The Presidential Address and Dinner was successfully held on 12 September 2025 at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The President shared with members her vision and work plan under the theme for Session 2025/2026, “Together we RISE” (同心同創), highlighting Resilience, Innvoation, Sustainability and Equity.

More than 900 members and guests joined the President for a delightful dinner following the address. The HKIE Outstanding Paper Award for Young Engineers/Researchers 2025 and The HKIE Best Transactions Paper Prize 2025 were presented on the occasion.

More details about the Presidential Address and Award Presentation are reported in other parts of the Journal.

President Ir Alice Chow delivering her Presidential Address

Officers, Past Presidents and Chief Executive and Secretary

Officers, Deputy Director-General of Department of Educational, Scientific and Technological Affairs of Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong SAR Mr Ye Shuiqiu (9th left), Permanent Secretary for Development (Works) Ir Ricky Lau (9th right), legislative councillors, heads and representatives of Government Bureaux, Departments and Representative of Building Technology Research Institute and Chief Executive and Secretary

Officers, friends from universities and higher education institutions, local associations and Chief Executive and Secretary

The event was well attended by more than 900 members and guests

Members and guests had a joyful evening

Introduction

Honourable guests, Past Presidents, fellow members, my colleagues and friends: good evening.

It is with profound pride and humility that I stand before you as the first woman to serve as the President in the history of The HKIE. As we commemorate the half-century milestone since HKIE’s incorporation under the Laws of Hong Kong, I envision a future where half of this room will be graced by women engineer, adding their voices to enrich the symphony of our profession.

I am deeply aware that this moment is not mine alone. It belongs to the mentors who opened the doors, the classmates who had my back, the seniors who demanded rigour, and the many women and men who challenged old assumptions about who belongs in our profession. I am a living witness to how the world—and our industry—has evolved in its understanding of talent, leadership, and gender.

Where some once saw stereotypes, I was given opportunities.

Where some expected conformity, I was encouraged to contribute differently.

Those experiences shaped me. They gave me not only a sense of duty, but also a commitment to compassion.

Engineering is not just about what we can build; it is about whom we are building for. It is not only the thrill of solving the hardest equation, but the courage to ask the most human question: whose life will be better because we solved it? I have learned to value both precision and empathy; to measure success not only by milestones achieved, but by the impact felt—on our coworkers, our communities, and our city.

With that spirit, I have set a vision for my presidency anchored in four words: Resilience, Innovation, Sustainability, and Equity; Together we RISE.

Resilience, so we can adapt to shocks and uncertainty.

Innovation, so we can unlock new possibilities with curiosity and courage.

Sustainability, so that today’s progress does not come at tomorrow’s expense.

And Equity, so that opportunity, dignity, and safety are shared—across disciplines, generations, and backgrounds.

RISE is not a slogan. It is a standard. It asks each of us to lift as we climb, to bring others along, and to leave the profession stronger than we found it.

This evening, I want to share where I come from, where we are, and where I believe we must go—together.

Past

My path to engineering was not a childhood dream. It was a pragmatic choice born of circumstance and determination. At 16, I left Hong Kong for the UK with a small suitcase and a big belief that independence is learned by doing. I worked evenings in a Chinese takeaway to fund my studies. Those were formative years–discipline, humility, problem-solving.

I sampled different paths and chose civil engineering because it was tangible, practical, and impactful–able to change lives at scale. In a class of many men and very few women, I found respect and friendship, even though my grandfather once wondered aloud, “Why study something only men do?” But transition to practice was not easy. I graduated into a tough job market in Hong Kong and sent out a hundred applications without a reply. So I kept going, completing a master’s in structural engineering. My thesis on the wrapping effects of steel in bridges opened a door in a UK consultancy. I threw myself into the work, earned a visa, and learned fast.

After returning home, I joined a local firm on residential building projects. For ten months, my days ran from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. My seniors drilled into me what to look for and what to be careful of–loads, limits, and lives. Those lessons became my foundation. At times, there were sharp stings from being underestimated as a woman in professional settings, but it ignited a fierce determination within me. By 30, I had become a Registered Structural Engineer and a Chartered Civil Engineer–not to prove a point, but to prove my readiness and to make space for the others.

Service has been my guiding light. With Médecins Sans Frontières, I had been a donor for years, but one day I asked myself: could my skills make a difference where they were needed most?

After interviews and training, I was in Afghanistan and Ethiopia–relocating compounds under security threats, restoring water and power, learning logistics and vehicle maintenance on the job. Those experiences distilled one truth: the heart of engineering is service. We carry a responsibility to safeguard dignity and hope. That conviction guides me still and shapes how I lead: independent, evidence-led, and committed to lifting others.

HKIE and Our Vision for the Future

A community is shaped by what we celebrate, what we fix, and who we welcome into our midst. In a city that moves as fast as Hong Kong, acting one step ahead sends ripples far beyond any individual project. The HKIE’s work today centres on four commitments, all tied to one feeling we must nourish: a sense of belonging.

Nurturing an Ecosystem for Engineering Innovation

Innovation is not optional; it is the operating system of modern engineering. Three years ago, we incepted the Enginpreneurs programme to turn our engineers’ ideas into deployable solutions. With over 32,000 members across 22 Disciplines– from consultancy and contracting to utilities, developers, academia, and government–we hold an end-to-end value chain to support innovation from upstream to downstream.

We signed a three-year MoU with Cyberport, where successfully nominated teams will not only receive funding, mentorship, professional service support, but also invaluable networks. To date, we have seven Enginpreneurs teams have progressed through this pathway with some having successfully been deployed in private projects. We are now in talks with government departments to explore potentials for further pilot adoptions–because a public-sector “yes” often accelerates private-sector uptake.

This year, we also co-founded the Hong Kong New Industrialisation Development Alliance alongside the Federation of Hong Kong Industries and peer institutes, connecting Government-Industry-Academia-Research- Investment to grow advanced manufacturing and new industries. Our promise is to bring engineering rigour– standards, safety, scalability–into the heart of our new industrialisation.

Innovation only scales when an ecosystem of mentors, standards, capital, manufacturing, and early customers works in concert. HKIE’s convening power is our members’ power–this is your expertise, your networks, your credibility. This is belonging in action.

Driving Sustainable Development, Diversity, and Inclusion

If hope is a plan, engineers draw it. Design choices–materials, methods, maintenance–determine over 70% of lifecycle cost and carbon for many assets. That means sustainability is not a chapter at the end; it is the first line of the brief.

To make this tangible, we published the HKIE UNSDGs eBook and are continuing updating it, consolidating Hong Kong engineering achievements across all 17 Goals–from resilient drainage and slope safety, to green buildings, lowcarbon transport, smart grids, and waste-to-energy. Our 19 Divisions also produced videos showing how each specialty contributes. Though presented by discipline, the message is clear: sustainability is multidisciplinary teamwork.

We also bring Hong Kong’s voice to the global table. The HKIE participated in COP28 and COP29, and we are preparing for COP30 in Brazil. Our aims: advocate for practical engineering pathways to net zero, share Hong Kong case studies, and learn from international peers on standards and resilience.

Inclusion makes us stronger and fairer. Over the past decade, our male Corporate Members rose by 9.5%, while female members grew by a phenomenal 56%–but still, our ratio is roughly 9:1. Progress is not parity. As a member of Women in Engineering, I want more girls to see prospects and opportunities in engineering that I see. I am not trying to box ourselves into any stereotypes, but we can honour that our upbringings and traditions have shaped us in different ways. When we bring these differences together–women and men, across ages and backgrounds–we can create a fuller, stronger whole that serves the world’s long-term good. To achieve this, we will expand mentorship, school outreach, and recognition. Diversity is not a gesture of goodwill; it is fundamental to good engineering.

Preparing for the Future of Engineering and Strengthening Advocacy in New and Emerging Sectors

The future will not announce itself; it will come like a project brief due yesterday. Our duty is to be ready–and to shape it.

AI-native engineering is changing our workflow. Picture a hospital retrofit: an engineer prompts a model to propose HVAC control strategies; it drafts the code, test benches, and documentation; the team simulates performance, verifies safety, and deploys with human sign-off. “Prompt-toprototype” compresses weeks into days–but fundamentals, verifications, and judgement remain non-negotiable.

Education is already moving. We see new technologies and engineering being embraced: double majors and joint degrees–engineering with law, finance, arts; computer science with public policy and ethics; bioengineering with data science. These hybrids exist in Hong Kong and abroad for a reason: tomorrow’s problem do not conform to faculty boundaries.

For new and emerging sectors, I see significant promise in life and health science, as well as low-altitude economy, both of which demand a strong AI presence. Collaborative efforts within the Greater Bay Area have the potential to mutually benefit from these sectors. Hong Kong’s renowned rule-of-law credibility complements the GBA’s rapid prototyping and manufacturing capabilities, creating a synergistic environment for innovation and growth.

Driving Engineering Excellence

If innovation is spark, excellence is the fuel that keeps it burning. In our 50th Anniversary Legacy Award, we honoured projects where generations of engineers chose the greater challenge over convenient compromises. That is the inheritance we proudly uphold. As a Super Connector, HKIE plays a part in the process of integrating with standardising practices across the Greater Bay Area. Our call to action encompasses crucial areas such as carbon management and climate adaptation, MiMEP technologies, emerging new energy solutions, and digital safety. Here is what we will do–practical, coordinated steps HKIE will lead with our partners across Hong Kong and neighbouring GBA cities.

In the realm of holistic carbon management for infrastructure and buildings, our initiatives include publishing an HKIE guidance document that operationalises wholelife carbon management across all lifecycle stages. We also aim to conduct a gap analysis to align and adopt resilience design standards for priority projects within the GBA, such as Qianhai, Hengqin, and the Northern Metropolis.

In the sphere of advancing MiMEP technologies for productivity and quality, our focus is on developing an HKIE MiMEP Guidebook, with plans underway for a subsequent edition with GBA extensions to support regional scalability.

Hydrogen is a promising sustainable energy resource. Professional training for the emerging hydrogen industry will be expanded, building on the success of Hong Kong’s first hydrogen professional training co-organised by our Gas and Energy Division.

In the realm of standardising digital site safety across the region, we aim to promote broader adoption of 4S Smart Site Safety Systems in Hong Kong as a basis for a GBA-ready standard scope. Initiatives will kick off with a structured gap analysis between Hong Kong implementations and major Chinese Mainland cities, followed by the publication of a standardisation roadmap.

In our ongoing efforts to support the professional growth of Hong Kong engineers, we continue to explore mutual recognition agreements for professional qualifications with engineering institutions and authorities worldwide. With the evaluation mechanism of Chinese Mainland “Professional Title” qualifications for our Hong Kong engineering professionals now covering eight engineering disciplines, we are hoping to further extend this evaluation to more disciplines, enabling our talent to explore opportunities beyond Hong Kong.

In addition to our regular visits to the UK, Australia, and Canada, we are planning a Belt and Road delegation to the Middle East, opening a door of vast opportunity and forging new frontiers for our members to explore, collaborate, and excel.

Through collaborative efforts, we have the opportunity to not only enhance our regional infrastructure but also export a sense of assurance and reliability to international markets. By harmonising standards and fostering innovation, we can build a stronger foundation at home while projecting confidence and expertise on a global scale.

Trawling Talent

A profession survives by its pipeline; a community thrives by its welcome. We need engineers who can read drawings and data, who understand contracts and communities, who can sit with a client at noon and a student at three.

Together with the Education Bureau and partners across education and industry, we bring STEAM to life: school talks, visits, hands-on challenges. We also intend to involve educators and parents in our mission, recognising their pivotal roles in shaping the educational journey and career paths of our future leaders. Our HKIE Scheme “A” training remains a trusted bridge from classroom to practice– mentorship, training opportunities, assessment, and a badge that means “ready”.

If you ask me what attracts talent, I would say this: give them purpose, give them people, give them paths. Purpose that matters, people who care, and paths that are clear. HKIE exists to weave these together.

Sense of Belonging

Belonging is the quiet confidence that you know you are not alone–the way we show up for each other when the rain is black and the schedule is red. A senior who keeps a hard hat in her car “just in case.” A graduate who learns to say “I don’t know–yet.” This is belonging.

This anniversary year, we are investing in that feeling:

• In November, we will ride the high-speed rail together to Guangzhou, not for minutes in a meeting, but hours to talk, laugh, and learn;
• In December, seats at the cocktail reception are reserved for young members, so the next generation can enter the ballroom;
• We are making charity cookies with social enterprise– small, sweet reminder that we belong to this city and will feed it in every way we can;
• We will host a public Carnival, inviting families and students to meet the people behind the skyline;
• We are planning an exhibition in Beijing, showcasing Hong Kong engineering as a united front, deepening bonds across the border.

Belonging is not abstract. When someone joins The HKIE, I want them to feel what I felt the first time as a senior handed me a drawing and ask for my opinion. It is about entering a community where knowledge is shared, where experience is passed down, and where every voice, no matter how junior or senior, is valued and respected.

As members of HKIE, we are part of a legacy of excellence and innovation in engineering. Embracing this title Ir (Engineer) is not just about a designation; it is a symbol of the dedication, expertise, and professionalism that we bring to our work every day. Let us wear the title Ir proudly; let it be a reminder of the trust and responsibility placed in us by our peers, our clients, and society at large.

Conclusion

Fellow engineers, our profession is a promise. When people entrust us with their safety, their cities, their futures, we must meet that trust with competence and conscience. In the decade ahead, we will face significant challenges: heat and flood, cyber risk and supply shocks, new technologies that move faster than our habits. The future will not be easy, and it rarely is. But it will be ours to shape if we act together.

My call to you is simple and exacting.

Be prepared. Keep your tools sharp—your maths, your code, your craft, your ethics. Read the standards and help write the next ones. Invest in your health and your teams’ wellbeing. To prepare is to care in advance.

Be generous. Share what you know—open your notebooks, your models, your lessons learned. Mentor a young colleague. Invite a student to your site. When we teach, we multiply ourselves; but when we hoard, we shrink.

Be united. Across disciplines, companies, and generations, choose collaboration over competition where the public good is at stake. Join our dedicated working groups to help drive engineering excellence, sustainability, new industrialisation, artificial intelligence. Participate in the HKIE Enginpreneurs. Bring your best ideas, and also your best doubts, because unity is not sameness; it is shared purpose.

Be resourceful. Constraints are not excuses; they are design inputs. In Afghanistan and Ethiopia, I learned that ingenuity blossoms when we listen, adapt, and persevere. Hong Kong’s engineers are renowned for this. Let’s make it our signature again and again.

Be the inspiration. Let young people see what we see—the elegance of a well-designed bridge, the quiet heroism of a safe site, the poetry of a resilient grid. Tell your story. Invite them to write theirs. If a girl hears, “Why study something only men do?” let her also hear our answer: because the world needs your mind, your hands, and your heart.

Together we RISE–Resilience to stand steady, Innovation to move boldly, Sustainability to care for tomorrow, Equity to bring everyone along. And together we belong–to a profession that builds what endures, to a city that trusts us, and to one another.

Thank you for the privilege of serving as your President. Thank you for the work you do, often unseen, but always essential. Let us choose courage over comfort, care over convenience, and purpose over pride. Let us put our hands to the plans that will outlast us, and our names to the standards that will protect those we may never meet. If we do this, and we do this steadily, together, Hong Kong will not merely endure the next fifty years; it will flourish, safer, fairer, and stronger, because engineers stood up and stood up together.

Thank you.

Established in 2006, the HKIE Outstanding Paper Award for Young Engineers/Researchers has been serving as a valuable platform for recognising the exceptional achievements of young engineers and researchers* from around the world, encouraging innovative and professional knowledge exchange in the engineering field.

This year, after a rigorous selection process, three papers received the Award. They are:

• YOSO (You Only Scan Once): A Large-Small Model Co-Adapter Framework for AI-Human Collaborative Scan-to-BIM Automation in Wastewater Infrastructure” by Winson Leung*, Vasco Wong, Simon Lai, Senna Ng, Carry Cheung, C Y Lam, Y M Qin and L F Ren.

President Ir Alice Chow (L) presented the Award to Mr Winson Leung (R)

• “Monitoring Tree Intrusion along Railway Networks Using LiDAR Technology” by Coral Yip*, Samuel Li, SM Nazim Uddin Shoikot and Muhammad Saad Shahid Anwel.

President Ir Alice Chow (L) and Ms Coral Yip (R)

• “Gamification and Digital Twin: A Synergistic Approach to Enhancing Manufacturing Processes in Industry 4.0” by Yung Cheung*, Tsz Ip and Ming Yin Shan.

President Ir Alice Chow (L) and Mr Yung Cheung (R)

The first authors of the awarded papers attended the Presidential Dinner on 12 September 2025 where they received their awards during the prize presentation ceremony. They would also present their winning papers at the Public Lecture scheduled for December 2025.

Additionally, two papers have been selected as merit papers:

• “The Challenges and Opportunities for Plastic Recycling in Hong Kong” by H T Chan* and Alex W H Cheung.
• “Enhancing Grid Resilience with Grid Visualisation (Grid-V)” by Jason S C Au*, Mike K W Ng, Jeff K W Sun, Wen Jiaxin.

The awarded and merit papers will be published in a special award issue of the HKIE Transactions in December 2025.

*The first author who was aged 35 or below on the closing date of submission to the Award.

The HKIE Best Transactions Paper Prize, first launched in 1999, recognises outstanding papers published in the HKIE Transactions.

This year, two distinguished papers were awarded the Prize:

• “Smart watchdog: intelligent virtual checker based on human factors” by Rica Ng, Tam Wai Pan, Lau Ching Yin, Jessica Chan, Ko Wing Fung, and Arthur Chan (published in HKIE Transactions Volume 31, Issue 1).
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President Ir Alice Chow (L) presented the prize to Ir Dr Tam Wai Pan (R)

• “Empowering automated surface defect inspection with IoT and deep learning techniques: an application in Trunk Road T2 and Cha Kwo Ling Tunnel, Hong Kong” by Lynda Yang, Colbert Chan, Albert Chan, and Tommy Wong (published in HKIE Transactions Volume 31, Issue 3).
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(L to R) Dr Lynda Yang, Mr Colbert Chan, President Ir Alice Chow, Ir Albert Chan and Ir Tommy Wong

At the Presidential Dinner on 12 September 2025, the awardees received their prizes from President Ir Alice Chow. Congratulations to all!

In our ongoing commitment to amplify the voices of engineers in local, in the Chinese Mainland, and to the world, the Institution continually strives to engage in meaningful dialogues with diverse parties. A media gathering was successfully held on 26 August 2025, bringing together HKIE Officers, Executives, media spokespersons, President’s Protégés and representatives from 13 media outlets. The event served as a vital platform to share the Institution’s latest initiatives and foster dialogue with the media.

The gathering commenced with an insightful introduction by President Ir Alice Chow, who introduced her Presidential theme for Session 2025/2026 — “Together we RISE”, which stands for Resilience, Innovation, Sustainability, and Equity. These four pillars reflect the Institution’s commitment to uniting the engineering community and driving impactful progress in society.

Ir Chow, as the first female President of the Institution, also proudly highlighted the increasing representation of women in the engineering profession. She outlined four strategic focus areas to support the development of the engineering sector:

• Nurturing and Expanding the Engineering I&T Ecosystem: Initiatives such as Enginpreneurs are being introduced to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in engineering;
• Fostering Sustainability in Engineering: The dedicated “Task Force on Promotion of Sustainable Development Goals” will continue to advance sustainability practices within the field;
• Preparing for the Future of Engineering: Efforts are being made to promote interdisciplinary approaches to engineering, ensuring relevance in a rapidly changing world; and
• Strengthening Advocacy in New Areas: Engaging with government authorities, industry organisations and other stakeholders is crucial to addressing industry challenges and providing workforce support.

In addition, the President introduced the HKIE’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, which honour past achievements, showcase the strengths of its 22 Disciplines, and build a vision for the future. Key events include the HKIE 50th Anniversary Legacy Award, the HKIE Grand 50th Annual Dinner, a High- Speed Rail trip to Guangzhou, the cocktail reception, and the carnival at West Kowloon Cultural District. The President also shared the HKIE’s views on the 2025 Policy Address submitted to the Chief Executive of the HKSAR , and introduced the HKIE President’s Protégés for 2025/2026 as a wrap-up.

Following the presentations, attendees enjoyed a casual meal, fostering face-to-face conversations on a variety of engineering-related topics. The gathering not only facilitated meaningful exchanges between media representatives and HKIE members, but also provided a valuable opportunity to share insights and advocate for initiatives that contribute to the advancement of Hong Kong’s engineering landscape.

President Ir Alice Chow introducing the Presidential theme “Together we RISE” and the HKIE’s 50th Anniversary celebrations

President Ir Alice Chow (2nd left), Vice President Ir Rupert Leung (2nd right), Vice President Ir William Luk (1st left), and

Chief Executive and Secretary Ir Prof Alfred Sit (1st right) attended the media gathering and shared the HKIE’s latest developments

President Ir Alice Chow (6th left) introducing the Executives, and part of the media spokespersons of the Institution to the media representatives

President Ir Alice Chow (4th left) and the her Protégés