Social Business Regional Forum 2018

 

The Yunus Social Business Centre@CUHK organised the Social Business Regional Forum 2018 titled Learning in Social Innovation on 13 and 14 April. Scholars, students and delegates of six tertiary institutions and three social innovation platforms from Hong Kong, the Mainland and Taiwan took part in the Forum to share their experience in the teaching and learning of social business/ enterprise and social innovation. Students of the said localities also exchanged findings of their projects themed startup incubation, helping the disadvantages as a goal, arts & cultures, environment conservation and community development respectively. Field visits to the local social innovation projects, such as Good Lab, Good House and Translate for Her, were also incorporated in the Forum. They helped the participants gain an understanding of the Hong Kong situation pertaining to social innovation.

In the two-day Forum, participants had discussed the problems encountered and coping strategies in the promotion of social innovation education among youth. The scholars and delegates particularly expressed that students have a general lack of life experience, as well as knowledge of professional and social resources. Their abilities are therefore doubted by the investors and this poses difficulties to them to start or continue their projects. It was finally agreed that the social innovation education for youth should first focus on cultivating their understanding of and interest in social problems, followed by training up their reflective thinking and creativity, and encouraging them to take concrete action to tackle social problems. In addition, to eliminate social conflicts and divergence among different age groups, cross-sectoral and cross-generational cooperation are essential as they facilitate the building of network and shared value.

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Bringing down the curtain, it was proposed the next Social Business Regional Forum be held on 1 Mar, 2019 featuring “Attaining Social Innovation by a Community-oriented/ engagement Approach”.