The HKIE 46th Annual Dinner held on Friday, 15 March 2024 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre was well attended by more than 900 members and guests. The Institution was honoured by the presence of The Honourable Andrew K Y Leung, President of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, as the principal guest of the evening.

To echo with this year’s President theme “We Engineer, We Serve”, President Ir Dr Barry C H Lee reviewed the strategically-built Time to Change Roadmap to improve member service and actively respond to members’ expectations. He also responded to a slogan for this Session – “Be the Change” to encourage our engineers to uphold professional ethics, challenge yourself to excellence, innovate and maintain enthusiasm.

The Honourable Andrew K Y Leung delivered an enlightening speech to members and guests. He expressed his appreciation to the contribution of the Institution to the development of Hong Kong. The occasion was also graced by the presence of Dr Sunny N C Chai, Chairman of Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation as the guest of honour. He highlighted the remarkable achievements and contributions made by engineers at the forefront of technological innovation.

To present distinguished members with awards worthy of their accomplishments, the Institution is pleased to confer The HKIE Honorary Fellow 2024 to Ir Prof Lau Ching Kwong and Ir Edmund K H Leung. The HKIE Gold Medal 2024 was presented to Ir Prof Naeemullah Hussain while Ir Louis K S Szeto received The President’s Award 2024. The Young Engineer of the Year Award 2024 was also presented at the dinner and the winner was Ir Dr Kwok Tai Wai while Ir Francis P H Yuen and Ir Lo Yuk Hong received the Certificates of Merit.

The HKIE Grand Award was also presented during the Dinner. It championed our members’ and their projects’ exemplary contributions to the development of Hong Kong. The winners are shown as the following:

Captured moments of the Annual Dinner are available at https://www.hkie.org.hk/annualdinner

The Honourable Andrew K Y Leung, principal guest of the evening, delivered an enlightening speech on the occasion

Guest of Honour Dr Sunny N C Chai

Stage Party and guest (L to R): Ir Prof Alfred W H Sit, Ir Ricky C K Lau, Ir Alice K T Chow, Mr Ye Shuiqui, Ir Aaron K M Bok, The Hon Andrew K Y Leung, Ir Dr Barry C H Lee, Dr Sunny N C Chai, Ir Eric S C Ma, Mr Wang Jian, Ir Winnie W Y Ho, Ir Dr The Hon Lo Wai Kwok and Ir Prof Frank F Chan

The President presented The HKIE Honorary Fellow 2024 to Ir Prof Lau Ching Kwong (L) and Ir Edmund K H Leung (R)

Ir Prof Naeemullah Hussain received The HKIE Gold Medal 2024 from the President

Ir Louis K S Szeto received The President’s Award 2024 from the President

The winner of The Young Engineer of the Year Award 2024 was Ir Dr Kwok Tai Wai

The awardees of Certificates of Merit of The Young Engineer of the Year Award 2024 Ir Lo Yuk Hong (L) and Ir Francis P H Yuen (R) with the President Ir Dr Barry C H Lee (middle)

The Grand Prize winners of The HKIE Grand Award 2024 with the President

More than 900 members and guests attended the event

Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, and esteemed members, good evening!

Thank you for joining us at this annual dinner, one of the most significant events of the HKIE in any given year.

Following the success of the Presidential Address Dinner back in last September, we have achieved another success: a record-breaking attendance of the HKIE annual dinner in this evening……..basically we squeezed tables into every corner of this venue to fulfill the table requests of our members. This reflects your unfailing support towards this esteemed institution, please join me in giving a big hand to our supporters.

The presidential theme I have chosen for this Session is “We Engineer, We Serve (知行合一 成就專業)”. I emphasise the inherent duty and profound responsibility that we bear as engineers, to innovate and harness our skill sets for the betterment of society. Tonight, I would like to share with you the four key action areas that we are pursuing to achieve this noble objective. Some of these initiatives have already been set in motion, while others are currently underway.

FIRST and foremost, we are committed to assisting our members in acquiring qualifications, a crucial element in their professional journey. In our recent session, we introduced a mentorship scheme, purposely crafted to guide potential members through the application process. Simultaneously, we are undergoing a digital revamp of our entire membership application process to make it more efficient and transparent. Additionally, we have concluded new cooperations with institutes such as the VTC and THEi, and leveraged our newly established professional certification mechanism to enable our members to obtain essential qualifications in emerging areas such as BIM, EIA, and Stage Engineering. By equipping ourselves with these cutting-edge skills, we can better serve the public and meet the evolving demands of our profession.

Furthermore, we are steadfast in fostering the development of a robust talent pool to meet the evolving needs of our communities. Last November, the Institution achieved a significant milestone by entering into an MRA with the Guangdong Institution of Engineers. This landmark agreement initiated a pilot project aimed at aligning the qualifications of our Civil, Geotechnical, Electrical, and Control, Automation & Instrumentation disciplines with five corresponding engineering disciplines within our counterpart institution. In more practical terms, this means our members will soon find themselves in a position to apply for professional titles in the Mainland, more commonly known as 職稱. This is a huge step forward in our effort to expand career prospects for engineering talents, in both Mainland China and Hong Kong.

Next, moving on to our SECOND initiative, it is all about dedicating effort to promoting knowledge sharing, through both digital and physical means. A new HKIE premise in the Kowloon area, called EngHub, was opened last July so that our members can connect and share their knowledge and experience physically in a relaxed environment. Many divisions have already used this new facility hosted their monthly meetings, seminars and chit-chat sessions with members there and received good response.

But these are not all – we are planning to roll out an online library, ensuring our members can effortlessly search and acquire whatever information they need. Our aim is crystal clear: make knowledge accessible, and nurture connections, both online and offline.

Our THIRD initiative is about our continuous effort in enhancing the benefits and opportunities available to our members. Last August, we launched a comprehensive membership benefits scheme, which now offers discounts from over 40 commercial entities exclusively for our members. We are committed to ensuring that our members receive the recognition and advantages they deserve.

For the FOURTH initiative, we have taken strategic steps to elevate the visibility of HKIE and the engineering profession to the public in Hong Kong. This involves a proactive approach to managing media, enabling HKIE to promptly address engineering-related issues in society. We have hosted six press conferences in the last few months, covering vital topics such as climate resilience, building maintenance, nurturing engineering talent, construction safety, and our opinion on government budget, etc.

In addition, we have spent substantial efforts to strengthen HKIE's role in establishing connections with engineering organisations in Mainland China, Greater Bay Area, and worldwide. This has been accomplished by organising HKIE cocktail receptions in various locations in last several months, including Macau, Guangzhou, Manchester, London, Beijing, and Dubai to foster collaboration, and to tell good stories of Hong Kong to our counterparts outside Hong Kong. Another three cocktail receptions are to be arranged in Vancouver and Toronto of Canada in April during the delegation led by our IPP Aaron Bok and in Sidney of Australia under another overseas delegation to be hosted by myself in May this year. Throughout this session, we have forged a strong, ongoing partnership with the Development Bureau to host career fairs and talks in the Mainland China and overseas to recruit new blood for our profession.

Furthermore, to promote the engineering profession to the public, the “Hong Kong Engineers Week” was held in the last two consecutive sessions, the Carnival held two weeks ago in West Kowloon Cultural District attracted over 46,000 visiting traffic. You could scan the QR code placed on your table for the pdf version of the commemorative booklet of this HKIE’s mega event of the year to appreciate what we have done and achieved.

In closing, I would like to encourage each one of you, to embrace our slogan “Be the Change (不一樣)” in this session, to join hands with us in serving our members and society together with an innovative mindset, so that we could make HKIE a hub for engineering excellence.

Once again, thank you, all the guests and members, for your unfailing support. I wish you all a memorable and enjoyable evening.

Please allow me to use my sub-standard Putonghua to say a few words to welcome our guests from Mainland China.

尊敬的洪波書記、佑英主席，水球部長：

過去一年，香港工程師學會做了大量工作，融入國家發展大局，發揮學會的作用。事實上，廣東省科協和中聯辦背後給我們很多支持，讓我們在資格互認、跟內地其他工程學會交流方面，做了大量工作，讓我們有豐碩的成果。所以我代表香港工程師學會衷心感謝廣東省科協和中聯辦對我們香港工程師學會的支持。感謝。我希望在未來的日子，廣東省科協和中聯辦可以繼續對香港工程師學會作出最大的支持，讓我們為香港和大灣區的工程師，還有工程專業，發揮最大的作用，感謝。

Please also allow me to use my mother language to say a few words to members.

所有嘉賓、會員：好多謝你哋蒞臨今日嘅週年晚宴。我記得上年6月28號我上任嗰日，我話，呢一條鏈好重，因為裏面有所有過去咁多年香港工程師學會會長嘅名字。所有嘅會長，同埋我哋嘅前輩，對我哋工程師學會有好大嘅貢獻，亦都令到我哋成為擁有超過三萬三千會員嘅一個工程機構，為會員同埋市民服務。所以，我喺呢度好希望在座咁多位會員，為我哋前任嘅會長，同埋身邊咁多位幫助佢哋做好呢個會嘅前輩，致以最熱烈嘅掌聲。過去幾個月有好多會員同我講，Barry，今屆、上一屆、過去幾屆都做得幾好喎。我可以同大家講，其實唔係幾個人嘅努力，係整個學會管理團隊、分部主席同埋佢哋嘅Committee Members、專業界別委員會所有人、秘書處，上下一心做岀嚟嘅成果。所以我希望在座俾最熱烈嘅掌聲我哋咁多位秘書處成員，同埋所有業界、管理層。最後，我要響應政府嘅呼籲：「夜繽紛」。今日嘅宴會去到十點半，希望大家可以留到最後，同我哋渡過一個開心嘅晚上，多謝大家。

A delegation led by Immediate Past President Ir Aaron Bok and supported by his two Protégés, Ms Hazel Lam and Mr Sampson Tam, toured Toronto and Vancouver from 7 to 13 April 2024. The delegation held university talks, attended the HKIE Canadian Chapter Cocktail Receptions, visited the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO), and met with the Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) and Engineers & Geoscientists British Columbia (EGBC).

The Canadian Chapter Cocktail Receptions were held in Toronto and Vancouver (first ever) respectively, where Ir Aaron Bok shared the challenges and initiatives under the Time to Change Roadmap and the various activities and reforms in HKIE in the recent two years. He also updated the members of the President Ir Dr Barry Lee’s year plan, allowing members in Canada to stay informed of the recent developments of the HKIE and opportunities of engineering profession in Hong Kong. The receptions were well attended and received by members from Canada and Hong Kong, fostering and strengthening connections between them. The two Protégés also shared their exposure during their few years training and adventures as protégés, particularly their experience in the HKIE Scheme “A” training and the job satisfaction they derived from knowing their work directly benefits society.

During the career talks at the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia, Ir Aaron Bok’s presentation highlighted the engineering career prospects and infrastructure development in Hong Kong. He encouraged the students to always get well prepared for their future challenges and strive for excellence. He reminded the students that they should be proud of themselves since they had made a right decision by choosing a very noble profession with promising future. Ms Emily Mo, Director- General of HKETO (Toronto) gave a sharing and update on the latest situation in Hong Kong and how government facilitate young talents to work in Hong Kong. Mrs Catherine Yuen, Principal Consultant, Western Canada of HKETO (Toronto) provided an overview of the general development opportunities available for working in Hong Kong.

The delegates also met with the Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) to exchange views on engineering practices in Canada and Hong Kong. A meeting with Engineers & Geoscientists British Columbia (EGBC) was also conducted to discuss the regulation of professional engineering practices and strategies for attracting successors.

Moreover, the delegates visited several facilities including the site of Waterfront Toronto, a mega size contaminated site revitalisation project spanning over 20 years, and the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) High Performance Building Lab, which showcases various types of technology aimed at enhancing airtightness and building energy use intensity which helps achieving carbon neutrality. The site visit to BCIT Tall Timber Student Housing provided the delegation with a fresh understanding of mass timber construction and its fire provisions.

The delegation would like to express their heartfelt thanks to the HKIE Canadian Chapter, especially Chairman, Ir Brian Lee and representative, Ir Jeff Chang, for their hospitality and seamless arrangements throughout the delegation’s stay in Canada.

Cocktail Reception in Toronto was participated by some 50 members from Canada and Hong Kong

Visiting the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office’ s heritage office on St George Street in Toronto

The first-ever HKIE Canadian Chapter Cocktail Reception held in Vancouver, with approximately 35 members in attendance

Meeting with Engineering & Geoscience British Columbia (EGBC)

Career talk at the University of Toronto

Career talk at the University of British Columbia

由國家住房和城鄉建設部、廣東省人民政府、香港特別行政區政府 發展局指導，國家住房和城鄉建設部科技與產業化發展中心、廣東 省住房和城鄉建設廳、香港工程師學會共同主辦的「2024內地與香 港建築論壇」，已於2024年3月26至27日在廣州成功舉行。

2024內地與香港建築論壇於廣州成功舉辦

本屆論壇以「深化內地與香港建築領域合作，高質量建設粵港澳大 灣區，携手推進“一帶一路”建設」為主題，旨在搭建香港與內地建 築業信息互通的橋樑，推動兩地建築業轉型升級和高質量發展， 促進香港更好融入國家發展大局、服務大灣區建設。

論壇吸引了來自香港及內地的政府代表、國內外建築行業院士、專 家學者、研究機構及企業代表等約800人參與。香港代表團由香港 特別行政區政府發展局局長甯漢豪女士率領，包括政府代表、專業 學會和協會代表、建築工程業界人士、法律界人士和立法會議員等， 人數超過350人。

論壇設有主論壇和分論壇。在3月26日上午舉行的主論壇上，香港 工程師學會副會長陳帆教授、工程師，以「新質生產力，建造業工業 化」為題，發表了演說。學會秘書長薛永恒教授、工程師，亦於同日 下午擔任以「科技創新與新型建築工業化」為主題的圓桌對話環節 主持人。

副會長陳帆教授、工程師於會上發表演說

秘書長薛永恒教授、工程師（右）擔任圓桌對話環節主持人

發展局局長甯漢豪女士與參會的香港工程師學會會員合影

3月27日舉行的分論壇分為四個平行會議，包括「粵港澳大灣區建 築科技創新應用技術交流會」、「內地建築市場制度與香港業界 機遇研討會」、「產業測量及造價諮詢專業技術交流會」，以及「建 築、園林景觀設計及城市規劃經驗交流會」。其中，第二分論壇「內 地建築市場制度與香港業界機遇研討會」，由香港工程師學會與中 國國際貿易促進委員會建設行業分會、廣東省市政行業協會、廣東 省建設監理協會共同協辦。同日下午大會舉行了六個組別的實地調 研，讓與會人士深入體驗廣州的特色建造項目。

會長李志康博士、工程師在第二分論壇上致辭

土木界別諮詢委員會主席劉大衛工程師（右一）主持分組論壇二的圓桌對話環節

本屆論壇成果豐碩，香港特別行政區政府發展局與廣東省住房和城 鄉建設廳於論壇上簽署了合作意向書；香港大學與住建部科技與產 業化發展中心簽署諒解備忘錄；建造業議會與廣東省多間培訓院校 簽署合作協議；學會亦於會上與兩地建築及工程相關協會簽署了聯 合倡議書；論壇同期亦舉辦了香港與內地建築企業商務洽談活動， 現場有超過100家企業進行洽談交流。

粵港建築及工程相關協會和學會簽署聯合倡議書

今年全國兩會早前在三月於北京順利召開。香港工程師學會於 2024年4月6日在總部舉辦工程師「2024兩會精神」分享會，邀請 了港區全國人大代表、副會長陳帆教授、工程師、全國政協委員 黃錦輝教授、工程師及全國政協委員李鎮強工程師，向學會會員 分享本年度全國兩會的重要內容和體會。

陳帆教授、工程師在會上分享習近平總書記有關「新質生產力」的 重要講話，並播放兩段「新質生產力」和「建造業工業化」的短片， 讓與會者加深對相關議題的認識。陳帆教授、工程師寄語香港社會 包括工程業界應該更深入了解國家的政策方針，積極融入國家發展 大局，把握粵港澳大灣區協調發展機遇。

黃錦輝教授、工程師講解政府工作報告的十大任務，及從創科業的 角度分析「新質生產力」。李鎮強工程師則分享自身經驗，體會到國 家發展一日千里，他期望未來有更多工程師積極參與國家不同項目，為民造福。

出席會員專注聆聽三位的講話內容，並踴躍參與討論及分享。

香港工程師學會會長李志康博士、工程師感謝三位講者的分享，以 及感謝會員在周末撥冗出席活動。學會未來會繼續發揮工程專業， 為國家和香港城市建設作出更多貢獻，繼續協助香港融入國家發展 大局，發揮香港聯通世界的角色。

(左至右) 秘書長薛永恒教授、工程師、全國政協委員李鎮強工程師、會長李志康博士、工程師、 全國政協委員黃錦輝教授、工程師、港區全國人大代表、副會長陳帆教授、工程師。

出席會員專注聆聽講者的分享

全國政協委員黃錦輝教授、工程師

全國政協委員李鎮強工程師