InnoAsia 09 Conference (Sustainable City)

InnoAsia 09 Conference was held from 1st to 2nd December 2009. The theme was called “SUSTAINABLE City, Transportation & Energy”. I attended sessions entitled “Sustainable City” on Day 1 and “Sustainable Transportation / Energy” on Day 2. The summary was shown as follows.

Sustainable City (Day 1)

In the beginning, Mr. Nicholas Brooke (Chairman – HKSTP) gave the opening speech to introduce InnoAsia Conference.


Mr. Edward Yau (JP, Secretary for the Environment, The Government of HKSAR) shared the environmental policies and some insight for the theme.

The opening ceremony was started by irrigation plants by all VIPs.

The first speaker was Mr. Ilmar Reepalu (Mayor, Malmo stad (Sweden)) and his topic was “Making Sustainability Reality – Creating the Sustainable City of Tomorrow”. He compared different environmental policies employed to the city including renewal energy, transportation, etc. Waste management such as reduction the usage of natural resources, prioritization of reuse and recycling, optimization of refuse collection and separation of organic waste, were discussed.

The following figure showed Zero-emission heating and cooling system.

The second speaker, Mr. Tom Murphy (Sr. Resident Fellow, Urban Development, the Urban land Institute (USA) and Former Mayor of Pittsburgh) gave a talk named “Building a World Class Region, Competing in a Changing World”.

He stated building a World Class Region in 5 dimensions as follows:
i) Infrastructure
ii) Regional Cooperation
iii) Quality of Life
iv) Competitive Advantage
v) Leadership


Mr. Chris Twinn (Director, Building Engineering Sustainability Group, Ove Arup & Partners (UK)) was the third speaker and his topic was “Zero Carbon Communities – Moving Theory into Practice”.

He mentioned COP 15 Copenhagen expectation that developed countries need to achieve about 90% carbon emissions reduction across all sectors by 2050.

Then he explained Zero Carbon operating in the following photo.

The Hong Kong Science Park Phase 3 – Sustainability Masterplan, which could be a route map to zero carbon, was also discussed.

Lastly, he concluded that:
i) A step-change is possible
ii) Challenging for unfamiliar industry
iii) Consumers ultimately pay
iv) Governments should lead the role in setting market framework
v) Learning from experience is proving essential
vi) Practitioners need to help national policy development

Panel discussion was held at the end.