Schneider Electric Calls for the Acceleration of Digitization to Create a Sustainable Hong Kong

Schneider Electric’s Innovation Summit Hong Kong 2021 will gather industry experts to discuss harnessing digital technologies to address climate challenges and decarbonization goals
Pre-Summit survey reveals that 60% of respondents use digital solutions to optimize energy efficiency and achieve decarbonization
Schneider Electric demonstrates its longstanding commitment to sustainability with a revamped Innovation Hub that combines immersive and interactive experiences with world-class facilities

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 4 November 2021 – Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, which was recognized as the World’s Most Sustainable Corporation in 2021 by Corporate Knights, will kick off its Innovation Summit Hong Kong 2021 on Thursday, November 11, with a call to accelerate digitalization for a more sustainable future. The announcement is supported by the results of a decarbonization perception survey conducted ahead of the summit, which found that 60% of respondents use digital solutions to help their companies optimize energy efficiency and achieve their decarbonization goals.

Innovation Summit Hong Kong 2021 by Schneider Electric will be held on November 11, 2021, with a call to embrace digital technologies to drive the transition towards a lower-carbon world. Jonathan Chiu, President, Schneider Electric Hong Kong shared his insights on accelerating digitization. He also analyzed the progress of sustainable development and the trend of decarbonization in Hong Kong and across the globe.

Jonathan Chiu, President, Schneider Electric Hong Kong (Center), together with Steven Lee, Director, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric Hong Kong (Left), and Kelvin Li, Director of Strategy and Business Development, Schneider Electric Hong Kong (Right), highlighted Schneider Electric’s strategies for sustainability, and the efforts of accelerating digitization.

As part of the Innovation Summit World Tour 2021, Innovation Summit Hong Kong 2021 will bring together numerous industry leaders who will discuss ways to harness digital technologies to address common climate challenges and turn net-zero ambitions into reality. The event will help customers, partners and industry stakeholders understand how to take the all-important next steps towards making innovative changes and achieving their business and environmental goals.

Schneider Electric is also showcasing its commitment to sustainability, efficiency, digitization and innovation with a revamped Innovation Hub in Hong Kong. It combines immersive and interactive experiences with world-class facilities, giving visitors an in-depth, tailored exploratory demonstration of the latest innovations and philosophy.

“Like the pandemic, climate change is a global crisis affecting all of us, in every country, business, and community. Sustainability will soon be one of the most important sources of competitive advantage for the majority of companies. Digitization has already allowed many organizations to react and transform effectively and enabled some to thrive in an uncertain business environment. Digital technologies and innovations have already changed how we work and live together. They can also positively change our impact on the environment, and drive sustainable recovery and growth to create more efficient, resilient and sustainable businesses,” said Jonathan Chiu, President of Schneider Electric Hong Kong.

Critical need for decarbonization

To pinpoint the perception of decarbonization among Hong Kong businesses, Schneider Electric polled the opinion of nearly 300 people at the ReThink HK 2021 sustainable development business forum and expo in October.

Some 60% of the respondents, who included business leaders and environmental experts, said that digitization could help their company optimize energy efficiency and achieve decarbonization. The key factors cited for successfully moving to a low-carbon footprint included management & strategy (58%) and technology & innovation (57%).

The majority of survey respondents agreed that when technology is carefully aligned with business and environmental goals, astounding productivity gains and cost savings are possible. Interestingly, 57% have already implemented an energy efficiency enhancement solution of some kind to reduce their carbon footprint. Nearly half of those surveyed (45%) are planning to implement sustainable long-term energy management, and about a quarter (24%) are using substitute energy sources, such and fuel-switching, to achieve their environmental goals.

“The survey demonstrates the critical role that decarbonization is playing – and will continue to play – in achieving the HKSAR Government’s net zero carbon emission target by 2050, which was reinforced with proactive strategies and emission reduction measures during the 2021 Policy Address. Sustainability is in Schneider Electric’s DNA, and we are committed to helping customers in a broad spectrum of industries to strategize, digitize and decarbonize with innovative solutions and services. What organizations need today is a trusted partner who combines strategic planning with a proven track record of implementing solutions that deliver fast, tangible and sustainable outcomes,” said Chiu.

A totally new immersive and interactive experience – Innovation Hub Hong Kong

Schneider Electric has highlighted its long-standing commitment to sustainability, efficiency, digitization, and innovation by transforming its 2,500 sq. ft. Hong Kong Innovation Hub into an immersive and interactive digital experience. Equipped with world-class facilities, the hub enables customers, partners and other stakeholders to discover latest technologies and innovations powered by EcoStruxure™. The hub also showcases solutions for buildings, data centers, infrastructure, industries and homes through in-depth, tailored solutions such as:

Sustainability Wall – a multimedia showcase of Schneider Electric’s long term commitment to sustainability
Immersive Room – a giant projection wall that presents the diverse possibilities of Schneider Electric’s digital solutions, and offers real-world examples of customers achieving successful digital transformations
Control Center – a three-screen control center for real-time monitoring of EcoStruxure solutions implemented onsite, along with live chat with the team around the world
Product Showroom – a Schneider Electric product showroom where customers and partners can simulate the functionality of a variety of solutions in EcoStruxure architectures for Homes, Buildings, Industry, Retail, Power and Grid, together with EVlink chargers

Being part of the solution through digital disruption

As part of its ambition of driving sustainable innovation and building net zero pathways, Schneider Electric helps customers in many sectors to innovate and move to open, interoperable, digital, and simplified systems and smarter ways of doing business. Schneider Electric is unveiling digital innovation enhancements for carbon abatement in buildings, data centers and retail industry.

EcoStruxure Resource Advisor – envisions a better energy and sustainability landscape

With the volume of resource data continuing to increase, data management and the transition to digital are critical steps in climate action as businesses seek ways to operate more cleanly and efficiently. EcoStruxure Resource Advisor enables companies collecting and aggregating cross-enterprise energy and sustainability data. That includes electricity, water, gas, steam and waste in a single platform for invoicing, energy procurement, reporting and more. Together with Schneider Electric’s unique consulting expertise in energy and sustainability, the solution transforms data into actionable intelligence. Users can also uncover hidden opportunities in the resource data, facilitate collaboration and communications and prioritize projects for sustainable management based on the platform’s data and analytics capabilities.

Given the critical need to achieve energy efficiency and sustainability, Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure for Building platform, including EcoStruxure Resource Advisor, has been deployed by a leading property developer to manage more than 20 properties across Hong Kong and Mainland China. It offers the company a way to collect data on each property’s energy performance from a facility management perspective and identify and deal with pain points to reduce energy usage, and track and optimize performance to achieve sustainability.

EcoStruxure for Retail Integrated Management Platform – drives growth, achieves operational and energy efficiency, and improves customer satisfaction

To cope with increasing expectations from millennial customers, retailers need a single platform to monitor and keep track of the health of all stores and systems. With the EcoStruxure for Retail solution, retailers can ensure that mission critical retail systems are always up and running, with reliable and efficient tools providing 24/7 monitoring. It simplifies the complexity of multi-site operations while preventing inventory loss and downtime, ensuring energy efficiency and an exceptional shopping experience.

EcoStruxure Workplace Advisor – reshapes smart workplaces with optimized use of space, improved comfort and wellbeing, and enhanced productivity

Advances in digital technologies and IoT enabled devices are empowering companies to reshape the smart workplace. Constantly analyzing data from IoT sensors and systems allows them to proactively address office inefficiencies. For example, a global professional services and consulting firm wanted to build a smart workplace with enhanced space efficiency. The firm has implemented Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Workplace Advisor and installed over 2,500 sensors across multiple floors in its building. This has helped the firm create a dynamic workplace that optimizes space and enhances occupant productivity and well-being. The platform can also seamlessly integrate with the firm’s own employee communications app, which provides real-time updates on the workplace environment.

EcoStruxure IT Expert – simplifies edge infrastructure management

While the convergence of 5G and edge data centers allows a level of accessibility to data that has never been seen before, managing edge infrastructure has been a challenge due to the complexity of dealing with remote sites and a lack of onsite personnel. The open, vendor-agnostic and interoperable data center infrastructure management (DCIM) solution, EcoStruxure IT Expert, harnesses data generated from any distributed IT to centrally-managed environment, delivering intelligent benchmarking, data-driven decision-making and increased visibility, and ensuring mission-critical resiliency by remote monitoring.

EcoStruxure IT Advisor with Cooling Optimize – optimizes resource usage and reduces energy consumption

With increasing demand of data center capacity and rising energy use in cooling system, operators are looking for ways to optimize capacity and asset management and reduce energy loads. EcoStruxure IT Advisor is a planning and modeling tool that enables data center operators to reduce operating expenses and maximize uptime by optimizing capacity, analyzing business impact, and automating workflows. Cooling Optimize is an AI-based, closed-loop control system that automatically and continuously adjusts airflow to stabilize server inlet temps in a way that balances the need for cooling with the lowest possible energy use. It allows facility managers with control over desired temperatures and visibility into thermal conditions. The application has successfully achieved a more than 70% reduction in cooling energy consumption in data center.

About Schneider Electric

Schneider’s purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On.

Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency.

We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.

We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values.

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