Quality Alchemist (品質煉金術師): HKQAA Symposium 2015 (Part 1)

2015年5月29日星期五

HKQAA Symposium 2015 (Part 1)

HKQAA Symposium 2015 was key annual event which organized by Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) on 29th May 2015. Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) was one of supporting organizations since 2006. The symposium’s frame in this year was “Strategic Management of Megatrends to Achieve Sustained Success” and I summarized it below for sharing.

Before the symposium, I took a photo with HKQAA friends in front of the symposium banner
(Left: Mr. Adams Wong (Account Executive), Ms. Meico Cheong (Business Manager), Mr. Bryan Peng (Assistant Director), I, Mr. KT Ting (General Manager, Market Research Business) and Mr. P.C. Chan (Chief Operating Officer))

I also met Mr. Albert CK Lo (Systems & Quality Development Manager, SHEQ Power System, CLP) who is also my MATRIZ Level II classmate.

Morning Session

In the beginning, Ir C.S. Ho (Deputy Chairman, HKQAA) gave an opening speech. He mentioned the theme related to Megatrends and introduced different guest speakers. At the end, Mr. Ho quoted the poem “龍虎風雲際會時，任君來往赴瑤池。” meaning that talents went together and you got whatever you want. (Remark: I only hear the first part and guess the send statement through google search.)

Mr Wong Kam-sing (JP, Secretary for the Environment) was the officiating guest and gave a speech about Hong Kong Environmental Policy. He said government would fully support the waste recycling. They would review the existing recycling industry and formed a steering committee for supporting. He also thanked HKQAA different recognition scheme such as “Hong Kong Cooking Oil Registration Scheme” and “Hong Kong Registration - Recycling Services”. Mr. Wong also mentioned the Recycling Fund for assisting industry. Moreover, he said one of big trends in Hong Kong was Energy Saving.

Then the Kickoff Ceremony of HKQAA Hong Kong Registration – Recycling Services was performed. (Left: Dr. Michael Lam (CEO, HKQAA), Mr Wong Kam-sing (JP, Secretary for the Environment) and Ir C.S. Ho (Deputy Chairman, HKQAA))

Mr. Wilson Fung Wing Yip (Executive Director, Corporate Development, Airport Authority Hong Kong) was the first speaker and his topic entitled "Striking a balance between urban development and environmental conservation".

Firstly, Mr. Fung reviewed the old airport – Kai Tak in 1990s which was very close to residential area. Then he stated New Airport Master Plan (1992) included considered water management, transportation network, and environmental design in terminal (e.g. max. use of natural light and minimum of solar heat gain, as well as the largest LED replacement project in Asia). All were under HKIA Carbon Reduction Programmes.

HKIA Master Plan 2030 was published in June 2011 which outlined HKIA’s future development options. EIA report for expansion of Hong Kong International Airport into Three-Runway System was issued in Jun 2014. This study had covered 12 Environmental Aspects (EAs) included Air quality, Noise, Hazard to Human Life, Water quality, Sewage Treatment, Land Contamination, Waste Management, Fisheries, Landscape and Visual, Cultural Heritage, Health Impact Assessment, as well as, Ecology.

Ir Conrad Wong Tin Cheung, BBS, JP (Chairman, Hong Kong Green Building Council Limited) was the second speaker and his presentation topic entitled "Development a green business and to save the World". Mr. Wong said many people known Red Ocean (Intense Competition & Blood Bath) and Blue Ocean (Few Competition & New Market). He raised the new one named “Green Ocean Strategy” to capture the Green Market. And then he introduced a book named “Green to Gold” (written by Daniel C. Esty & Andrew S. Winston (2006)).

Mr. Wong said Building was so important in Hong Kong because it covered 90% of total electricity consumption. Therefore, Hong Kong Green Building Council Limited (HKGBC) had a new vision “To help save the planet and improve the wellbeing of the people of Hong Kong by transforming the city into a greener built environment.” He stated the HK “30/30” Roadmap targets included 30% Absolute Reduction in Electricity Consumption in Buildings and 52% Intensity Reduction as compared to the projected electricity consumption by 2030.

Lastly, Mr. Wong showed how to create new market for business opportunities and HKGBC would be creating a Green Ocean for the Industry. He also shared his company (Holiday Inn Express) energy saving results and technology implementation experience. At the end, he said “Saving the World does mean Make Money!”

The third speaker was Ir Shirlee Algire (Executive Manager, Sustainability, Hong Kong Jockey Club) and her topic named "Results of Hong Kong Carbon Performance Survey". Ms. Algire briefed some environmental background such as climate change. Then she introduced the HKQAA-HKJC Carbon Disclosure e-Platform (CDeP) which launched in June 2013 to allow Hong Kong organizations sharing their performance data and good practices in carbon management.

Until 30 Apr 2015, 158 visits to the CDeP questionnaire were recorded and 31 sumbissions of the “Carbon Performance Questionnaire” were received through CDeP reporting a total of 130,480,906 tCO2e emissions. The respondents sectors were 32% from Utility, 16% from Construction & Engineering, 10% from Property Management and from Financial, respectively, and others sectors were less than 10%.
Then she introduced the HKJC Carbon Management in six directions for employee, stakeholders and community.

During Tea break, I met Mr. Dominic Lam (Acting CEO, CMATCL) and took a photo for memory. (Left: I, Dr. Michael Lam and Mr. Dominic Lam)

And I also met Mr. Vincent Tam (Head - System Development & Quality Assurance Partnership Program at CMA Testing & Certification Laboratories).

HKSTP Incubation Program team and I took a photo. (Left: Samuel, I, Antony and Reese)

The forth speaker was Mr. Scott Lawson (CEO, SOW Asia Fundation) and his presentation was "Impact Investing and the Future of Hong Kong". Firstly, Mr. Lawson explained Impact Investment definition that “Impact Investments are investments made into companies, organizations and funds with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.” Then he briefed the different types of impact investors through the diagram “Financial Return vs Social / Environmental Impact”.

Then Mr. Lawson said Hong Kong’s social innovation pipeline was filled with mostly idea-stage organizations but it lack of a strong ecosystem to deliver an effective pipeline of social enterprises. Therefore, he would like to fill the missing middle (closing the gap) through impact investment.

Finally, he shared some success factors for Impact Investing in Hong Kong below:
- Investment Banking / VC-PE / Consulting Experience
- Sector Experience
- Social Enterprise Experience
- Strong network and industry connections
- Public presence
- Accelerator or innovation hub tie-up
- Philanthropic investment capital

The fifth speaker was Prof. Ho Kin Chung, BBS, JP (Dean of School of Science & Technology, Programme Leader in Environmental Studies and Applied Science, OUHK) and his presentation entitled “Water Footprint Management: Utilization of “Blue Gold”. Prof. Ho explained that water footprint was the amount of water we daily consume and which could be calculated for individuals, households, business and countries.

Prof. Ho said water footprint was a useful indicator of the current situation and could be used as a benchmark for improvement. The following table showed the water footprint in different city in mainland China. In Hong Kong, about 80% water was supplied by the Guangdong side (Dongjiang, The East River). Recent issues and challenges in the Pearl River Delta were Water Resources, Water Quality, Engineering Issues and Wastage.

Facing water challenges, we needed to focus on Water Conservation, Reclamation and Recycling. This year was the 50th anniversary of Guangdong supply raw water to Hong Kong. Finally, Prof. Ho said “Threat is equal to Opportunity”. Water Footprint Management could bring business and job opportunities such as new resource exploration, desalination, water conservation and efficiency improvement, etc.

The last speaker of morning session was Dr. Nigel Croft (Chairman, ISO Technical Subcommittee on Quality Systems (ISO/TC176/SC2) and his topic named "A New Perspective of Environmental Managemetn: The Upcoming Changes to ISO 14001". Dr. Nigel Croft shared his idea on positioning of ISO standards amond Economic growth, Environmental integrity and Social responsibility.

Then Dr. Nigel Croft mentioned ISO Directives Part 1:2012 “Annex SL” was employed to align all standards with same structure which had significant impact on revisions of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. ISO 14001:2015 aimed to address the latest environmental challenges over the next two decades included “Increasingly rigorous legislation”, “Growing pressure on environment from pollution; inefficient use of resources; degradation of ecosystems and loss of bio-diversity”, “Increasing expectations from society for transparent, responsible sustainable development” as well as “Value-chain and life-cycle concepts”. The PDCA framework of ISO 14001 was showed below.

Nigel also briefed some key changes as follows:
- Context of the organization
- Interested parties
- “Risks & Opportunities”
- Reinforced requirement for leadership
- Need to integrate EMS into business operations
- “Documented information”
As well as some new requirements:
- To address “Processes and their interactiosn”
- “Compliance oligations”
- Policy to include “other specific commitment(s) relevant to the context of the organization”, e.g. sustainable resource use, climate change mitigation and adaptation, protection of biodiversity and ecosystems
- Life-cycle perspective to be included in: Determination of environmental aspects, Product/Service design and development, as well as, Procurement.

Finally, Dr. Nigel Croft told us the timings for ISO 14001 FDIS would be ready in early July and ballot for July to Sep 2015. It was expected to be published on 15 Sep 2015. Organizations were strongly encouraged to start the transition as soon as possible.