lau shared with decision makers of corporate and private foundations the objectives and funding principles of SIE Fund. The Fund’s objective of building sustainable platforms of cross-sector collaboration for greater social impacts captured the interest of the audience.

The 2014 Social Enterprise Summit was held from 3rd to 5th of November. Being one of the sponsor organisations, SIE Fund seized the opportunity to invite speakers of the event to speak in two sharing sessions held on 3rd and 5th of November.  Ms Catherine Bracy (Director of Community Organising, Code for America, US), Mr Karl Sittle (Concept and Consultancy, PowerAge, Switzerland), Dr Scott Sherman (Executive Director, Transformative Action Institute, US) and Ms Suzanne Rodrigues (Project Manager, Fundacão EPD, Portugal) shared their experiences in application of IT, engaging the aged, nurturing young social entrepreneurs and empowering the socially deprived respectively.  The sharing sessions were well received by the audience which included social innovators and civil servants of related fields.

A roundtable discussion was also held on 5th November and deans of business schools or their representatives were invited to exchange views with Dr Sherman, Mrs Yvette Yeh Fung (Chair, The Yeh Family Philanthropy) and Task Force Chairperson Professor Stephen Cheung on teaching social entrepreneurship in universities.

SIE Fund has published the 2014 fourth quarter edition of its newsletter.  It features the progress of selection of intermediaries, events of the Social Innovation Video Competition as well as the newly launched SIE Fund mobile app.  Please click here to download, or visit the 'Newsletter' section for past editions.

Food support is one of the key areas that SIE Fund concerns with. To arouse public awareness of food waste reduction and encourage tackling the problem by social innovation, SIE Fund joined with The Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation (J.C.DISI) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University to present  "Festival Vernissage: Social Gastronomy" as the opening event of the "10 Day Fest". In the event, Task Force Vice-chairperson Dr. Joseph Lee and Member Mr Timothy Ma teamed up with celebrity chefs and members from disadvantaged families to make delicious dishes out of unwanted fresh food. Free one-minute-portraits were also distributed upon every download of the SIE Fund mobile app.

The SIE Fund mobile app is newly launched, adding to the Fund’s multiple channels in promoting social innovation and connecting the social innovation community. Apart from sharing the Fund's news, local events and overseas cases of social innovation, the app also includes interactive games to test your poverty-alleviation knowledge and provides 'tips' on innovative ideas. It is a source of intelligence and inspiration for those who want to participate in social innovation and become social entrepreneurs. The SIE mobile app is available in both iOS and Android versions; download it now and pitch in to the collaborative effort for poverty alleviation.

SIE Fund treasures every opportunity to reach out to different stakeholders. A recent occasion was the Social Venture Summit held by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Task Force Member Mr Timothy Ma was invited to deliver a keynote speech at the forum on 8 October which was attended by some 80 participants. In addition to introducing the Fund to the audience, Mr Ma encouraged the future entrepreneurs to put forward more innovative ideas to help build a better society. In the Q&A section, he further elaborated on how to get prepared to become a social entrepreneur and shared his tips on running a sustainable social business.

It is a new attempt by the SIE Fund to engage intermediaries to help further the development of the social innovation ecosystem and groom social entrepreneurs. It is a learning process for the Fund and organisations submitting proposals for provision of intermediary service.  The latter were invited to a sharing session held on 16 September.  Chairperson of the Task Force Professor Cheung gave his gratitude to the applicants for their support, followed by sharing of general observations by the secretariat.  The session also provided a forum for participants to exchange views on how to foster collaboration amongst stakeholders and the SIE Fund for nurturing the social innovation space and supporting poverty relief in Hong Kong. 

Presentation slides

Regarding the invitation for provision of intermediary service for 'Capacity Building' and/or 'Innovative Programmes', over 40 proposals were received as of closure on 11 April. The Intermediary Assessment Committee of the Task Force has completed Stage 1 Initial Assessment and is conducting Stage 2 Detailed Assessment. Recommendations will be submitted to the Task Force for appointment of intermediaries by mid-August.

To help students prepare for the Social Innovation Video Competition, three sessions of Social Innovation & Video Workshop were held on 3, 8 and 9 July with around 200 students attended. Mr Wayne Chau (Founder, Agent of Change), Mr Kelvin Cheung (Founder, FoodCycle UK and UnLtd HK) and Mr Erwin Huang (Founder, Weborganic) were invited to share their experience in social innovation. Media professionals Mr Edgar So (Head of Programming, HK i-Cable News Limited) and Ms Gloria Yick (Producer, Public and Current Affairs Section (TV), RTHK) provided practical tips on making documentaries, while Mr Ben Lam (Adobe Product Specialist, GrandTech Systems Limited) and Mr MC Lam (Technical Consultant, Special Camera Service) shared their expertise in video production. Guided tours were arranged during which the students were able to visit five social innovation projects and learn how they operate.

Video Record

Social Innovation Project Visits

The 2014 third quarter edition is newly published, featuring the Social Innovation Video Competition, development of the food support flagship project, progress of intermediary engagement, as well as the SIE Fund Website content enhancement. Please click here to download, or visit the 'Newsletter' section for past editions.

To mark the beginning of the Social Innovation Video Competition for Secondary Students, a kick-off ceremony was held on 27 June and was attended by more than 150 participants from 37 schools. In the sharing session, Mr Kee Chi-hing (Director, Fullness Christian Vocational Training Centre) encouraged students to be creative and to explore social innovation ideas through the method of ‘addition, subtraction, multiplication and division’. Ms Yuan Siu-ching, (Senior Executive Producer, News & Information Services Division of TVB) shared her experience in documentary production.

Video Record (Chinese Only)

Kee Chi-hing’s sharing

Yuan Siu-ching’s sharing

Dialogue with Kee and Yuan

To arouse awareness of social innovation and poverty problems among secondary school students, Social Innovation Video Competition with the theme “Tackling Poverty Problems with Social Innovation” is launched. Jointly organised by the SIE Fund and the government’s youth portal Youth.gov.hk, the competition comprises seminars, workshops, visits and the contest. Prizes include a four-day Social Innovation Exploration Trip in Seoul for the Champion team.

Promotional video

A successful social enterprise should combine social objectives and entrepreneurial skills to achieve sustainable development. For experience sharing, SIE Fund Task Force Members paid a visit to MentalCare Connect on 15 May. Established for more than 10 years, MentalCare Connect adopts a 'market-driven' and 'customer-oriented' approach and runs a wide range of businesses including catering, convenience stores, sales of rehabilitation products, cleansing services and marketing and promotion service. While creating employment opportunities for disadvantaged groups and people with disabilities, profits are fully reinvested into the business for future development – a success social innovation implementers can learn from.

The invitation exercise for provision of intermediary service for 'Capacity Building' and/or 'Innovative Programmes' came to a close at 12:00 noon today (11 April 2014). The first batch of intermediaries is expected to be engaged after mid-2014. Stay tuned for further news.

The SIE Fund introduced its first newsletter in January this year as another communication channel providing updates about the Fund's development. The 2014 second quarter edition is newly published. It carries news on the invitation of intermediaries, the food support flagship project, as well as the upcoming 'Moving Images Competition'. Please click here for details or to download.

To facilitate interested organisations to understand the Invitation Brief for the Provision of Intermediary Services for the SIE Fund, a briefing session was held on both 11 and 17 March 2014. Representatives of the Secretariat of the SIE Fund Task Force introduced the roles of intermediaries and explained the eligibility, application procedures, assessment criteria and some key engagement terms. Questions from the floor were taken. Interested parties may refer to the presentation slides and video record (Cantonese with options for Chinese and English subtitles).

Meanwhile, to enhance public understanding of the SIE Fund and social innovation, a series of videos has been produced and uploaded to the Fund's YouTube channel. The videos, together with a series of articles, are being posted on the Social Enterprise Gallery at etnet as well.

To enhance public understanding of SIE Fund and encourage cross-sector collaboration, the Youtube channel 'To know more about SIE Fund' and the first batch of videos are online. SIE Fund Task Force Members explain in the videos the idea of 'capacity building' – one of the priorities of the Fund and for the intermediaries, and other important concepts about SIE Fund and social innovation.

One of the priorities of the SIE Fund is a "flagship project" on food support. After several months' of foundation work, the project has entered a new stage of engaging different sectors and professions to form cross-disciplinary working teams. An idea generation session was held on 4 March with an aim to collect ideas on how to strengthen the food support mechanism. Participants included operators of food support projects, NGOs, hotels, caterers, supermarkets, real estate developers, IT, logistics, design, environmental protection, related government departments and SIE Fund Task Force Members. Another sharing session and several visits to operating units of food support projects were also conducted in mid-February.

Since the launch of the SIE Fund on 28 September 2013, the SIE Fund Task Force has been working on the details for engaging intermediaries. The SIE Fund is now inviting applications from interested organisations to take up the role of intermediaries for 'Capacity Building' and/or 'Innovative Programmes' to help nurture social innovation and social entrepreneurship for poverty alleviation. Please visit the 'Invitation for Intermediaries' section of this website for more details. Deadline for application is at 12:00 noon on 11 April 2014.

Press release

The SIE Fund Task Force sees cross-sector collaboration as conducive to social innovation. Task Force Members are keen to study successful models, one of which they visited recently is MINDSET Place, a hostel in Fanling for people with chronic mental illness.

MINDSET Place was renovated from a residential property bought by MINDSET, a charity arm of the Jardine Matheson Group. With tailor-designed facilities and comprehensive care provided by social workers and health workers, it helps its residents to get prepared for re-joining the community. Self-financed and operated by New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, MINDSET Place is a notable example of collaboration with contribution from business sector, architectural design profession and NGOs.

The SIE Fund Task Force has strived to reach out to the public and stakeholders in the social innovation space since the launch of the Fund in September last year. The latest addition to this effort was a newsletter newly published highlighting the Fund's activities in the previous quarter as well as upcoming events. The back page is a calendar of January to March with notes encouraging people to make a change for the betterment of the society.

The SIE Fund newsletter will be published every quarter.

While preparing for inviting application of intermediaries, the SIE Fund Task Force Secretariat proceeds with the stakeholder engagement exercise to promote the Fund. Recently a briefing session was held with audience comprising young entrepreneurs and professionals invited by the association "香港各界青少年活動委員會" and its related organisations. The Task Force opined that it is crucial for the development of social innovation in Hong Kong to bring together resources and knowledge from different sectors and professions. The collaborated efforts will provide platforms, funding and advice for nurturing social entrepreneurs and innovative ideas.

The magazine The Big Issue was first published some 20 years ago in London. Despite running as a profitable business, the magazine recruits and trains homeless people to become its retail vendors. These vendors acquire copies of the magazine at about half the retail price and earn from sale the price difference. This model, which proves to be a great success in helping the homeless to earn a living and reclaim dignity, is being replicated through franchise in various cities across the globe. Its founder Dr John Bird visited Hong Kong recently. The SIE Fund Task Force Secretariat seized the chance to hold a sharing session with audience from Hong Kong's social innovation and impact investing community. Dr Bird talked proudly about people turning from being 'part of the problem' to 'part of the solution'. He emphasised that there are problems in the society, but there are as many answers – a proposition the SIE Fund also appreciates.

In the past 10 years, UnLtd, the Foundation for Entrepreneurs in UK has sponsored 11,000 social entrepreneurs with funding, coaching and networking, and this operation model has been replicated in four other countries. To learn from their experience, SIE Fund Task Force Secretariat has invited Mr Cliff Prior, CEO of UnLtd to meet with Task Force Members. Also joining the meeting was Mr Kelvin Cheung, founder of FoodCycle (a social enterprise in UK for food redistribution supported by UnLtd) who returned to Hong Kong to set up UnLtd HK. In the meeting, Mr Prior emphasised UnLtd's philosophy of 'backing people first, projects second' and that confidence building being the focus of support to young entrepreneurs in the incubation stage of their social ventures.

'Social innovation' has long been recognised as an effective way to address social issues in foreign countries. In Hong Kong there are also notable privately-run examples. One of the priorities for SIE Fund is to facilitate cross-sector collaboration and help build an ecosystem supporting social innovation and social entrepreneurship. At this year's Social Enterprise Summit, a discussion session titled 'Social Innovation for Policy-makers' was host by Efficiency Unit of the HKSAR Government. Four speakers, namely Mr Chua Hoi-wai (then Business Director [Policy Research and Advocacy] of The Hong Kong Council of Social Service), Mr Kee Chi-hing (Chair, Fullness Social Enterprises Society) (both are SIE Fund Task Force Members), Ms Penny Low (Founder and President of Social Innovation Park of Singapore) and Mr Nigel Jacob (Co-chair of Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics of Boston) were invited to share the successful cases of social innovation in various communities as well as the role of governments. The session was attended by over 150 people. Attendants were invited to participate in completing a Mandala Chart which recorded their joint efforts in identifying ways to improve our society.

In western societies, social innovation with citizens' participation has become an effective way to address social problems. To learn from their experience, SIE Fund Task Force Secretariat has organised a seminar inviting Mr Nigel Jacob, Co-chair of Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics, Boston to introduce how the city government engage the citizens in formulating better city life. Attendants included civil servants and executives from NGOs. New Urban Mechanics is a civic innovation incubator and R&D lab within Boston's City Hall providing support to innovators. As illustrated in the seminar, many ideas in city life improvement were initiated by individual citizens and realised with the help of New Urban Mechanics.

Social needs are ever increasing and changing while resources are scarce. How to do more with less? Combining the intents to generate social impacts as well as financial returns, social impact investment is one of the answers to that question. SIE Fund Task Force Secretariat has invited Ms Rosemary Addis, a world-renowned social innovation strategist who has been working with various international social investment agencies, to share her experience in collaborating with different sectors in promoting impact investment in Australia. Two seminars were held, one for impact investors and the other civil servants, both groups being major stakeholders of social innovation and SIE Fund. SIE Fund Task Force Members also participated in the two seminars.

Video record of the talk delivered by Ms Rosemary Addis on 26 November

Social impact bond (SIB) is a form of financing for social innovation programmes in which the government commits to pay for improved social outcomes that result in public sector savings, meaning that taxpayers do not need to pay unless the programmes achieve the desired results and savings. To introduce the concept to SIE Fund Task Force Members, civil servants and practitioners in the social innovation space, SIE Fund Task Force Secretariat has invited Mr Kevin Robbie, Executive Director, Employment of Social Ventures Australia to speak at a seminar. The development of SIB in UK and Australia was shared, followed by an introduction to the principles of social impact assessment.

The development of social enterprise in Hong Kong is encouraging. Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre has recently published a study report on the subject. Titled 'Social Enterprises in Hong Kong', the report puts forward suggestions on fostering the development of social enterprises. A meeting was held during which the Research Centre introduced the report to the SIE Fund Task Force. Task Force Members gave positive responses on how to use innovative methods to support social enterprises and young entrepreneurs.

The full report and executive summary can be downloaded from the Centre's website.

The SIE Fund aims to facilitate cross-sector collaboration with the hope that the synergy effect will expedite social innovation in identifying alternative ways to address poverty issue. The business sector will be playing a vital role in making it work. In addition to introducing the SIE Fund, Deputy Head of Efficiency Unit of the SAR Government Mrs Patricia Lau shared with an audience of some 200 business leaders at the award presentation ceremony of the '2013 Best Practice Awards' held on 18 November the notion of embedding social and financial values in corporate social responsibilities and business objectives. It is hoped that this will help build an ecosystem in which social innovation can flourish.

Organised by Education for Good and co-organised by Efficiency Unit of the HKSAR Government, the SIE Fund seminar attracted some 50 participants. An introduction to the Fund was given by Deputy Head of Efficiency Unit Mrs Patricia Lau, followed by a briefing by SIE Fund Task Force Member Mr Kee Chi-hing on social entrepreneurship and social impact assessment. Questions regarding fund application were raised during the Q and A session, reflecting audience's enthusiasm in taking part in the Fund to help address social problems.

Elders will be among the ultimate beneficiaries of SIE Fund. With regard to elderly service, the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association (SCHSA) has remarkable accomplishment. In addition to the renowned Personal Emergency Link, the Association has been introducing other services to cater for the needs of the elderly. For experience sharing, SIE Fund Task Force paid a visit to SCHSA's headquarters in Homantin. After an introduction on SCHSA's services and latest development given by their CEO Ms Irene Leung, Task Force Members were invited to tour the brand-new Jockey Club Life Journey Center. The Centre makes use of interactive exhibits to inspire visitors to rethink the meaning of life.

The SIE Fund Task Force is working on the arrangement to invite application for the first batch of intermediaries. To enhance understanding of the concept of social entrepreneurship and background of the SIE Fund among interested parties, Task Force Member Mr Kee Chi-hing and Deputy Head of Efficiency Unit, HKSAR Government Mrs Patricia Lau were invited to speak at a sharing session held by Good Lab on 6 November. About 70 people participated in the discussion. Attendants also took the opportunity to network with other social innovation devotees.

Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund was officially launched at the Commission on Poverty Summit. The launch ceremony was officiated by Chief Executive Mr C Y Leung, Chief Secretary for Administration Mrs Carrie Lam, SIE Fund Task Force Chairperson Professor Stephen Cheung and Vice-chairperson Dr Joseph Lee.

Social innovation may be a novel concept to our society. Our web editors are glad to have Professor Stephen Cheung, Chairperson of the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund Task Force sharing his thoughts with us. In addition to introducing social innovation and explaining the objectives of the SIE Fund, Professor Cheung encourages future social entrepreneurs, especially the young people to "keep on dreaming, think out of the box". Details

Task Force members attended 'Concert in the Dark' organised by the social enterprise 'Dialogue in the Dark'.

Members of the Commission on Poverty and the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund Task Force visited one of the 'Light Home' flats in Sheung Wan. An introduction to the project was made by the founder and CEO of Light Be, Mr Ricky Yu, Chairman, Mr Laurence Lee, founder and CEO of supporting organisation Social Venture Hong Kong, Mr Francis Ngai, together with representative from the RS Group.

Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund Task Force Secretariat conducted a non-committal market sounding exercise to gather information on market capabilities, interests and preferences from interested parties. It would provide crucial information for the Task Force to shape the directions and arrangement in engaging intermediaries. A total of 50 proposals were received.