Ir HON Chi-keung Chief Executive and Secretary

Looking back on 2021, it was yet another challenging year for the whole world with the COVID pandemic still haunting us. To cope with the adversities, it is natural that all would advocate change. For the Institution, we have an additional appeal for change and that is rising to the next higher level. Against this backdrop, our Presidential theme for Session 2021/2022 has been set as ‘The HKIE - Time to Change (香港工程師學會 – 專業維新)’ and the design of a roadmap with five major focus areas namely pursuing digitalisation, enhancing service to members, boosting professionalism, facilitating innovation and undertaking governance review has begun.

As part of the forerunner mission, we hosted the HKIE Innovation Expo ‘Engineering into the Future’ in June last year and also a series of well-received webinars that shared insights into many innovation construction-related technologies.

When the new Session began, President Ir Edwin K F Chung introduced his initiatives to broaden our engagement horizon and help develop the Institution further. The outreach programme gathered momentum by seeking feedback from over 1,300 members via the ‘Time to Change Survey’ and holding brainstorming sessions with some 40 experienced and younger members during the Time to Change Strategy Day. A series of focused workshops were then also arranged with many other members to consolidate ideas for moving forward. All these have yielded valuable insights into our members’ priorities for change and also, most importantly, strategies for the Institution’s transformation.

Besides internal engagement, the President has also met our key partners of the tertiary institutions, government departments, utility undertakers, transportation organisations or authorities, and consultants’ and contractors’ associations. This has been instrumental for us in understanding more about the concerns and challenges facing the profession and ways to tackle them.

As a means of enhancing communication with members riding on the edge of the digital arena, we have lately promulgated our Facebook and Instagram and also launched the ‘What Do Engineers Do?’ Video Campaign. At the back of house, we are instigating the Digitialisation projects which will benefit the Institution in the years to come.

These are just a few highlights among our 2021 initiatives. Now, as we start a new year, we are counting on members’ continuous contributions in reinforcing our future goals and milestones which will soon be depicted in the Time to Change Roadmap.

January

• The HKIE Award Presentation Ceremony was held on 14 January 2021 at the HKIE Headquarters and broadcast live online. The HKIE Honorary Fellow 2020, Young Engineer of the Year Award 2020, The HKIE Best Transactions Paper Prize 2020 and The HKIE Outstanding Paper Award for Young Engineers/Researchers 2020 were presented.

• The Enginpreneurs (EP) Hub Webinar Series was launched.

February

• The Institution joined hands with the industry to organise a briefing session on 4 February 2021 to familiarise members with the ‘Interim Guidelines for the Management of Hong Kong Engineering Construction Consultant Enterprises and Professionals Starting Business and Practising in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Cities’.

• The Hong Kong Council of Social Service presented the Caring Organisation Logo to the HKIE for the 17th consecutive year to recognise the Institution’s commitment to caring for the community, employees and the environment over the past years.

March

• The HKIE Prize Presentation Ceremony cum New Members’ Reception was held on 27 March 2021 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). Various awards were presented. A certificate presentation ceremony was also held to honour members who have achieved 50 years of continuous membership or more of the Institution.

• HKIE Transactions turned paper-free and subscription-free, facilitating knowledge sharing among HKIE members and non-members.

• A series of webinars had been organised as the prelude to the HKIE Innovation Expo 2021 starting from March 2021.

April

• The Institution and The Guangdong Institution of Engineers co-organised an online seminar to discuss the opportunities of and challenges faced by the engineering profession in the GBA context. The seminar was attended by over 300 participants.

• Electronic membership card was introduced and made available to all Student Members in replacement of the physical membership card.

May

• The second HKIE Prize Presentation Ceremony cum New Members’ Reception of Session 2020/2021 was successfully held on 8 May 2021. More than 280 newly admitted Fellows, Members and their guests attended the ceremony. The HKIE Prize for Outstanding Engineering Students and the Trainee of the Year Award were also presented.

June

• The HKIE Annual Grand Ceremony cum Award Presentation was held on 4 June 2021 and well attended by more than 200 fellow members and guests. The HKIE Honorary Fellow, the HKIE Gold Medal and Young Engineer of the Year Award for year 2021 were presented.

• The HKIE Innovation Expo along the theme ‘Engineering into Future’ was held on 12 and 13 June 2021 at the CIC Zero Carbon Park. Programmes were broadcast live online via the Expo’s virtual platform. Exhibitions, seminars and other events of the Expo were available for engineering and technology enthusiasts until 31 August 2021.

• The Institution signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with 13 incubator centres from the GBA to establish long-term innovation & technology (I&T) cooperation, promote the development of local I&T ecosystem, and foster closer regional cooperation with the Mainland.

• On 23 June, alias the International Women in Engineering Day, the HKIE Task Force on Women in Engineering organised a webinar to celebrate this meaningful occasion and encourage more women especially the younger ones to learn more about engineering as a career.

• The 46th Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on 28 June 2021 at the HKCEC. President Ir Edwin K F Chung unveiled the theme for the Session ‘The HKIE - Time to Change’ and highlighted five major focus areas in his work plan for the new Session.

• The Gold Medallist of the year 2021 Ir Prof Norman Ko donated his artwork ‘Tranquility’ and books to the HKIE. The donation ceremony was held on 25 June 2021.

July

• Hosted by the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering and jointly organised by the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan, the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers and the HKIE, the ICEE Conference 2021 was successfully held on 7 - 8 July 2021 virtually.

• The Institution participated in the Education and Careers Expo 2021 organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council at the HKCEC from 15 to 18 July 2021.

• The HKIE Time to Change Survey was conducted from 9 July to 6 August 2021. Views from members were collected to help the Institution plan for transformative changes for the years to come.

• 12 young members were selected as President's Protégés to shadow and work with President Ir Chung. They were also given the opportunity to interact with other leading engineering professionals.

August

• The Institution’s monthly journal, Hong Kong Engineer, went fully online and paper-free in August 2021 to reduce carbon footprint.

• The HKIE Time to Change Strategy Day 2021 was held on 14 August 2021 at the CIC-Zero Carbon Park. Members from various disciplines gathered to exchange views in mapping the transformative future of the Institution and made recommendations for the HKIE’s Time to Change initiatives.

September

• The HKIE Presidential Address and Dinner was held on 24 September 2021. President Ir Chung shared with members his plan under the theme ‘The HKIE – Time to Change’ (香港工程師學會 – 專業維新) with a view to working towards a better HKIE and a better Institution for the members. The HKIE Best Transactions Paper Prize 2021, the HKIE Outstanding Paper Award for Young Engineers/ Researchers 2021 and the HKIE Long Service Award were also presented at the occasion.

• The President, his Protégés and representatives of the Secretariat organised a series of visits to HKIE’s key partners of the engineering profession starting this September which spanned a few months. Various tertiary institutions offering engineering programmes, government departments, public utility undertakers, transportation organisations or authorities as well as consultant and contractor associations have shared with the delegates their views on matters relevant to the engineering profession.

• The HKIE’s official Facebook page ‘The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers 香港工程師學會 – HKIE’ was launched in mid-September.

@TheHKIE

October

• Co-organised by the HKIE, the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology and People’s Government of Qingpu District of Shanghai Municipality, the 2021 Shanghai and Hong Kong Symposium on Science and Technology was successfully held on 21 October 2021 along the theme “新技術‧新業態‧新發展”.

• A luncheon to build further rapport with the media was held on 25 October 2021. Journalists from ten electronic, print and online media outlets were joined by the President, the Officers, the Executive, the Chairman of the Public Services Committee and some of the President’s Protégés.

November

• The HKIE Instagram was also launched to enable members and the public to know more about the latest activities of the Institution and facilitate the Institution in better connecting with them.

@the_hkie

• To enable the public and especially school students to know more about the different engineering disciplines and how every individual in them contributes to the advancement of our daily lives, a video series ‘What Do Engineers Do?’ was launched in November 2021.

HKIE Channel

• To raise public awareness of the contributions and achievements that Hong Kong engineers have made to society, the Hong Kong Engineering Archive which gathers past and recent notable engineering projects underwent a revamp with new features and layout.

December

• The Greater Bay Area Engineers Forum was held on 5 December 2021.

• The Legislative Council Election Forum 2021 was held on 6 December 2021 in a hybrid mode. Two candidates running for the Engineering Functional Constituency were invited to meet with our members and R.P.E.s. Almost 120 participants joined in.