Quality Alchemist (品質煉金術師): HKQAA 30th Anniversary Forum cum Celebration Cocktail Reception

Congratulate for HKQAA 30th Anniversary! I was honor to be invited as guest to join the HKQAA 30th Anniversary Forum cum Celebration Cocktail Reception on 18^th Oct 2019. Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) is one of supporting organizations since 2006. There are separated into two parts. Morning Session is Forum with the theme entitled “Towards Sustainable Development Goals – ESG Management and Responsible Finance” and Afternoon Session is Celebration Cocktail Reception with special guest the Hon Mrs. Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, GBM, GBS (Chief Executive, HKSAR). Before the forum, I took some photos with HKQAA friends and quality friends.

(Left: Dr. Micheal Lam (CEO, HKQAA), Ir C.S. Ho (Deputy Chairman, HKQAA), Mr. Simon Wong Ka Wo (Deputy Chairman, HKQAA) and I)

(Left: Mr. Adams Wong, Mr. Bryne Pang, I and Mr. PC Chan)

(Left: I, Ms. Meico Cheong, Mr. Edmond Fung and Mr. Coleman Tse)

(Left: I, Mr. Edmond Fung and Mr. Wilman Chan)

I met Dr. Nigel Croft (Chairman, ISO/TC 176/SC 2 (Quality Systems)) again.

I also met Dr. CN Ng (Associate Professor, Dept. of Geography, HKU)

HKSQ friends Mr. Larry Lee (Quality & Compliance Manager, GP) and my junior classmate in BCH Dept., CityU Ms. Fay Lo (LPG Health Safety Security & Environment Manager, DSG Energy)

Dr. Wilson Chan (Associate Director of Outreach, MBA Programme, College of Business, CityU) and I are member of CityU Eminence Society (CES).

In the beginning, Ir C.S. Ho (Deputy Chairman, HKQAA) gave welcome speech and he said business leaders were focused on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and stated in HBR article.

Mr. James Henry Lau Jr, JP (Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of the HKSAR Government) was forum guest to give opening remark. He said ESG was green factor and risk management in the Green Finance Product and Green Investment. Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) would collaborate with the industry and other stakeholders to combat climate change risks and develop green finance. Moreover, HKMA would adopt a principle that priority given to Green and ESG investments if the long term return was comparable to other investments on a risk-adjusted basis.

Guests and HKQAA board member took a group photo.

The first speaker was Mr. Enoch Fung (Head of Market Development Division, Hong Kong Monetary Authority) and his topic named “Foster Sustainable and Green Finance Development in Hong Kong”. His talk included “Why is it important?” “Latest Development” and “HKMA’s Strategic Frame for Green Finance”.

“Climate change has significant impact on our natural environment and society.” said by Mr. Fung. Global community taking actions to tackle climate change included Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2030+. However, financial sector needed to pay a role.

Hong Kong latest development on Green Finance Ecosystem included Green Bond Market, Robust Government Support on HKQAA’s Green Finance Certification Scheme, and Stakeholders’ presence such as Banks’ Debt Capital Markets and International Institutional Investors.

Finally, Mr. Fung introduced HKMA’s strategic framework on green finance included:

i) Green and Sustainable Banking

ii) Responsible Investment by the Exchange Fund

iii) Centre for Green Finance (CGF) set up under the HKMA Infrastructure Financing Facilitation Office (IFFO).

Lastly, he showed the inaugural government green bond amount and concluded that Green Finance was no longer nice-to-have, but a necessary direction.

The second speaker was Mr. Henry Wong (Director, Risk and Compliance, JETCO Hong Kong) and his presentation title was “Promote Good Practices for Fintech Governance”. He quoted Financial Stability Board (FSB) definition of Fintech - “Technologically enabled financial innovation that could result in new business models, applications processes or products with an associated material effect on financial markets and institutions and the provision of financial services.”

Then he briefed the benefits and risks of Fintech. For the risk of Fintech, it included follows:

i) Risks to consumers (Lack of understanding of the product and services; data privacy, security and protection)

ii) Risks to financial institutions (Technical and operational resilience; compliance risk)

iii) Risks to financial stability (Unregulated business; regulation and supervision)

And then he briefed the Fintech Development in Hong Kong.

Finally, He mentioned HKMA Open API framework which was one of the HKMA’s seven Smart Banking Initiative and published in 2018. And shared the tips for Fintech Governance included Risk Management, Cybersecurity, Data Protection, Customer Protection, Business Continuity and Outsourcing.

The third speaker was Mr. Chan Ka Kui (Chairman, Construction Industry Council) and his presentation named “Sustainable Construction: Green, Safe and Innovative”. Beginning, Mr. Chan introduced the actual construction expenditure was about HK$250 billion in 2018 which contributed around 5% of GDP in Hong Kong.

He said construction industry was 3D industry that Dangerous, Dirty and Dull in the past; so that seldom young generation participated in this industry. We needed industry transformation. One of suggestions was Modules Production @ Factory.

Then Mr. Chan quoted Dr. John Keung lecture entitled “Changing the Way We Build” as follow video.

Lastly, Mr. Chan demonstrated some construction projects which employed modules production and one example was InnoCell in Science Park. Then he also introduced Construction Innovation and Technology Application Centre and CIC Green Product Certification.

The fourth speaker was Ms. Quinnie Li (General Manager, Building Research Establishment, BRE China) and her topic was “Delivering Better Outcomes in the Built Environment”.

Firstly, she introduced Building Research Establishment (BRE) was the first built environment research centre in the world. It set up by UK government in 1921 to improve the quality and performance of buildings in the UK. Then she briefed some BRE research and testing.

After that she mentioned world first sustainability assessment method for buildings named “BREEAM” and sustainable infrastructure assessment named “CEEQUAL”. Construction Innovation Hub included MTC, BRE and CDBB. Finally, she stated their mission aimed to be a catalyst for transforming the UK construction sector through manufacturing technologies and digital ways of working – boosting productivity, exports and asset performance to benefit society.

Dr. Nigel H Croft (Convener of ISO/IEC Global Task Force for Management System Standards) was the last speaker and his topic entitled “Manage ESG-related Risks for Performance Enhancement – How to utilize ISO Standards”. Dr. Croft said Alibaba without inventory, UBER owned no fleet, facebook no content and Airbnb no real estate, the future is changing!

Then Dr. Croft quoted Warren Bennis about industry 4.0 that the future factory will have only two employees – a man and a dog. It is very interested imagination for total automation factory. He also mentioned different new technologies impact the world such as Big Data, AI, IoT, IOE (Internet of Everything), Social Media, Smart cities, Blockchain, etc.

And then Dr. Croft said Opportunities come Risk! He described different ESG risks included Environment, Healt and Safety, Human Rights, Anti-bribery, etc.

After that he quoted Kofi Annan statement that “ISO Standards are crucial to sustainable development as they are key source of technological know-how.” And showed different relevant existing ISO Standards.

At the end, Dr. Nigel H Croft employed “Big Quality” approach to manage ESG risks and concluded that ISO had a whole range of standards to support ethical business and sustainability initiatives.

Panel Discussion

Dr. Chan Fung Cheung, Wilson (Associate Director of Outreach, MBA Programme, College of Business, City University of Hong Kong) was moderator of this session.

Firstly, Dr. Wilson Chan briefed the ESG and Green Finance development milestone in Hong Kong and asked panelists three questions included “Why ESG?” “Its Future” and “Conclusion in one statement”.

Mrs. Ng Fong Siu Mei (Chairperson, Friends of the Earth (HK)) said Singapore invested US$7B for handling climate risks; Hong Kong should consider much in this area. So where money come from? She said Green Financing was one of solutions. In future, green economy, circular economy and others would be driven by finance. She said ESG should be flexibility, diversity and responsibility.

Ar Stephen Ho (Assistant Director, Industry Development & Estates Office, Construction Industry Council) told us that ~60% of world population live in city and we urgently needed sustainable construction based on Green Design and Industry Innovation. So that construction in ESG should consider safety, production, environment, technology, procurement, etc.

Mr. Angus Choi (CEO, JETCO Hong Kong) said technology was just enabler. We needed to create ESG ecosystem. Hong Kong government needed to set long term strategy on ESG. It is time to market and didn’t wait.

Mr. Tsui Chun Man, Thomas (GM and Head of Corporate Banking Division, The Bank of East Asia Limited) discussed to promote ESG in bank industry. He introduced Fintech would be one of solutions. Green Finance and Green Bond were still in the early stage in Hong Kong. ESG score would be the future.

Mr. Johnson Kong (Social Development Policy Research, Our Hong Kong Foundation) introduced Our Hong Kong Foundation is a Think Tank. His research related the ESG regulation in the world such as France and EU. “Hong Kong ESG report is good but regulation fall behind” he said. Finally, he hoped government had policy on Green Finance and ESG management.

Dr. Nigel H Croft (Convener of ISO/IEC Global Task Force for Management System Standards) was last panelist and he said Dr. Deming looking for sustainable goal and Dr. Kano considering marketing and customer satisfaction such as delight quality. He believed standards to provide methodology and implementation with best practice that had a role to play. He used Dr. Deming statement to conclude that eventhough you had many things to do, start somewhere and then build.

Afternoon Session: HKQAA 30th Anniversary Celebration Cocktail Reception

I found that my contribution to HKQAA and HKSTP MOU in 2015 that I was key person to make it happen. Then I met many quality friends.

I met Ir. Dr. Hon Lo Wai Kwok (Chairman, HKQAA) and took a photo for memory

(Dr. Sammy Wan (ATAL) and I)

(Mr. Harry Li (Past President of IIE(HK) and I)

(Dr. Ka-Sing Leung (Visiting Associate Professor (Food Science and Safety), ABCT, PolyU))

I met Ms. Julie Zhao (Director, Mainland and External Affairs, HKQAA) and Mr. Bryne Pang. Bryne introduced Julie to me when we visited Bejing in April 2018 for congratulating Dr. Aaron Tong awarded China Outstanding Quality Professional (中國傑出質量人). Thanks Julie arranged local Bejing dinner for us.

I also seat with HKAS friends Ms. Rebecca WH Wong and Mr. Shum Wai-leung.

In the beginning, Ir. Dr. Hon Lo Wai Kwok (Chairman, HKQAA) gave opening speech. He said HKQAA was 30 years old (三十而立) and provided world class management system certification service and enhancing awareness of quality management culture. We launched different innovative certification schemes and established branches in GBA.

Hon Mrs. Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, GBM, GBS (Chief Executive, HKSAR) was the key guest and she gave a congratulation speech. She said Quality Assurance is core value of Hong Kong. HKQAA performed many excellence works and schemes that aligned to the government policy. Recently, HKQAA supported government to established Green Finance. Moreover, many HKQAA certification schemes supported local SMEs. In Marco level, they supported Policy Address to promote activities included quality product and professional service in Belt and Road Initiatives.