Panel I: Future of Technology, Work and Education

Technological innovation is driving big changes in our lives, including in the areas of work and education. Many present jobs will be automated and new jobs created, requiring new knowledge and competencies in order to thrive. Career paths will likely be more squiggly than linear, and life-long learning from multiple sources will be the norm. At the same time, there will be more opportunities for innovators and entrepreneurs to pursue their passions and become employers rather than be employees. In fact, the pandemic has hastened the development of remote work and gig economy for self-employment in many fields.

What can parents and educators do to support and empower our youth to explore and cultivate their passions in this brave, new world? How can we instill versatility, adaptability and resilience in our youth? How can our education system foster learning to learn and prepare our youth for life-long learning? How can we help broaden our youth’s horizon beyond Hong Kong to the GBA and the world?

Panel II: Future of Climate Change and Healthcare

"Climate change is the defining issue for the 21st century”, said Mrs. Margaret Chan, former Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), at the Climate Change Conference COP21 where the Paris Agreement was born.

WHO estimates that climate change is already causing tens of thousands of deaths every year. These deaths arise from more frequent epidemics of diseases, the vastly expanded geographical distribution of diseases like dengue, and from extreme weather events, like heatwaves and floods. Climate change degrades air quality, reduces food security, and compromises water supplies and sanitation. Experts predict that, by 2030, climate change will be causing an additional 250,000 deaths each year from malaria, diarrhoeal disease, heat stress, and undernutrition alone. The heaviest burden will fall on children, women, and the poor, widening already unacceptable gaps in health outcomes.

Transition towards a carbon neutral world and building sustainable cities are both crucial and urgent. A comprehensive climate policy and a viable healthcare system are paramount building blocks to the survival, livelihood and well-being of human beings, and will contribute to sustainable economic growth.

After two insightful seminars on the future of climate change and healthcare at St Paul’s College, now is the time for us to walk the talk towards a carbon neutralized and healthy city. What are the available policy options and building blocks to achieve these? What are the opportunities and challenges for Hong Kong and for each of us? What will a future career in these fields look like? What mindset and knowledge should our future generations equip themselves with so as to ride on the waves of these megatrends?

We will hear from scientists, professionals and industry leaders on their perspectives in building a shared future. You may have many questions in your mind about how these megatrends will impact you and the choices that you have. It is the time to ask them, and it is the time for everyone of us to make the plan and take the actions. Join us to become part of the solution, to empower yourself and to influence those around you.

Panel Discussion 1: Future of Technology, Work and Education Speakers and Moderator

Ms. Ronna CHAO is CEO of Novel Investment Partners Limited, Chairperson of Novetex Textiles Limited, and a Director of Novelpark Investments Limited. Her responsibilities in these various capacities cover investment and portfolio management, property redevelopment, and textile manufacturing.
Prior to joining the Novel Group, she began her career in New York first as a Mergers & Acquisitions financial analyst at Goldman Sachs, and then as an associate in the Licensing Department of the lifestyle and apparel company Tommy Hilfiger Corporation.
Ms. Chao is also CEO of Bai Xian Asia Institute (BXAI). Initially funded by the Chao family’s Bai Xian Education Foundation (BXEF), and with the support of five founding members, BXAI was established in 2014 to oversee the development and implementation of the Asian Future Leaders Scholarship Program (AFLSP). Today, BXAI supports up to 100 scholars each year to study away from their home country or region at one of its 6 partner universities.
Ms. Chao serves as CEO of Bai Xian Education Foundation (BXEF), Council Member of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, External Advisory Board of the Campus Asia Program at Waseda University, Special Counsellor of Our Hong Kong Foundation, Member of the Board of Directors of Mother’s Choice, Ordinary Member and Director of the Yeh Family Philanthropy Limited, Board Trustee of Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Advisory Board Member of GoImpact, and Advisory Council Member of the Washington Institute for Business, Government and Society. In addition, she was a Court Member of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 2010 to 2016. Ms. Chao is a Standing Committee Member of the 12th Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Hong Kong CPPCC.
Ms. Chao has a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Brown University, and earned her M.B.A. from Stanford University. She also spent a year as an undergraduate at Keio University in Tokyo.

Kai-ming Cheng is Emeritus Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He taught Physics and Mathematics at St Paul’s College 1979-1982, after he closed Elementi College, a school which he founded in deprived Shaukiwan. He then did his PhD at the London Institute of Education, now under UCL. He started his academic career with research in rural areas in China, India and Africa. He has been consultant for most major international agencies, working for various countries. He is active in the international arena of education, being member of global advisory boards. His current attention is on change in society and challenges to various aspects of education.

Danny Lee is the Chairman of SEED Foundation, a NGO focused on youth education development in HK. He is also Senior Advisor to Blue Pool Capital where he was a partner in charge of private equity investment globally since 2015. He has over 24 years investment experience spanning venture, growth capital, and buyout globally. Before Blue Pool, Danny was a Managing Director at Bain Capital and Vice President at Investor AB, the largest industrial holding company in the Nordic region. He started his career at Lehman Brothers in NY. Danny has a BA in Economics from Columbia University.
He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst, Aspen Finance Fellow and Edmund Hillary Fellow. Danny sits on the investment committee for New Zealand Elevate Venture Fund, on the board of HK Venture Capital Association.
Danny further serves the education community through his role as an independent director at Hong Kong Chinese Women Club College and as a guest lecturer at Columbia Business School, HK University of Science and Technology and Lingnan University. He also donated scholarships to Columbia College, United World College and Brooklyn Technical High School. 

Professor Helen Meng is Patrick Huen Wing Ming Professor of Systems Engineering & Engineering Management at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is recognized scholar for her distinctive contributions to multilingual, multimodal human-computer interaction and language learning technologies.  She established the Human-Computer Communications Laboratory in her department in 1999.  She is the Founding Director of the Microsoft-CUHK Joint Laboratory for Human-Centric Computing and Interface Technologies in 2005, which has been recognized as a Ministry of Education of China (MoE) Key Laboratory since 2008. In 2006, she founded the Tsinghua-CUHK Joint Research Centre for Media Sciences, Technologies and Systems and has served as its Director. In 2013, she helped establish the CUHK Stanley Ho Big Data Decision Analytics Research Center and serves as its Founding Director. She served as former Associate Dean (Research) of Engineering (2006-2010), and first female Department Chairman of the Faculty (2012-2018).  In 2019, her interdisciplinary research team was awarded the first Theme-based Research Scheme Project in Artificial Intelligence from HKSAR Government’s Research Grants Council.  She helped establish the Centre for Perceptual and Interactive Intelligence (CPII) Limited in 2020 – this is a CUHK-led InnoCentre on AI.  She is Co-Principal Investigator and Chair of Curriculum Development of the CUHK-JC A14Futrue Project to develop the first comprehensive pre-tertiary AI education curriculum in Hong Kong. 

Panel 2 Future of Climate Change and Healthcare Speakers and Moderator

James Chan joined Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) in December 2018, and has been serving as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director since April 2020. Prior to that, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Po Leung Kuk for six years. He had also served in the Hong Kong Government for 20 years, working in various bureaux and departments at directorate level including Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Home Affairs Department and the Administration Wing of the Chief Secretary for Administration's Office.
Mr Chan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies, and attended Government sponsored postgraduate programmes at the University of Oxford and the Chinese Academy of Governance. He was a scholarship recipient in 2013 of the “Strategic Perspectives in Non-profit Management” executive programme at the Harvard Business School. 

Stephen Siu Yu LAU. Born in Hong Kong. Graduated from HKU and UCL London. Practice in UK and Hong Kong as an Architect. Taught architectural design, later PhD at Hong Kong University and National University Singapore.  He has supervised and graduated 30+ PhDs so far, with whom they have covered most topics under the realm of sustainability and sustainable design. His green expertise covers 'ethics, technologies and certification', while his design expertise relates to the phenomonologies of architectural design. He has lectured at 60+ universities worldwide. Presently, he is Honorary Professor of HKU, Tongji U, Southeast U, and Visiting Professor of Macau U of Science & Technology and Shenzhen University.

Leung Wing Mo, Former Assistant Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, is currently the spokeperson of and Hong Kong Meteorological Society. He teaches climate change in various tertiary educational institutes in Hong Kong.
Mr Leung is actively involved in environmental issues in Hong Kong.  He is a Board of Directors of the environmental groups “The Green Earth” and “Conservation E3 Foundation” (CE3).  He was appointed to various advisory bodies of the government, including the Council for Sustainable Development, and helps formulate the long-term decarbonization strategy in Hong Kong.
While working in the Hong Kong Observatory, he was the first professional meteorologist to host in TV weather programmes.  From 2018 – 2021, he was the host of the popular science TV programme MObservatory (武測天). 

Professor Christine Loh is Chief Development Strategist, Institute for the Environment at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She was the Undersecretary for the Environment at the HKSAR Government (2012-17) and a former legislator. Professor Loh has a long record in working on environmental and climate change issues going back to the 1980s. She is currently teaching a course on risks at the Anderson School of Management at the University of California at Los Angeles. She is an Advisor to the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park on sustainability issues, a Member of BASF’s Stakeholder Advisory Council, and board member of CDP Worldwide, and also Global Maritime Forum.

Professor Raymond Liang is a Specialist in Haematology and Haematological Oncology.  He is currently Head of Department of Medicine, Director of Comprehensive Oncology Centre and Assistant Medical Superintendent of Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital. He is also Emeritus Professor of the University of Hong Kong and Honorary Professor of both the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Professor Liang was a member of the Hospital Authority Board. Furthermore, Professor Liang was the Ex-Dean of Li Ka Shing Faulty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong and the Past President of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine.
Professor Liang was one of the founders of Hong Kong Blood Cancer Foundation and Hong Kong Marrow Match Foundation. The latter was responsible for establishing the first all Chinese Unrelated Marrow Donor Registry, serving Chinese patients in need of bone marrow transplantation in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Mainland China, as well as Chinese patients around the world.

Dr Deacons Yeung is a specialist in Radiology by background.  He joined the Legal Service Section of Hospital Authority as an Executive Partner in 2003 and led the project Doctor Work Reform in 2006. He then took up the position of Chief Manager (Cluster Performance) in 2009 responsible for service coordination for all seven HA hospital clusters and the Chief Manager (Financial Planning) in 2011 responsible for the development of the Internal Resource Allocation. Concurrently he was tasked in 2012 to assist Queen Mary Hospital Redevelopment. In 2014 he was the Hospital Chief Executive of Pok Oi Hospital and commissioned the opening of the new Tin Shui Wai Hospital in 2016. In his current role as Director of Cluster Services of Hospital Authority Head Office from 2019, Dr Yeung directs the development of corporate Key Performance Indicators, oversees the services of all hospitals and institutions; Public Private Partnership programmes; HA Drug Formulary; clinical services ranging from Cancer, Cardiac, Stroke, Renal, Psychiatric to Organ transplant services, Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine; as well as the Community Treatment Centre for COVID-19 Pandemic at AWE Expo.

Moderator

Diana Wu David, a former Financial Times executive, Diana is a work futurist and CEO/board whisperer. She helps people and organizations understand the future to create inspiring futures that matter.
Her clients have included JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, London Stock Exchange, Mandarin Oriental, Wharf, Expedia, the World Bank and KPMG. She also teaches at HKU and Columbia Business School in Asia. She began her career and leadership education as an assistant to Dr. Henry Kissinger.
A contributor to Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Inc, Global Focus and Nikkei Asia, she is also author of best-selling Future Proof: Reinventing Work in the Age of Acceleration, a book about how to adopt more agile mindsets and practices to prepare for success in a fast-changing world, across a 100-year life.

Co-Organizer

The views and opinions expressed are those of the speakers and participants and, unless expressly stated to the contrary, do not reflect the opinion, position or official policy of Asia Society Hong Kong, its members, or its committees. Asia Society Hong Kong does not endorse or approve, and assumes no responsibility for the content of the information presented.