Through initiatives in Capacity Building, we strive to foster the development of the social innovation ecosystem, the work of which includes nurturing social entrepreneurs, augmenting the capacity of the sector, facilitating cross-sector collaboration, as well as enhancing public awareness and understanding of social innovation and entrepreneurship.
The SIE Fund will directly fund capacity building projects. We welcome the community to lodge proposals to the Task Force Secretariat. Interested parties may refer to "Notes to Applicants - Submission of Capacity Building/Research Proposals" or "Notes to Applicants - Submission of Sponsorship Proposals" for details about submission and assessment of proposals. Capacity building projects funded by the SIE Fund and major initiatives directly launched by the Fund are listed below.
Gerontechnology is widely recognised as a key to addressing the challenges and tapping the opportunities arising from the ageing population. 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 Fund. The project will last for three years until end December 2023. 
The SIE Fund engaged St. James' Settlement (SJS) in June 2016 as its intermediary to launch the Food Support Flagship Project. The Project aims to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the overall food support service in Hong Kong. SJS launched the FOOD-CO platform in May 2017 for different stakeholders of the sector to coordinate information sharing on the demand and supply of food items and related services. The first phase of the Project has been completed and the next phase “FOOD-CO 2.0” was launched in July 2019 to further enhance the capacity of the food support service sector and step up advocacy for food surplus donation. 
The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS), as the intermediary for the project, launched this innovative project in September 2017. The project brings in the joint efforts of landlords, non-governmental organisations, social enterprises and professional bodies to provide affordable and decent transitional social housing to the grassroots to improve their living environment and quality of life. The SIE Fund and the Community Chest have jointly provided a grant for the three-year operation of the intermediary. 
Launched by Enable Foundation Limited in 2017, it is a training programme that aims to train young designers to become enablers for social innovation in Hong Kong. The Programme was conducted through engaging young designers to co-create with senior citizens, community groups, service providers and design professionals to address three social issues in Hong Kong, namely Fine Dying, Dementia Going and Productive Ageing. Launched in 2020 with further funding from the SIE Fund, Phase II of the Social Innovation Design Lab is a 14-month programme to extend and further develop social innovation upon the foundation laid in Phase I. The selected topic of the programme is "Dementia Going". It will facilitate co-creation and design thinking between young students, elderly and coummunity groups to devise products and services for persons with dementia, as well as to enhance public awareness of the disease. Read more about 
The Golden Age Fellows 2019, launched by the Golden Age Foundation Limited, aims to engage and train Golden Agers (generally people aged 45 or above) with different education and economic backgrounds to become the new power of social innovation, and inspire them to develop innovative ideas to address social problems through a series of curated seminars and workshops, site visits and experiential learning sessions, self-directed sessions, job shadowing and coaching sessions. 
The SIE Fund encourages corporations to apply the Creating Shared Value (CSV) approach in their business strategies for addressing social needs while exploring new business opportunities. We kick-started our initiatives with a forum in 2015, followed by three workshops. A second forum and a series of activities have been launched in 2017. 
The SI CEO Competition for Tertiary Students co-organised with Youth.gov.hk was launched in August 2016. Students were invited to develop and implement innovative business plans to tackle social issues, specifically around elderly care, food support and social inclusion. 
To showcase the winning ideas of Social Innovation Video Competition, a series of roadshow was held from April to May and September to November 2015 in shopping malls and tertiary institutions.
The Social Innovation Video Competition co-hosted by the Fund and Youth.gov.hk was organised in 2014-15 school year to arouse students' awareness and invite ideas for poverty alleviation. Talks, workshops, guided tours and a contest were held to inspire thoughts and actions.
As part of the work to nurture new generations of social entrepreneurs, the “HK Social Innovators” (HKSI) was launched in May 2016 at the SIE Fund website. It features seasoned and budding social innovators with the aim of inspiring new ideas and encouraging a wider participation in social innovation. A weekly column was also launched on am730 by which HKSIs share their thoughts and aspirations. 