80+ social innovators from around the world to shape the New Normal online at the 13th Social Enterprise Summit

HONG KONG SAR -�Media OutReach - 19 November 2020 - The 13th Social Enterprise Summit kicked off today in
an online format. The three-day international symposium will host dialogues
with over 80 leading social innovators in more than 20 forums, workshops and
interactive sessions. Speakers and participants
from all over the world will have the chance to engage on this unique cross-sector
platform.

 

This year’s Social Enterprise Summit (SES) has
chosen the theme “new normal · collective power”. Everyone
in our society will require some shifts to come out of the current situations
during a year of pandemic, the Summit will identify ways for generating new
social power by bringing different sectors together more closely. This is the
first time that an online format has been used for the Summit, enabling social
entrepreneurs from many different countries to interact without geographic
limitations. “History will mark 2020 as one of the most
disruptive years ever, a year of survival and change,” said Rebecca CHOY YUNG, Chair of the SES Organising Committee. “Social issues have never been as complex as they
are now, and this calls for new ways of thinking. We need to be innovative and use
our collective power to tackle and solve the entrenched social issues in this era
of the ‘new normal’.”

 

The Summit began at 10:00am with a keynote address by
Mr Jeremy HEIMANS (US) and Mr Henry TIMMS (US), Co-Authors of New Power. According to these speakers,
“New power is the ability to harness
the energy of the connected crowd; it is the deployment of mass participation
and peer coordination to create change, shift outcomes and achieve the best
result.” Mr TIMMS shared the example of a global philanthropic movement
#GivingTuesday that engages people in close to 100 countries and which has
generated over US$1 billion for good causes.

 

Followed by a Policy Dialogue at 11:00am, where The Honourable Bernard
Charnwut CHAN, Convenor of the Non-Official Members, Executive Council of Hong
Kong SAR Government; Dr Chi-kwong LAW, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Bureau
of Hong Kong SAR Government, and other speakers talked about social innovation
and social finance, policies and how the civil society, business, policymakers
and academia are developing a shared value city.

 

At 2:30pm, Mr Francis NGAI (HK), Founder and CEO of
Social Ventures Hong Kong, will host the Thematic Session “Overcoming
Challenges 2.0: Rebuilding City Resilience”, a multi-perspective discussion on
rebuilding resilience in our city and suggesting ways to face different
challenges. The panellists will include Mr David YEUNG (HK), Founder and CEO of
Green Monday; Dr LAU Ming-Wai (HK), Founder and Director of MWYO and Chairman
of Chinese Estates Holdings Limited, and Ms Vicky FUNG (HK), Co-founder of
Every Life Is A Song.

 

The second Thematic Session, at 4:00pm, titled
“Transformation”. Ms Ada WONG (HK), Founder and Chair, Make A Difference (MaD)
Institute and Convenor and Director, Good Lab Foundation; Dr Wichuda Na
Songkhla SRIYAPHAI, Ph.D (Thailand), Chief Executive Officer of Wandee Group
Holdings, along with other social entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and Vietnam will
share their experience and stories on how to capture opportunities and scale
impact in the volatile and uncertain world of 2020.

 

Four discussion tracks will take place on 20 November.
The first track is “Community Empowerment”; it will explore ways of unleashing
the latent power in our communities to transform the pressures of recent times
into positive power; to change and to embrace the “new normal”. The second track
is “Digital Social Innovation”, it will explore how open data, citizen science
and shifts in work practices can be used to drive informed and productive changes
in our personal, professional, and social journeys along the digital social
innovation highway. The “Sustainability and Business” track will consider
sustainability strategies, practices and business models that prioritize
sustainability and lay the foundations for a more resilient and sustainable
business ecosystem of shared values. Finally, the “Education Innovation” track
will explore various innovative education initiatives such as adopting a
skills-based approach in social entrepreneurship education, building an
education transformation movement to change traditional practices in schools, as
well as using behavioural science as a tool for developing a better society.

 

The last day of this year’s symposium will be on 21
November, featuring the Asia Youth Entrepreneurship Exchange and a social
innovation workshop. Titled “Yesterday’s Heritage; Today’s Transformation; Tomorrow’s
DYNAMIC INNOVATION”, the concluding session will take the form of a specially
curated narrative involving guest speakers from across generations and social
sectors, who will share their insights into “The New Normal To Be”.

 

Members of the public are free to register to take
part in SES 2020. Besides the International Symposium, an online exhibition is
set up to introduce the various projects of the Social Innovation and
Entrepreneurship Development Fund. Four intermediaries will set up a live
online session to facilitate participant interaction, these intermediaries 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. The exhibition is available for
delegates to visit for an entire month as from 19^th November.

 

FREE Registration for SES 2020: http://bit.ly/SES2020Reg. For full agenda, or download SES registration brochure:
https://www.ses.org.hk/sites/default/files/share/2020/SES%202020_Programme%20Book_12m.pdf.

 

About Social Enterprise Summit

Social Enterprise Summit (SES) is a
cross-sector platform to inspire and empower social innovation and social
entrepreneurship. The flagship International Symposium builds on the
experiences of over 80 speakers from 15 locations to inspire, innovate, connect
and collaborate with delegates from the civic society, businesses, government
and academic sectors from Hong Kong, China; Asia Pacific region and beyond to
advance positive societal changes.

 

2020 Theme: “new normal · collective power” ? 19-21. 11. 2020 ? Online ?

The turn of the decade 2020 begins with a pandemic affecting
people around the world, raising attention to health and changing the way
people work, study, commute or socialise. Everyone in our society will require
some shifts to come out of the current situations. Collective efforts are
needed to re-focus on fostering mutually reinforcing solutions, continuous
communication towards common agendas and making swift decisions based on
current data and measurement. This International Symposium will examine the
process through 4 thematic tracks: Community Empowerment, Digital Social
Innovation, Sustainability and Business as well as Education Innovation.

 

Community
engagement activities are held in eight different districts in Hong Kong during
the year to expand the participation and reach beyond the conference rooms,
applying knowledge, social entrepreneurship and innovative mindsets to various
day to day life settings.

 

Official Website: http://ses.org.hk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialEnterpriseSummit/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sesummit/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ses_socialinnovation/

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SESummitHK