HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 19 November 2020 - The 13th Social Enterprise Summit kicked off today inan online format. The three-day international symposium will host dialogueswith over 80 leading social innovators in more than 20 forums, workshops andinteractive sessions. Speakers and participantsfrom all over the world will have the chance to engage on this unique cross-sectorplatform.

This year's Social Enterprise Summit (SES) haschosen the theme "new normal · collective power". Everyonein our society will require some shifts to come out of the current situationsduring a year of pandemic, the Summit will identify ways for generating newsocial power by bringing different sectors together more closely. This is thefirst time that an online format has been used for the Summit, enabling socialentrepreneurs from many different countries to interact without geographiclimitations. "History will mark 2020 as one of the mostdisruptive years ever, a year of survival and change," said Rebecca CHOY YUNG, Chair of the SES Organising Committee. "Social issues have never been as complex as theyare now, and this calls for new ways of thinking. We need to be innovative and useour collective power to tackle and solve the entrenched social issues in this eraof the 'new normal'."

The Summit began at 10:00am with a keynote address byMr Jeremy HEIMANS (US) and Mr Henry TIMMS (US), Co-Authors of New Power. According to these speakers,"New power is the ability to harnessthe energy of the connected crowd; it is the deployment of mass participationand peer coordination to create change, shift outcomes and achieve the bestresult." Mr TIMMS shared the example of a global philanthropic movement#GivingTuesday that engages people in close to 100 countries and which hasgenerated over US$1 billion for good causes.

Followed by a Policy Dialogue at 11:00am, where The Honourable BernardCharnwut CHAN, Convenor of the Non-Official Members, Executive Council of HongKong SAR Government; Dr Chi-kwong LAW, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Bureauof Hong Kong SAR Government, and other speakers talked about social innovationand social finance, policies and how the civil society, business, policymakersand academia are developing a shared value city.

At 2:30pm, Mr Francis NGAI (HK), Founder and CEO ofSocial Ventures Hong Kong, will host the Thematic Session "OvercomingChallenges 2.0: Rebuilding City Resilience", a multi-perspective discussion onrebuilding resilience in our city and suggesting ways to face differentchallenges. The panellists will include Mr David YEUNG (HK), Founder and CEO ofGreen Monday; Dr LAU Ming-Wai (HK), Founder and Director of MWYO and Chairmanof Chinese Estates Holdings Limited, and Ms Vicky FUNG (HK), Co-founder ofEvery Life Is A Song.

The second Thematic Session, at 4:00pm, titled"Transformation". Ms Ada WONG (HK), Founder and Chair, Make A Difference (MaD)Institute and Convenor and Director, Good Lab Foundation; Dr Wichuda NaSongkhla SRIYAPHAI, Ph.D (Thailand), Chief Executive Officer of Wandee GroupHoldings, along with other social entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and Vietnam willshare their experience and stories on how to capture opportunities and scaleimpact in the volatile and uncertain world of 2020.

Four discussion tracks will take place on 20 November.The first track is "Community Empowerment"; it will explore ways of unleashingthe latent power in our communities to transform the pressures of recent timesinto positive power; to change and to embrace the "new normal". The second trackis "Digital Social Innovation", it will explore how open data, citizen scienceand shifts in work practices can be used to drive informed and productive changesin our personal, professional, and social journeys along the digital socialinnovation highway. The "Sustainability and Business" track will considersustainability strategies, practices and business models that prioritizesustainability and lay the foundations for a more resilient and sustainablebusiness ecosystem of shared values. Finally, the "Education Innovation" trackwill explore various innovative education initiatives such as adopting askills-based approach in social entrepreneurship education, building aneducation transformation movement to change traditional practices in schools, aswell as using behavioural science as a tool for developing a better society.

The last day of this year's symposium will be on 21November, featuring the Asia Youth Entrepreneurship Exchange and a socialinnovation workshop. Titled "Yesterday's Heritage; Today's Transformation; Tomorrow'sDYNAMIC INNOVATION", the concluding session will take the form of a speciallycurated narrative involving guest speakers from across generations and socialsectors, who will share their insights into "The New Normal To Be".

Members of the public are free to register to takepart in SES 2020. Besides the International Symposium, an online exhibition isset up to introduce the various projects of the Social Innovation andEntrepreneurship Development Fund. Four intermediaries will set up a liveonline session to facilitate participant interaction, these intermediaries are:Fullness Social Enterprises Society Ltd, The Hong Kong Council of SocialService, PolyU Technology and Consultancy Co Ltd., and The Society ofRehabilitation and Crime Prevention, Hong Kong. The exhibition is available fordelegates to visit for an entire month as from 19^th November.

FREE Registration for SES 2020: https://bit.ly/SES2020Reg. For full agenda, or download SES registration brochure:https://www.ses.org.hk/sites/default/files/share/2020/SES%202020_Programme%20Book_12m.pdf.

About Social Enterprise Summit

Social Enterprise Summit (SES) is across-sector platform to inspire and empower social innovation and socialentrepreneurship. The flagship International Symposium builds on theexperiences of over 80 speakers from 15 locations to inspire, innovate, connectand collaborate with delegates from the civic society, businesses, governmentand academic sectors from Hong Kong, China; Asia Pacific region and beyond toadvance positive societal changes.

2020 Theme: "new normal · collective power" ︱ 19-21. 11. 2020 ︱ Online ︱

The turn of the decade 2020 begins with a pandemic affectingpeople around the world, raising attention to health and changing the waypeople work, study, commute or socialise. Everyone in our society will requiresome shifts to come out of the current situations. Collective efforts areneeded to re-focus on fostering mutually reinforcing solutions, continuouscommunication towards common agendas and making swift decisions based oncurrent data and measurement. This International Symposium will examine theprocess through 4 thematic tracks: Community Empowerment, Digital SocialInnovation, Sustainability and Business as well as Education Innovation.

Communityengagement activities are held in eight different districts in Hong Kong duringthe year to expand the participation and reach beyond the conference rooms,applying knowledge, social entrepreneurship and innovative mindsets to variousday to day life settings.

Official Website: https://ses.org.hk

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