Time to Change Afresh
and time to say goodbye
On 28 June 2023, the 48th Annual General Meeting was successfully concluded with Ir Dr Barry Lee installed as our incoming President. The title of the Presidential Theme this Session is “We Engineer, We Serve” or 「知行合一 成就專業」 in Chinese. Whilst Ir Dr Barry Lee will make known all his aspirations in the upcoming Presidential Address which will be delivered in September, one thing for sure is that he will be undertaking initiatives that will make the Institution not the same.
In late 2020, when I assumed the role of Chief Executive and Secretary, I made a pledge to become instrumental in bringing about positive changes to the Institution and thereby hopefully elevating the profession to new heights. Three years have now lapsed, and perhaps it would be opportune to take stock of whether things are indeed changing.
In the last few years, thanks to the leadership and commitment of the several incumbent Presidents and Vice Presidents, the Institution has embarked on a journey of rejuvenation. To do that, we needed pointers of direction. After extensive consultation with our members, peers’ reviews and stakeholders’ engagement, the “Time to Change Roadmap” (the Roadmap) had been prepared and was formally published in June 2022. The Roadmap features a total of 45 prioritised initiatives under five focus areas, viz, Pursuing Digitalisation, Enhancing Services to Members, Facilitating Innovation, Boosting Professionalism, and Undertaking Governance Review. These give us the direction and timetable for taking the necessary steps of attaining sustained excellence. The Roadmap will chart the course of the Institution in the next few years to come.
The Roadmap is a living document in the sense that it has to be updated, brushed up, and/or revised from time to time so as to suit the prevailing changing circumstances. Most importantly, this now forms the basis for continuous improvement for the Institution and helps cultivate the ambition of self-actualisation among its leaders, guardians and caretakers.
Despite it has just been a short while after the Roadmap was published, I am most delighted to witness some material changes taking place. The following are just some examples of work in progress:
- Pursuing digitalisation: A new website is being developed to improve the user interface so that there will be new features to make it more user-friendly, convenient, and informative for both the public and members. The application processes for HKIE membership and Engineers Registration Board are being digitalised in tandem with the revamping of our membership database. Further, a new mobile application will be in place to take care of services to members on learned society functions and events. All these will hopefully complete in early 2024.
- Boosting Professionalism: Substantial amount of work has been accomplished in the last Presidential Session for uplifting the image and visibility of the Institution. These include appearing in media events, addressing questions on incidents of social impact, producing short videos about engineers, adopting the social media platforms for effecting better communication and interaction, staging the Hong Kong Engineering Week in March 2023 to showcase the engineering profession to members of the public, etc. Several influential reports had been produced last year with a view to shaping the public policy making.
- Enhancing Services to Members: This will be the thrust driving the theme of this Presidential Session. Early starts have taken place with a mentorship programme already established to assist those who wish to join the Institution as members. Readers are also aware that a new HKIE facility at HK NEO Kowloon East is going to open on 14 July. Plans are in place to facilitate qualification requisition by our members on emerging fields such as BIM, EIA, EM&A, and so on, all these being part of the bigger scheme of trawling talents for engineering.
We all understand that change could never be smooth sailing, especially when we do not start with a clean slate. The road to excellence is always at its construction stage. Whilst a lot more could have been done in the past three years, I feel that the appropriate time has come for me to bid farewell to you in the managing capacity of the Secretariat. I must say that we could not have accomplished so much without the arduous efforts of all staff members to whom I am most indebted.
May I invite you to welcome Ir Alfred Sit, the new Chief Executive & Secretary, and you will certainly agree with me that the Secretariat will now be in very capable hands.
The HKIE New Members’ Reception
The HKIE New Members’ Reception was successfully held on 3 June 2023 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, with more than 280 newly admitted Members and guests attending the ceremony. Presentation of membership certificate was made to our newly admitted Fellow Members and Members on the occasion. Details of the event can be found on pp 30 – 31 of the Journal.