Call for Awareness: The “New Normal” after the Pandemic Bringing Civil, Business, Government, Academic sectors together for a Better Society

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 15 September 2022 - The 15th Social Enterprise Summit (SES 2022) will convene from 24 to 27 November 2022. Under the theme of “Bounce Forward Together”, the International Symposium will explore different dimensions in rebuilding society in the post-pandemic “new normal” and look into ways of driving cross-sector collaboration in order to recreate a restorable and renewable society. The four-day international symposium will invite more than 70 specialists, academics and business representatives from across the globe to examine existing and new innovative solutions, redirect resources through different dimensions that reach all ages and sectors, explore how the civil, business, government and academic sectors can collaborate in response to emerging social, economic and environmental challenges. Event of the Year on Social InnovationCall for Awareness to Address Challenges and Opportunities in “New Normal” The launch ceremony for SES 2022 took place today. Mrs. Rebecca CHOY YUNG, Chair of Social Enterprise Summit Organising Committee, said “In the past two years, the pandemic has brought about drastic changes in society and people’s livelihood. It is time to learn from experience and make use of the strength of social innovation and social entrepreneurship, to explore a new way of life post-pandemic and forge new consensus to drive innovation and change. As SES hits the 15-year mark this year, we would take this opportunity to discuss and deepen our understanding of the development and evolution of social entrepreneurship and social innovation in Hong Kong and beyond. With the theme of ‘Bounce Forward Together’, this year’s symposium aims to raise public and industry’s awareness in mapping the road to post-pandemic revival, while promoting collaboration between civil, business, government and academic sectors. It also inspires young people to seek innovative solutions that bring positive changes and encourage different parties to join hands in building a future full of possibilities. ” The launch event was officiated by the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Miss Alice MAK, with a lighting ceremony. An introductory video for the upcoming SES was unveiled at the event, symbolising various sectors joining hands to make changes and build a better society. The Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Miss Alice MAK, stated that the HKSAR Government will continue to support the sustainable development of social enterprises through a multi-pronged approach, including providing funding support for individual projects, supporting the social enterprise sector in capacity building, enhancing publicity efforts to raise public awareness of social enterprise and promoting cross-sectoral collaboration for social enterprise development. She hopes that in the future, more young people with creativity and aspirations will join the social enterprise industry, realise the spirit of "doing business for good" and inject new impetus into the social enterprise industry. Mr Francis NGAI, Deputy Chair of Social Enterprise Summit Organising Committee, Ms Anita LEE, Co-founder and CEO, Time To Gold, Ms Dorothy LAM, Co-founder and Chief Catalyst, Dream Impact, and Mr Alex WONG, Co-founder of Dustykid and Convener of Dustyland Metaverse, expressed their views on the theme of “Bounce Forward Together”, and shared their thoughts on challenges and opportunity for social enterprises under the post-pandemic “new normal”. Bounce Forward Together: Cross-sector Collaboration on Innovative Solutions As instability looms large on a global scale, SES has been advocating cross-sector to come up with innovative...