Original text: Yvette LEUNG. Minor edits for length and style.

HKSESSA was honoured to co-host the 5th Annual Meet of the Future City Summit on 16-17 December 2020. Jointly sponsored by InvestHK (Government Department of Foreign Direct Investment) and Cyberport Hong Kong, the event was held globally via live stream from the Cyberport studio. The meet focused on resilient cities, with an apt theme – “Global Post-Pandemic Recovery”. The summit recorded an attendance of 390 nominated delegates from 49 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America, with over 34,000 organic audience reach during streaming.

The agenda of the meet covered four main pillars: our Future Workforce, Urban Economics & Public Health Planning, Arts & Cultures, and Sustainability & Energy. The Summit featured 15+ serial thought-leadership dialogues including keynote speeches, master classes, Africa/Asian Frontier economic outlooks and panel discussions that were curated with event partners.

A pioneering digital experiential tour in Sham Shui Po was hosted by Kai Fong Tour, a local community social enterprise, and Dream Impact.

As one of the co-hosts of the summit, HKSESSA hosted a panel session on the topic of “Future Workforce”. We were delighted to have Mr Ben YU (Business Director of Nanhai Corporation Ltd), Mr William CHIU (Head of Future Skills, Corporate Sustainability, HSBC Asia Pacific) and MR Brian CHENG (CEO of Generation Hong Kong) as our panellists, as well as Mr Victor KWOK (Head of Education and Youth Research, Our Hong Kong Foundation) as our moderator. Participants enjoyed a thought-provoking discussion on how to build a resilient future workforce.

HKSESSA’s takeaways from the session are:
• Growth mindsets and resilience are the ultimate keys to success
• Changes lead to opportunities – be aware of what’s happening out there
• Creativity and innovation are the forces for future advanvement

HKSESSA are grateful for the efforts and support from our members and partners. We hope participants enjoyed the experience and have gained insight from thought-leaders across continents in this post-pandemic era full of challenges and opportunities.