The 2^nd edition of “Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in China (CIEC)” Summer Programme was successfully completed on August 9, 2022.

Further to the inaugural CIEC programme in 2019, this year, we are happy to have brought together 43 students from different faculties in The University of Hong Kong and other top universities in Australia, Belgium, United Kingdom, and Mainland China for a virtual summer programme. Students from more than 10 nationalities, including American, Austrian, Canadian, Dutch, Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Korean, Thai and Taiwanese had actively participated in the CIEC programme regardless of their geographic location. The programme was led by Mr. Joseph Chan, CIEC Programme Director, and Dr. Jing Li, CIEC Programme Co-director. Dr. Li was also the instructor of the HKU course offered in the programme.

With the support from Proactive Think Tank, we collaborated with 10 companies from different industries, including culture and event, digital media, finance, innovative technology, professional service, property development and retail to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the latest trend and business development of China’s Greater Bay Area. The programme also provided students with ample opportunities to discuss and present their innovative ideas on hot topics such as Artificial Intelligence, cultural innovation, digitization and ESG.

CIEC Programme Directors, Mr. Chan and Dr. Li, had conducted interviews with guest speakers from 10 companies before the programme began. After broadcasting the interview videos, students got the chances to interact with these industry experts in the Q&A sessions throughout the 9-day programme. These interactive sessions offered valuable opportunities for students, not only to better understand the real business landscape and development of different industries, but also to explore their own future development and planning. 12 speakers for the guest lectures included (in alphabetical order of industry partners):

• Leo Liu, General Manager of Hong Kong, Macau & Philippines, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence
• Dennis Choi, Managing Director, China Resources Capital Management Limited
• Alan Chiu, Managing Partner, ELLALAN (Law Firm)
• Jason Ho, Senior Managing Director, FTI Consulting
• Yee Tsang, General Manager, Grand Field Group Holdings Limited
• Kevin Lai, Angel Investor, PressLogic Limited
• Ms Cherry Liu, Co-founder, PressLogic Limited
• Ms Kitty Kwok, Vice President – eCommerce, Sa Sa International Holdings Limited
• Kevin Wong, Vice President – eCommerce, Sa Sa International Holdings Limited
• Hailong Shang, General Manager, SenseTime Hong Kong
• Howie Chan, Director, SquareFaceChan Media
• Franky Wong, CEO, Yello Marketing Sports Agency

Participants also had the opportunity to explore different cultural spots in Hong Kong through Storius, a start-up company that promote culture with advanced technology. Students were engaged to discuss their views towards the business model and UI/UX design of Storius and proposed directly to the company representatives for improvements.

Both Mr. Chan and Dr. Li made the closing remarks towards the end of the programme. Mr. Chan commended the programme, especially the guest video interviews and Q&A sessions, which gave a lot of insight about doing different businesses and their personal experiences, as well as how the society is being developed in Hong Kong and other cities in China’s Greater Bay Area. “This is a wonderful opportunity to not just learn from the text book about the theory, the economics and finance. It is basically a full package talking about the business model, market, the whole industry landscape, technology, and how to develop the community”.

Dr. Li added that the CIEC has gone through a big transition from a firm visit based physical programme to an innovative virtual programme which brought together different interactive elements throughout the 7-day intensive learning process. Active participation of all students made the whole programme full of interesting and exciting moments, which is the most valuable part of CIEC programme. She looked forward to seeing the development of all participants in Hong Kong or other part of the Greater Bay Area in the future.

Mr. Chan also encouraged all participants, “We need to keep ourselves flexible and use what we know in a flexible way as what you are doing now maybe different in two-month time. By doing so, you would be able to seize the opportunity, no matter what you are trying to work according to the market situation or even leading the trend.”

Background:
Established in 1986, the Business Administration Paper (BA Paper) is an international case competition held annually by the Hong Kong Federation of Business Students (HKFBS). This year, over 50 teams from all around the world virtually joined the competition.

To participate in the BA Paper Case Competition, teams were required to submit a 5-page proposal and a poster to explain the crux of their ideas. Shortlisted teams had to submit a 10-page written proposal and a 10-minutes presentation. Finalist teams were selected to attend pitching workshops and mentoring sessions with industry professionals. In the finals, teams had to construct a 15-page written proposal and a 12-minutes presentation with 5-minutes of Q&A from renowned judges.

Teams with outstanding performances were awarded cash prizes, exclusive collaboration opportunities, and trophies.

Website / Image URL:
https://bapaper.com

Award(s):
1st Runner up

Awardee(s):

Miss Lai Hiu Chi Emily, BBA(IBGM), Year 1
(3 other team members were students from other Faculties, HKU)

Students Sharing:
“When we named our team as Cadence in a dimly-lit room at midnight, little did we know that it would be announced in front of a hundred participants in one of the biggest case competitions in Hong Kong.

In retrospect, this has been an unforgettable journey as I learnt a tremendous amount from my talented teammates and the case. It was indeed intellectually stimulating to learn blockchain from a computer science perspective and a law perspective. Our mentors from cybersecurity and financial technology also provided valuable insights into our initiative by pointing out problems like scalability and profitability for us to ponder upon. Their encouragement and strong belief in us also fuelled us to move forward despite obstacles.

I would have to thank our team as we wouldn’t have achieved this result without each other. We had a great team dynamic, and our diverse backgrounds and skill sets complemented each other. Our only common ground was music, as our meetings culminated in enthusiastic music-blasting sessions. When we stumbled across a Youtube video about the sufferings of musicians, we knew that we couldn’t turn a blind eye to this problem.

We are fortunate to experience the rise of ABCD technologies (AI, blockchain, cloud, data analytics) and the era of Web3. We are equipped with truly transformational tool kits to help solve social problems that we are passionate about. In fact, our solution was driven by “shared value”, which means planning for economic benefit and positively impacting social and environmental conditions. We aspire to create a profitable business while solving a thorny problem for our most favourite musicians.

In the competition, I learnt to not only create a profitable business model and financial projection, but also to conduct detailed market analysis to understand our competitive advantage. I also had hands-on experience in pitching a compelling business idea with enthusiasm and engagement to a panel of industry professionals. We were also challenged to think on the spot in response to critical questions pointed out by the judges.”

(by Lai Hiu Chi Emily)

Background:
The BOCHK Challenge, organized by Bank of China (Hong Kong), aims to explore the potentials , nurture talents of youngsters and create groundbreaking business models with innovative technological solutions. The theme of the challenge this year covered five of the most trending technologies in the market. By applying these technologies to the financial industry, students strived to improve customer experience and operational efficiency.

This year, more than 144 teams of college students and start-ups submitted their proposals. Teams were invited to attend workshops conducted by Deloitte and Alibaba about trends in financial technology and innovation. Shortlisted teams which were mentored by BOCHK, Deloitte and Alibaba experts competed for 7 awards and the winning teams were awarded HK$ 590,000 prizes in total.

Website / Image URL:
https://www.bochk.com/dam/more/bochkchallenge/2021/en.html

Award(s):
Gold Award for Innovative Design

Awardee(s):

Team name: Maldin Consulting

Miss Lai Hiu Chi Emily, BBA(IBGM), Year 1

Miss Wong Tsz Kiu, BBA(Law)&LLB, Year 1

Students Sharing:
“Maldin Consulting is honoured to stand out among 144 teams of college students and start-ups to win the Gold Award for Innovative Design in the “BOCHK Challenge 2021-22”. We hope that our AI financial advisor can be a breakthrough from the traditional industry framework, enhancing the operational efficiency of the bank. We aspire to provide the right service, to the right customers, at the right time.

We would like to thank the organiser, Bank of China (Hong Kong) (“BOCHK”), the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, Hong Kong Productivity Council, Deloitte China and Alibaba Cloud Intelligence for hosting this competition. We would also like to sincerely thank all BOCHK mentors and co-organizer experts, Garry for providing us with guidance on business innovation, financial technology applications, technology, presentation skills, etc. Thank you Gary for enlightening us with his perspective on digital solutions: “Banking is and always will be a business established by relationships. The purpose of technology in the end is to help humans serve humans better.”

Finally, I have to thank each and every one of my team members for their hard work. We would not be able to reach so far without any one of you. Your work ethic and persistence motivate me to always deliver my best.

This marks the end of our first year of undergraduate, we look forward to challenging ourselves in the years to come!”

(by Lai Hiu Chi Emily)

“My journey in the BOCHK Challenge had been extremely rewarding. I am immensely grateful for having some of the most amazing people as my teammates, Emily, Carina, Megan and CY. Their attitudes, talents and professional skills truly inspired me. We had worked days and nights striving for perfection. Even though we were only a group of year 1 students, our hard work eventually brought us success.

We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from our mentor, Garry from Alibaba Cloud. He enlightened us by sharing the latest industry trends and telling us the essence of asset management is relationship building. At the end of the day, we as humans crave to be emotionally connected. The ultimate purpose of technology in business is to establish a deep and long-lasting relationship with the customers.”

(by Wong Tsz Kiu Jasmine)

Background:

The MonsoonSIM International ERM Competition (MERMC) is an annual inter-varsity competition hosted by MonsoonSIM and its partners. The competition provides an opportunity for students to gain knowledge of how to adapt to the changing business environments, use the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, run a successful business with limited resources and manage a large business. It was designed to encourage students to understand the concept of enterprise resource management (ERM) with fun and exciting simulation games, run a virtual enterprise and compete with other virtual companies run by other students.

The MERMC consists of hundreds of fundamental business concepts applicable to trading, distribution, eCommerce, manufacturing, and service business. The concepts are brilliantly wrapped into a typical business simulation with thirteen business departments, including Finance, Retail, Warehouse, Logistics, Planning, Production, Maintenance, Service Management, Human Resources, etc.

Website / Image URL:
https://cretasia.com/zh/%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6%E7%B0%BF/

Award(s):
The Champion – Team name: RADS
1st Runner Up – Team name: Cloudburst
2nd Runner-Up – Team name: Q2fin

Awardee(s):

Team name: RADS

Mr. Ye Jiayuan, BEcon&Fin, Year 2
(3 other team members were students from BASc(FinTech) and BSc, HKU)

Team name: Cloudburst

Mr. Chiu Yi Nap, BSc(QFin), Year 1 (photo position: 1st from the left)
Mr. Ng Chun Ki, BEcon&Fin, Year 1 (photo position: 2nd from the left)
(3 other team members were students from the Faculty of Engineering, HKU)

Team name: Q2fin

Mr. Chan Yuk Ting, BSc(QFin), Year 2
Miss Lam Yu Yan, BSc(QFin), Year 2
Miss Shum Wing Yan , BSc(QFin), Year 2
Mr. Wang Jinbing , BSc(QFin), Year 2
Miss Yiu Sing Yi, BSc(QFin), Year 2

Students Sharing:
“There are basically two things I learnt from the competition.

First we were having a bad time in some of the practice games, we had a very unsatisfied ranking. And our team had serious disagreements on some strategies. We even argued our ideas until 2 or 3 o’clock at midnight. Most importantly, the ultimate goal of our argument was our performance in the competition, all of us wanted to make ourselves better. After detailed communication and subsequent adjustments and tests, we finally found the strategy that worked best for us. And we got a satisfactory result in the end. Therefore, don’t mind the quarrel, as long as the members are for good performance, effective and calm communication will bring good results.

Second, to be honest, we never expected to win the championship. We thought we have the strength and potential to win the championship but there was a team which was killing the game. We had never seen them not take first place in all the practice games. Compared to them, we can only say that we had the strength of the top three, but our ranking was not stable in so many exercises. But we were always learning, always adjusting, always experimenting with new directions and practicing details. This allowed us to have our best status in the final and win the championship. Therefore, do not be afraid of the opponent’s strength, learn from them, and insist on strengthening yourself, nothing is impossible to cross.”

(by Ye Jiayuan)

“MonsoonSIM Enterprise Resource Management Competition (MERMC) is an annual inter-varsity event where teams simulated to run a virtual company and competed for the highest business KPI targets set on the spot. Each team needed to cooperate and handle the routine operation of nearly ten departments throughout the simulation. After 2 months of training, teams needed to compete against one another for the highest business KPI. Additionally, in the finals, teams would need to present and elaborate on their business model as well as how their tactics stay in line with ESG principles.
Not only had our team received hands-on experience in applying theories in our actual operation, but we had also become much more adaptable and cooperative with one another thanks to the format of this competition. MERMC provided an opportunity for us to explore our limits with an unyielding determination to improve.”
(by Chiu Yi Nap and Ng Chun Ki)

“Throughout the competition, we first learned the importance of cooperation. Everyone had different processes to monitor, and these were usually highly interdependent. Therefore, we had to communicate frequently with each other to ensure a comprehensive business strategy with an efficient resource allocation.
Secondly, since there were some unexpected events like financial crises happened in the middle phase of the game, we had to make quick decisions ranging from product procurement, warehouse management, and production, which taught us to be more flexible in making company-wide decisions.
Lastly, this game taught us about the trade-off of a company. The scoring matrix of the game consists of some conflicting indicators such as production and pollution, while it was impossible to achieve high scores in both categories. So, the only solution would be to give up some scores in one aspect for better performance of the others to achieve benefit maximization.
Lastly, as the theme for this year’s competition is ESG, we also learned about how important the sustainable development of a business is and why companies need to fulfill them for the well-being of the whole society.”
(by Chan Yuk Ting, Wang Jinbing, Shum Wing Yan, Lam Yu Yan and Yiu Sing Yi)

恭喜何國俊博士獲頒2022年「學院知識交流獎」（Faculty Knowledge Exchange (KE) Awards）。

何博士的獲獎項目「中國『與污染宣戰』後取得的巨大成就」，喚起大眾關注中國近年治理污染的成就，以及中國環境污染在社會、經濟及健康層面的影響。此外，何博士亦積極參與學術交流論壇，研究成果被大眾媒體廣泛報導，並運用於學習活動當中。

何博士是一位經濟學家，致力研究環境、發展和管治議題，現時為香港大學經濟學副教授。 他同時在芝加哥大學能源政策研究所（EPIC）任職，並擔任其中國中心（EPIC-China）研究主任。

香港大學於2011年設立「學院知識交流獎」，由各學院選出對知識交流作出重要貢獻的教員，表揚他們對工商界或社會所帶來的經濟、社會或文化影響。

港大經管學院於2022年8月1日宣布，位於以色列特拉維夫的香港大學特拉維夫創新中心（創新中心）正式成立。港大經管學院院長蔡洪濱教授與創新中心創辦人兼執行董事Roni Michaely教授為開幕禮致歡迎辭，並聯同多名校友、合作夥伴等一同慶祝這個重要時刻。

香港大學特拉維夫創新中心致力深化以色列、大中華地區以及香港三地在學術、商業及科技社群之間的交流，推廣跨地域合作，進一步加強港大經管學院的全球影響力。此外，創新中心提供設計獨特的課程，促進學術交流、創新科技發展及創造投資機會，成為培育商業人才的搖籃。

（左起）港大經管學院院長蔡洪濱教授、以色列駐香港總領事館經濟貿易主管Einav Nixon女士、香港大學特拉維夫創新中心共同創辦人兼行政總裁Tal Peleg-Shulman博士及香港大學特拉維夫創新中心創辦人兼執行董事Roni Michaely教授出席開幕禮。

港大經管學院於2022年7月27日宣布，位於越南胡志明市的香港大學越南代表辦事處（香港大學越南辦事處）正式成立。港大經管學院院長蔡洪濱教授率領代表團出席開幕典禮，聯同校友、合作夥伴等過百位賓客一同見證這個重要的里程碑。

香港大學越南辦事處的願景是吸引及培育國際人才，以及深化港大經管學院的環球佈局。隨著此辦事處落成啟用，港大經管學院將積極推廣及促進越南與香港兩地商界的合作，進一步加強學院的全球影響力，銳意成為世界頂尖的商學院。

開幕禮回顧：

Background:
The International Macro Business Simulation 2022 aims to provide students with the edge to broaden their business acumen, critical thinking and competitiveness in the community through the experiential learning experience of Business Management Simulation.

The competition consisted of four rounds. Participating teams were required to go through a month-long Bootcamp on learning the Macro Business Simulation (MBS) system. Students participated in virtual business cases and ran their own “company” through the system. It challenged participating teams with the understanding of how different indicators react to different decisions and allowed students to evaluate different aspects like inflation rate, growth rate, interest rates, and also the effect of marketing, R&D investment, etc. Each team had to balance its revenues, profits and expenditures to gain the highest NPV in the competition.

The top 2 teams who achieved the highest scores through 4 rounds of the simulation game were given the opportunity to present their business strategy to the panel of judges on June 11, 2022. Three winners were chosen after the presentation.

Website / Image URL:
https://icetech-hk.com/competitions/mbs-ecase-competition-hong-kong-2022/

Award(s):
The Champion

Faculty Advisor:
Dr. Buehlmaier

Awardee(s):

Team name: tipSEA

Mr. Yu Er Han Arthur, BBA(IBGM), Year 1

Miss Madera Brianna Izellah Pajarillo, BBA(IBGM), Year 2

Miss Karine Pangestu, BBA(IBGM), Year 1

Miss Fu Hiu Yan Mavis, BBA(IBGM), Year 1

Miss Fung Regan, BBA(IBGM), Year 1

Students Sharing:
“This macro business simulation competition has been a fun and enriching experience. From revenue forecasting to production & financial planning, it enriched our team with a taste of the real business world through the practical considerations we had done in the simulation. Besides the business simulation, one of the highlights of this wonderful experience was the team’s ability to present and justify our decision making to the judges and it was key to winning this competition. This fruitful experience has broadened my business horizons and nourished my technical knowledge and soft skills.”
(by Yu Er Han Arthur)

“The competition was overall very insightful and interactive. My team and I learned a lot about business analysis through modeling and fundamental concepts about the success of a business. We were also pleasantly surprised when we found out that we won the competition!”
(by Madera Brianna Izellah Pajarillo)

“This was my very first macro business simulation, so to be expected there was a steep learning curve throughout the process. Fortunately, the competition offered boot camps and practice sessions, and along with my patient teammates, I acquired and developed technical skills that benefited me in an actual workplace scenario. Having to forecast and predict future scenarios and make decisions based on competitors and market analysis, as well as taking into consideration a multitude of factors like interest rate and conversion rates, was a new but exciting process to learn. I encourage students with the passion and patience to sign up for this memorable experience!”
(by Karine Pangestu)

“The competition was definitely different from past case competition’s I have joined, requiring students to quantitatively evaluate, analyse and calculate the spending for each aspect of the business. After each round, it was important for all team members to come together and discuss the changes that came from our past decisions and alter the strategy in order to attain the best results according to the criteria in which the competition was marked off. Overall, it was really insightful as a comprehensive yet brief overview of the different departments and their roles within a business.”
(by Fu Hiu Yan Mavis)

“Our team did not expect to win, so we were all very surprised when the judges announced our team as the winner! We believe this was only possible because of our strong understanding of how businesses work, fascination with modelling and amazing teamwork.”
(by Fung Regan)

Background:
Innovation Häagen-Dazs provides an opportunity for students to submit innovative ideas to transform a quality ice cream company into a brand focused on consumer experiences. The competition consisted of three rounds. During the competition, students in teams of two to five members across the world were required to submit the presentation deck in the First round. Shortlisted teams were connected to mentors to gain insights and advice to further develop their ideas. The enhanced proposal was submitted for the Second Voting. Finalists were invited to give a 5-minute presentation present their ideas to a group of industry experts at Häagen-Dazs, followed by a Q&A, in the final event on Thursday, 16 June 2022.

Website / Image URL:
https://innovationhaagendazs.agorize.com/en/challenges/re-imagine-the-ice-cream-experience?t=FQnNEmaHadu_k-Y3g00ncQ&utm_source=professors&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hkubusinessschool

Award(s):
1st prize

Awardee(s):

Miss Lee Hiu Yee Huey, BBA(IBGM), Year 1
(2 other team members were students from The Bachelor of Social Sciences, HKU)

Students Sharing:
“This is my first time participating in a case competition with non-business students. Academic training in diverse fields has trained our mindsets differently and so the inputs from my teammates are very inspiring to someone like me who deals with case competition in quite a systematic approach. Apart from this, because of the international background of this competition, I have to be especially aware of the context. For example, our pitch concerns relaxing simulation games which are popular among Asian teens, but this may be something unfamiliar to our jury who mostly come from Europe, which is something I cannot take for granted in explaining our inspirations in our presentation. Overall, it was really a pleasure to take part in this international case competition which I also learnt a lot from teams across the world.”
(by Lee Hiu Yee Huey)

Background:
The HKU-Accenture Business Consulting Programme is a unique learning opportunity that gives Business School students exposure to business consulting and equips them with fundamental skills, knowledge and methodologies for delivering values to enterprises. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, an intensive one-day programme was organized for all 14 participating students on 11 June 2022.

The Programme complements students’ regular classroom learnings with interactive classes, putting theory into practice through case studies and insight sharings delivered by senior consulting professionals of Accenture. Students can benefit from the in-depth industry knowledge, essential business skills and techniques for working with senior business leaders.

Website / Image URL: 
https://ug.hkubs.hku.hk/student-enrichment/corporate-partnership-programmes/hku-accenture-business-consulting-programme

Photos:

Case studies and insight sharings delivered by senior consulting professionals of Accenture

Case presentations and Interactive lectures

Group discussion

Students Sharing:
“I really enjoyed the one-day workshop given by Accenture professionals, they went into detail about having a career in consulting. They also dived into topics such as Web3.0 and sustainability for businesses. This made me more certain in beginning my career in consulting.”
(by Miss Chong Tsz Yen Hayley; BBA; Year 2)

“The Accenture x HKU Business Programme provided us with case presentations and interactive activities with consultants. Throughout the case presentation, I learned to provide concrete suggestions to SMEs and to pitch our team’s ideas in an organized, concise, and intriguing way. In the one-day programme that allows us to interact with Accenture consultants, I gained insights into some prominent trends, namely the new retail, ESG, and Web 3.0. Moreover, the conversations with consultants also deepened my understanding of the tasks and qualities of a consultant. After the programme, I genuinely learnt more about the life of consultants and hope to be one of them!”
(by Mr. Chung Pok Hong Gavin; BFin(AMPB); Year 2)

“The HKU-Accenture Business Consulting Programme not only offers an in-depth insight into the consulting world but also shares valuable knowledge regarding the newest market trends. Overall, it is a fruitful experience!”
(by Mr. Kua Mang Ting Daniel; BBA(Acc&Fin); Year 2)

“The programme introduces many new trends within the consulting industry in an interactive way. It also shows how trends are being understood and analyzed by an experienced consultant. We get a glimpse of some common consulting frameworks that help brainstorm ideas effectively and comprehensively. Due to the pandemic, we only had a one-day workshop. Even though we didn’t get the chance to build our own consulting skills, like case analysis skills, we were able to observe how consultants grab the attention of the audience and deliver key messages in a presentation. The host and guest speakers also share about life and their learnings in the consulting industry.”
(By Miss Kwok Qing Allie; BBA(Acc&Fin); Year 4)

“The meaningful one-day workshop allows me to gain deeper understanding and insight into the consulting industry.”
(By Mr. Lau Wang Shun Kelvin; BEcon&Fin; Year 2)

“After the one-day course, I learned more about emerging industries such as new retail, NFT, and sustainable development, and interacted with Accenture professional consultants in the class, which really broadened my horizons.
On the other hand, the sharing of Accenture consultants about their career paths, their reasons for becoming consultants, and their work, was helpful and inspiring, which further strengthened my determination to become a consultant after graduation and have a clearer career planning. Hence, I have learned a lot from the program, so I am very looking forward to joining the full program next year, which can have the guidance and advice from Accenture professional consultants.”
(By Miss Wan Tsz Ching Connie; BEcon&Fin; Year 2)

“The one-day insight sharing program was fruitful and thought-provoking given that the speakers covered various content. The consumer trend section digs deep into China consumer market‘s recent development and the evolution of brands and malls to provide omnichannel, personalised and experience-based products. Meanwhile, the ESG and Metaverse sections gave us a glimpse of the most prominent trend in the business and investment industry. Last but not least, speakers shared their experience as consultants in Accenture, including their projects, remarkable moments, relationship with clients and their personal and intellectual growth.
In short: One day with Accenture to leverage imagination, stimulate intellectual growth, and find your career path.”
(By Miss Wan Tsz Ching Connie; BBA(IBGM); Year 2)