GENERAL

The HKIE Members' Survey 2010 - report on provision of services at the HKIE Early this year, the Institution commissioned Public Opinion Programme at the University of Hong Kong to conduct an online members' survey. The survey aims to gauge members' opinions on the Institution's service provision and related matters, and in turn facilitating the Institution for mapping out its future development. During the launch period from 12 February 2010 to 5 March 2010, over 19,000 email invitations were sent to members of all membership classes of the HKIE who had registered their email addresses with the Institution. By the close of deadline, a total of 1,202 questionnaires were received. The final successful sample size achieved was 1,140 and the response rate was 5.9%. The full report of the survey is available in the Members' Login Area of the HKIE website at www.hkie.org.hk. The Institution would like to take this opportunity to thank members for their active participation and support of the online survey. Members' opinions are valuable to the Institution as a direction for its future planning. The Administration Board will study the survey report and follow up on necessary actions resulting from the findings with a view to improving the provision of services to members in the coming Session. Summary of major findings The full questionnaire comprising a total of 52 questions mainly focused on areas including existing communication channels (printed publications and e-Newsletter), membership benefits, facilities at the Headquarters, learned society activities and social functions, continuing professional development, overall image as well as community services. All figures reported herewith are rounded up to the nearest integers. Communication channels (printed publications and e-Newsletter) The results indicated that members were highly aware of the existence of the five HKIE printed publications and e-Newsletter as means to communicate with the members. Among the existing publications, "Hong Kong Engineer" (the Journal) received the highest recognition with over 96% of the respondents were aware of its existence and 93% of the members had read the Journal before prior to the survey. Also, 83% of the readers enjoyed reading the Journal the most. Regardless of the cost incurred, 62% of the respondents still preferred getting printed copies of the Journal, whilst a significant proportion of the members preferred getting electronic version of all other publications in future, including the "Report of Activities" (69%), "Annual Report" (68%), "Transactions" (59%) and "Yearbook" (54%). Over 75% of the overall sample affirmed that the e-Newsletter was an effective communication platform between the Institution and its members. (Charts 1 to 5) Membership benefits Regarding the membership benefits offered by the HKIE, 54% of the respondents reported that they had never used any of the membership benefits. Of those who had, the most popular benefit was in the "learning" domain (41%), and the members' net-satisfaction rating was 25%. On the other hand, the usage for "dining" and "living" benefits were rated as low as 8% and 6% respectively, and the net-satisfaction level for these two benefits were rather poor, with -4% for "dining" and -7% for "living". As for the HKIE Job Forum, just 36% of the members were aware of its service on the website. (Charts 6 to 8) Facilities at the HKIE Headquarters With regard to the five facilities available at the Headquarters, findings revealed that the usage rate for the "seminar room" was the highest (58%) amongst the "bar", "board room", "free internet access" and "free Wifi service". Findings also indicated that the ignorance level of "free Wifi service" was rather high as 46% of the respondents were unaware of the availability of such service provision. (Chart 9) Learned society activities and social functions Over 67% of the members valued positively the learned society functions including seminars, forums and conferences organised by the Institution. As for other social functions, 24% reported that they enjoyed attending "Annual Dinner" the most. Findings also reflected that almost half of the sampled members had never attended the HKIE social functions at all. (Charts 10 and 11) Continuing Professional Development (CPD) In regard to the usefulness of CPD services, as high as 71% of the members found CPD courses/seminars "useful", and over 43% found the CPD sample log-book "useful". (Chart 12) Overall image Among the predetermined choices that could be used to describe the existing image of the HKIE, the majority of the respondents (72%) selected "professional", followed by "traditional" (47%), and then "prestigious" (13%). (Chart 13) With respect to the preference on the two logos of the Institution, 48% of the respondents cast their votes on "Simplified Dragon Coat of Arms", whereas only 20% chose "Dragon and Beaver Coat of Arms". On the other hand, 13% of the members liked neither of them and suggested the Institution to develop a new logo. (Chart 14) Community services Lastly, a significant majority of the members (93%) believed that participation in volunteer services could enhance the visibility and status of engineers in society. (Chart 15)

Chart 1 - Awareness of the HKIE printed publications (Base = 1,140) Chart 2 - Readership of the HKIE printed publications (Base = 1,140) Chart 3 - Preference ranking for different publications (Base = 1,140) Chart 4 - Preference on printed version or electronic version (Base = 1,140) Chart 5 - e-Newsletter as an effective communication channel between the Institution and its members (Base = 1,140) Chart 6 - Usage of membership benefits (Base = 1,134) Chart 7 - Satisfaction level with different areas of benefits offered to all HKIE members (Base = 1,140) Chart 8 - Awareness of a Job Forum on the HKIE website which has been set up to help members in search of employment opportunities (Base = 1,140) Chart 9 - Usage of the facilities at the HKIE Headquarters (Base = 1,140) Chart 10 - Members' view on the value of the learned society activities organised by the HKIE Chart 11 - Members' enjoyment level of the social functions organised by the HKIE Chart 12 - Usefulness of CPD services provided by the HKIE Chart 13 - Words that can best describe the existing image of the HKIE (Base = 1,111) Chart 14 - Preference on the HKIE logos (Base = 1,098) Chart 15 - Members' opinion on whether participation in volunteer services could enhance the visibility and status of engineers (Base = 895)

Career talk on engineering by the Immediate Past President Ir Dr Andrew Chan, President for Session 2009/2010, conducted a career talk on engineering to over 200 secondary school students at the Bishop Hall Jubilee School on 20 May 2010. This talk was indeed a special one in that Ir Dr Chan is himself a graduate from the school some 40 years ago. The students were therefore excited to hear about engineering from one of their own. Two student representatives even performed a small drama to introduce the President on stage! After showing the video "Engineers are cool", Ir Dr Chan aroused the interests of students in engineering by giving examples of engineering marvels around the world. To begin, he let the students know that engineering is relevant and can be fun. He used the Hong Kong Bank Headquarters building in Central as an example and said that using simple physics and mathematics learnt in school, students can calculate different forces acting on the structure with high accuracy. Then, he pointed out that engineers provide infrastructure for the modern society. For example, to cope with increasing air passenger demand, engineers built the new Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport, which was opened in 2008. This terminal is the largest in the world, with a length of 3 km, the distance going from Tsimshatsui to Prince Edward in Kowloon. Next, Ir Dr Chan challenged students to think outside the box and be creative. He used the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing as an example to show how engineers went beyond the conventional "vertical building" concept and constructed the headquarters building tilted at an angle. Last but not least, the President asked students to think outside of Hong Kong when they choose engineering as their career. It is because the skills engineers have are sought after in all countries. There are always new and exciting engineering projects waiting for them to explore in different parts of the world. After the talk, students took the chance to raise questions to the President. Questions such as how to become an engineer, what engineers do every day at work and the difference between an architect and an engineer were discussed. In all, the talk was well received and the students had a fruitful afternoon. Ir Dr Chan was supported by the School Ambassador team of Mr Leo Chan (YMC Immediate Past Chairman), Ir Prof Chau Ying (HKUST) and Mr Jimmy P H Chan (HKU student).

Students were enthusiastic in the talk and raising questions to the President Ir Dr Andrew Chan conducting the career talk

Press conference on certification In an effort to share with the public on various testing methods, the Task Force on Technology and Innovation successfully organised its 13th press conference on certification on 10 June 2010 at the HKIE Headquarters. We were pleased to have invited four speakers to present the topics as follows: - Ensuring Hong Kong's crime scene investigation (CSI) experts are skilled and experienced - is certification the answer? by Dr Sheilah Hamilton, Forensic Science Consultant of Forensic Focus and Adjunct Professor of Department of Building and Construction, City University of Hong Kong - Professional technical services for CM industry and the preparation of chemical markers by Dr Kevin H X Xu, Deputy Director of Hong Kong Jockey Club Institute of Chinese Medicine - Molecular authentication of foods by Prof Kwan Hoi-shan, Professor of Department of Biology and Director of Food Research Centre, the Chinese University of Hong Kong - Energy efficiency labelling scheme for air-conditioners, refrigerators and dehumidifiers by Dr Moses Ng, Visiting Assistant Professor of Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology The Task Force would like to take this opportunity to express its sincere appreciation to all the speakers for their enthusiastic support and contributions to the press conference.

The speakers and the HKIE members (L to R): Ir Charles Chu, Ir Dr K M Leung, Dr Kevin H X Xu, Dr Moses Ng, Ir Prof Andrew Leung, Dr Sheilah Hamilton, Prof Kwan Hoi-shan and Ir K P Yim Dr Hamilton demonstrating how the "stepping plate" would be an important tool used in an investigation to protect marks at crime or fire scene Dr Xu elaborating how chemical markers and professional supporting device could tackle technical problems in Chinese medicines quality control Prof Kwan illustrating the DNA-based molecular authentication for food Dr Ng explaining the energy efficency labelling scheme for air-conditioners, refrigerators and dehumidifiers Ir Prof Leung, Chairman of the Task Force, comparing different light bulbs with LED light bulb

Engineers' Charity Soccer Cup for the HKIE Project Sichuan Trust Fund 2010 By Ir Gordon Woo The Sichuan earthquake has left emotional wounds in many of us today despite of its occurrence two years ago. As destroyed towns rise again and survivors recover, it remains the HKIE Task Force on Fund Raising for Sichuan Earthquake Recovery top priority in providing a helping hand to raise resources for alleviating the earthquake victims, re-building their local communities and bringing knowledge in reconstruction. Among other fund raising events, the Task Force took forward from the success in last year's seven-a-side Engineers' Charity Soccer Cup and brought greater excitement into action. The 2010 Engineers' Charity Soccer Cup was held at the 11-a-side soccer pitch at Lingnan University. Altogether 23 matches were played among 12 teams in six weekends during April to June. To encourage more participation, matches were played in two rounds. In round one, the 12 teams formed into four groups and played single round-robin. Then in round two, the first two teams in each group (total eight teams) formed the "Championship Group" to compete for the championship. The remaining team in each group (total four teams) formed the "Sportsmanship Group" to compete for the Sportsmanship winner. The Organising Committee (OC) under the leadership of Chairman of the Task Force on Fund Raising for Sichuan Earthquake Recovery, Ir Dr F C Chan, and the OC Chairman, Ir Gordon Woo, together with their OC members including Ir S L Li, Ir C S Lam and other volunteers, contributed to make the event a success. After deducting all necessary expenses from the entry fee of HK$10,000 per team, the OC is pleased to announce that a sum of HK$72,652.20 will go to the HKIE Project Sichuan Trust Fund. The 12 competing teams were (listed in alphabetical order): CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd, C M Wong & Associates Ltd, HK PolyU - EE and Friends, Kum Shing (K.F.) Construction Co Ltd, MTR Corporation Ltd, Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd, the HKIE BS Division, the HKIE CV Division, the HKIE EL Division, the HKIE SSC/CA Division, the HKIE YMC and the Hongkong Electric Co Ltd. The results of the initial and knock out rounds is as follows: Immediately after the final match held on 6 June 2010, Vice Presidents, Ir Dr F C Chan and Ir K K Choy presented the trophies for the four winning teams in the Championship Group and the winner of the Sportsmanship Group. Though winning was not the main motive, all the participating teams and the fellow members showed great sporting spirit and the desire to win. Our engineers' determination was truly respected. The OC is grateful to share this report to all players, team managers who rendered their support for the Charity Cup, and all the HKIE members and its associated communities. We look forward to your continuous and unfailing supports to the Task Force on Fund Raising for Sichuan Earthquake Recovery again at other upcoming events.

Champion of the Championship Group: C M Wong & Associates The 1st runner-up of the Championship Group: The HKIE CV Division The 2nd runner-up of the Championship Group: Ove Arup & Partners HK Ltd The 3rd runner-up of the Championship Group: The Hongkong Electric Co Ltd Winner of the Sportsmanship Group: The HKIE EL Division

The 7th Inter-society Golf Open Tournament By Ir Felix Chau It was a busy conclusion for the HKIE Golf Society (HKIEGS) in Session 2009/2010. The Chairman Cup together with the AGM and the captioned tournament were held on 7 and 8 May 2010 respectively. Six out of the 12 selected golfers from the HKIEGS participated in both events. The Chairman Cup and the AGM dinner finished in the late evening on 7 May 2010. In the early morning on 8 May 2010, while all golfers were still worrying about the effect of the wet weather on the preceding day, the weather turned out to be fine upon arrival at the venue, CITIC Chang Ping Golf Club in the PRC. This year, five golf societies participated in the tournament including PWD, MTR, CLP, MEGS and the HKIE. A total of 57 elite golfers from each society (excluded the sponsors and leisure players) joined the competition. Following the rule of the tournament, the best eight gross scores from each team were selected. MEGS team won the Champion with 721 strokes, MTR was the second with 734 strokes and HKIEGS was the third with 753 strokes. There were two golfers scored under 80. Congratulations to our outstanding and youngest golfer, Mr Jack Lau who won the individual 2nd runner up with 82 strokes, longest-drive and nearest-to-pin prizes; and Ir C M Wong won the nearest-to-pin prize in the tournament. We would like to thank the sponsor, Messrs Kingsun Optoelectronic Co Ltd, for their cordial support to this tournament.

Individual 2nd runner-up: Mr Jack Lau (L) Nearest-to-pin award: Ir C M Wong (L) Participants of the 7th Inter-society Golf Open Tournament