Partnership unlocks potential for brands to tap into the USD146 billion Indonesian internet economy and streamline internal collaboration with the power of chat, paves way for imBee’s Southeast Asia growth ambitions.
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 30 May 2023 – Prominent chat management company imBee Limited (imBee), based in Hong Kong, is reimagining the chat engagement experience and transforming the way businesses engage with their customers in Indonesia with its strategic partnership with PT LINI IMAJI KREASI EKOSISTEM Tbk (FUTR), the leading technology company in Indonesia.
Caption: Ken Chu, imBee’s Co-founder & CEO (left) and Jeremy Quek, FUTR’s CEO announced imBee and FUTR strategy alliance puts the power of conversational commerce in the hands of Indonesian consumers
The partnership puts the power of conversational commerce into the hands of brands looking to break into the lucrative Indonesia internet economy, which is expected to reach USD146 billion in value at a 20% CAGR by 2025. By marrying imBee’s conversational engagement patterns with FUTUR’s cutting-edge data analytics, the platform empowers brands to personalize customer interactions on a one-to-one basis. Brands can now tap into diverse cultural nuances in shopping to drive commerce and covert the region’s over 21 million new digital consumers.
By consolidating different messaging channels into a single dashboard, imBee’s exclusive ISO 27001-certified One Team Inbox allows merchants to enjoy a seamless one-chat experience and better understand customer journeys, affinities, and preferences, making the entire customer experience seamless. The same platform can also improve internal operational efficiencies with better collaboration based on context staff. By breaking down departmental silos and streamlining interdepartmental collaboration, brands can quickly identify and explore upsell and cross-sell opportunities, speed up response times and raise productivity to a new level.
Regional and global brands can use the conversational commerce platform to personalize their customer experience and tailor their products and services for the Indonesian market while staying true to their brand values. With imBee entering similar partnerships across the region, it also unlocks the ability to create a seamless and consistent approach tailored to individual preferences across different countries and cultures.
Ken Chu, imBee’s Co-founder & CEO, said, “The world has its eyes on Indonesia and Southeast Asia for the region’s thriving digital economy and exploding conversational commerce. The digital industry of Indonesia alone grew to US$77 billion in 2022. As Indonesian consumers engage with digital brands in new ways, conversational commerce is clearly leading the charts. We are proud to be at the forefront of this movement and thrilled that our partnership with FUTR will present brands in the region a timely opportunity to build affinity with Indonesia’s digital consumers and turn conversational insights into revenue opportunities. This is also a milestone of the imBee’s history.”
According to a Facebook and BCG survey, 94% of Indonesian customers prefer buying products from sellers who are responsive to chats. FUTR’s CEO, Jeremy Quek, said, “Ken and I believe the moment is now. Indonesian consumers demand chat commerce, and brands eying them have no choice but to get conversational. This partnership indicates our shared commitment to elevating eCommerce customer satisfaction indices in Indonesia on the foundation of data, insights, and empathetic and effective conversations.”
Both companies will focus on researching and developing more profound semantic models and robust data analytics capabilities while prioritizing data privacy and security protocols across all brand engagements.
Hashtag: #imBee
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About imBee | Collaborate – Conversate – Accelerate
imBee makes working together easy. We are the leading chat management platform, providing world-class conversational engagement to help drive your business. Our team collaboration inbox creates a one-chat experience where a representative from your company can seamlessly share information between internal teams and a current customer or prospect. With imBee, the customer gets high-quality information and a faster response. If fast, easy, high-quality engagement is important to your company, choose imBee.
To find more details about imBee, please visit www.imbee.io.
About PT Lini Imaji Kreasi Ekosistem Tbk (FUTR)
FUTR is a technology company that helps global brands, local conglomerates and MSMEs increase revenue and profit by providing accurate data analysis for business-owners to make effective decisions; designing products and services consumers love and protecting consumers’ privacy, which instill a sense of safety and confidence that will translate to repeat usage and purchase.
Positioned as Asia Pacific’s First One-Stop Service for Data, Design and Technology, FUTR has powered more than 200M user visits from a 25M active users base across a myriad of products and services to date.
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 30 May 2023 – Content from two initiatives supported by The Hong Kong Jockey Club through its Charities Trust to promote innovation and technology (I&T) in primary and secondary schools will be adopted and adapted in two Curriculum Modules on Innovation and Technology Education soon to be launched by the Education Bureau (EDB). The initiatives, the Trust-created and funded CoolThink@JC programme and Trust-funded CUHK Jockey Club AI for the FutureProject, were created to achieve that very purpose. They are intended to equip students with essential skills needed for a 21st-century workforce and enhance the digital competency among youngsters through the promotion of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) education.
A Computational Thinking and AI Education – Mainstreaming and Commendation Ceremony was held today. Officiating guests included HKSAR Government Secretary for Education Dr Christine Choi and The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Executive Director of Charities and Community Dr Gabriel Leung.
The Club’s Executive Director of Charities and Community Dr Gabriel Leung noted that The Club has created and funded many projects over the years to help children and young people from different backgrounds thrive and to equip them with skills for their future success. The Club is delighted that both programmes’ materials are adopted and adapted by the EDB, to enable primary and secondary school students gain essential skills, knowledge and digital literacy. The Club will continue to support the growth and development of the next generation to nurturing future talent.
Speaking at the ceremony, Secretary for Education Dr Christine Choi especially thanked The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust for its generous support. She appreciated the Trust for the collaboration with the Education Bureau to consolidate and draw on the experience accumulated by the schools from the two projects, distil and develop them into two sets of learning and teaching materials on Innovation and Technology Education – the “Enriched Module on Coding Education for Upper Primary Level” and the “Module on Artificial Intelligence for Junior Secondary Level”. The curriculum modules will soon be issued for use by all publicly-funded schools in Hong Kong to help teachers integrate innovation and technology elements into school curricula more systematically. Schools are expected to implement enriched coding education at the upper primary level and to integrate learning of artificial intelligence into the junior secondary curriculum to cultivate students’ interest and capabilities in learning information technology and innovative technology at an early age, dovetailing with the EDB’s strengthened promotion of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) education and to foster I&T learning for all students in primary and secondary schools. The Secretary also thanked all primary and secondary school principals and teachers for their active participation in the two projects, creating a rich learning experience of innovation and technology for students, working together to promote innovation and technology education.
Talent is crucial in fostering innovation and technology development, and therefore nurturing students’ capabilities to learn science and technology should start from an early age. By adopting innovative, forward-looking approach, the Club seeks to create more social impact. To achieve this goal, it supports innovative service models and technology applications to enhance innovation capabilities in the community. Club-supported innovation and technology education programmes cater to primary and secondary students. They provide teaching materials, training and support to teachers, as well as public educational activities such as interschool coding and AI competitions and summer training camps, to enhance mathematical skills, logical thinking and scientific knowledge among the younger generation, thereby strengthening research capabilities. These programmes include:
CUHK Jockey Club AI for the Future project — launched in 2019, aims to enrich junior secondary school students’ knowledge of AI, inspire creativity, instil AI ethics and promote the use of AI for social good. So far, the programme has benefited over 10,000 students.
CoolThink@JC programme— created in 2016, aims to encourage upper primary students to employ digital creativity for tackling challenges in an increasingly digital future, empowering them to become technology creators. Since its creation, it has been used to train over 1,200 teachers to support computational thinking education in primary schools and benefited over 80,000 students. It has also received three worldwide accolades, attesting to its effectiveness, including a Silver Award in the Engineering & IT category and a Bronze Award in the Presence Learning & Teaching category of the QS Reimagine Education Awards 2021, and accreditation from the International Standards for Technology Education (ISTE).
The Club’s support for these projects, like all of its charity donations, is made possible by its unique integrated business model through which racing and wagering generate tax and charity support for the community. Indeed the Club’s support goes well beyond the financial. Together with its partners, the Club initiates and co‐creates programmes targeting emerging or unmet community needs, while also working to build capacity in the community.
Promoting digital education together with stakeholders
The Jockey Club and various stakeholders have worked tirelessly to promote computational thinking and artificial intelligence education. It is expected more than 110,000 upper primary students are anticipated to have benefited from the CoolThink@JC computational thinking courses by 2024. As the EDB rolls out the “Enriched Module on Coding Education for Upper Primary Level” curriculum to all primary schools, CoolThink@JC will provide more support to facilitate the new curriculum, including furthering support for teacher development, parent education, on-site support and teacher support networks, and providing assistance to students from underprivileged families.
The CUHK Jockey Club AI for the Future Project co-created the first-of-its-kind “Artificial Intelligence Curriculum for Junior Secondary Students in Hong Kong – Teaching and Learning Pack”, which is ideally coupled with the delivery of certain introductory modules. The project has also developed a robotic car, “CUHK-JC iCar”. CUHK Jockey Club AI for the Future Project has entered a second phase, with the aim to engage close to 50% of secondary schools in Hong Kong and broaden AI education in senior forms, as well as to work closely with the industry to establish and strengthen a sustainable AI learning and teaching ecosystem.
Professor Rocky S. Tuan, Vice-Chancellor and President of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, before the event, said, “AI and machine learning represent some of the most profound changes to potentially all aspects of society since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Literacy in AI, and an understanding of these technologies will be fundamental to economic competitiveness in the 21st century. This work must start at school, and that is why this project will be transformative for Hong Kong’s capability to thrive in a vital area of economic activity. CUHK has a responsibility to leverage its longstanding capability in AI so that more people across society can thrive in an era that will be driven by this rapidly evolving technology. Hong Kong has a once in a generation opportunity to be at the forefront of the AI economy and this project represents a major effort in producing the AI leaders of tomorrow.”
Prof. Stephen Cheung, President, The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), one of the co-creators of CoolThink@JC offered his congratulations on the success of the programme, and said, “EdUHK is committed to promoting coding and STEAM education, as well as other innovative learning initiatives. Making computational education as part of the school curriculum is what we have been championing. The incorporation of the CoolThink@JC Programme into one of the new curriculums to be launched by the EDB represents due recognition of the shared vision and concerted efforts of The Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Programme creators. It is particularly encouraging to see that many more students will have access to the CoolThink@JC learning experience with its wider application.”
Professor Matthew Lee, Vice-President (Development and External Relations) of City University of Hong Kong, another co-creator of CoolThink@JC, believes that the project can inspire student’s digital creativity for their proactive use of technologies for social good, nurturing future talents in innovation and technology in Hong Kong. City U designs a series of diversified parent-child coding workshops to help parents master computational thinking skill, promoting computational thinking as a mainstream education curriculum.
57 schools commended for their outstanding contributions
The CoolThink@JC Commendation Scheme 2023 presented awards including in the CoolThink@JC Fellow and CoolThink@JC High-flyer categories to students and teachers to acknowledge their immense passion and contributions to computational thinking and artificial intelligence education. The awardees were selected by a panel of judges from The Hong Kong Jockey Club, The Education University of Hong Kong, MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node, and City University of Hong Kong. While the teachers and students of pioneering schools participating in the CUHK Jockey Club AI for the Future Project were presented with certificates of appreciation.
Defends championship title in direct sales channel once again with 30% market share
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 30 May 2023 – Bowtie, Hong Kong’s first virtual insurer, will share key financial and operational milestones to celebrate its fourth anniversary. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong has eased, Bowtie still continued to achieve strong sales performance. Bowtie’s total insured amount exceeded HK$60 billion, and Bowtie was again ranked number one in the direct sales channel in terms of number of policies sold.
Online insurance purchases have tripled
Four years ago, Bowtie was launched in Hong Kong with the mission of reshaping the insurance landscape through technology and helping to close the insurance protection gap. When Bowtie launched, policy sales in direct sales channel (including online and other channels) in Hong Kong accounted for only 2.9%[1] of total sales. Through four years of effort, Bowtie has grown together with the overall growth of the online channel, helping to triple the direct channel market share to 8.5%[2]along with industry peers.
Fred Ngan, Bowtie’s Co-Founder and Co-CEO said, “With changing consumer channel preferences and the increasing health awareness, we firmly believe that Hong Kong’s online application rate has room to further grow to 30%, catching up with other developed insurance markets, and becoming the mainstream channel for the next generation.”
He continued, “With a market share of over 30%[3] in the direct sales channel, Bowtie has emerged as the preferred choice of one in three consumers who purchase insurance online. Also, Bowtie has once again ranked number one in the direct sales channel in terms of number of policies sold for two consecutive years, this accomplishment surpasses all banks and insurance companies.”
VHIS sales reached a historic high after COVID
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the demand for private healthcare services and medical insurance among Hongkongers, leading Bowtie’s accumulated website traffic to grow over a staggering one hundred million. Even after the pandemic situation has improved, the online search volume for Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS) products remains strong.
Bowtie has also once again become the most searched VHIS brand on Google[4], indicating that the brand is winning customer awareness. This has led to a historic high of VHIS product sales in March of this year.
Reaching HK$60 billion in protection
Thanks to the trust of over 90,000 customers, Bowtie’s overall recurring revenue recorded over 100% growth to HK$170 million last year, with the total insured amount exceeding HK$60 billion.
In terms of VHIS product sales, Bowtie’s premium income reached HK$80 million last year and is expected to grow to HK$100 million this year, with the number of in-force VHIS policies exceeding 20,000; while in group medical insurance product sales, Bowtie’s premium income recorded a growth of over 100% last year, serving over 500 small and medium-sized enterprises and technology-embracing companies, including virtual banking, companies from telecommunications and airlines industry.
Delivering on claim promise
While achieving business growth, Bowtie has also maintained excellent customer service. Bowtie handled over 50,000 customer inquiries with 93% satisfaction rating last year; around 90% of customers were able to complete their insurance application online by themselves.
Based on Bowtie’s claim data from the past 12 months, the vast majority of claims are approved, with the overall approval rate of over 99.7%[5]; the reimbursement ratio[6] for VHIS products alone is 88%, while the reimbursement ratio of high-end VHIS plan, Bowtie Pink, is about 100%. Even with a fourfold increase in the number of claim cases, Bowtie’s claim turnaround time has kept up and even improved.
Bowtie also invests in customer’s long-term health via promoting preventive care for them, maintaining a retention rate of nearly 94%.
Up-to-date medical protections
As medical inflation in Hong Kong intensifies, Bowtie strives to carefully balance policy coverage with long-term premium levels, and is committed to limiting the average medical expense borne by customers to an affordable level of HK$10,000, in order to reduce their economic pressure caused by unexpected medical expenses.
Looking back at 2022, the average out-of-pocket amount under Bowite’s VHIS product was maintained at HK$3,000, which is in line with the product positioning. Therefore, Bowtie decided to allocate their resources in enhancing user experience and the contractual terms with the following upgrades:
Launching “No-Claim Reward Program” — The program will automatically deposit BowtieCash for customers who have no claims records during the designated policy period. BowtieCash can be used to offset any out-of-pocket amounts customers need to pay after Bowtie’s claim reimbursements.
Expanding “24-Hour Worldwide Emergency Assistance Service” to all VHIS plans
Increasing the coverage limit of Bowtie Pink (Private Room)— The annual benefit limit increased from HK$10 million to HK$20 million, and the lifetime benefit limit increased from HK$50 million to HK$80 million.
Enhancing the terms of all VHIS plans, including Bowtie VHIS Flexi: The waiting period for unknown pre-existing conditions reduced from 1 year to 180 days, allowing the insured to receive 100% coverage earlier.
For details about the VHIS product upgrade of this year, please refer to this article.
Michael Chan, Bowtie’s Co-Founder and Co-CEO said, “As medical costs in Hong Kong become increasingly unaffordable, insurance companies have an obligation to ensure their customer’s medical protection is up-to-date. Through our technological advantages, we aim to further reduce operating costs and provide customers with higher cost-effectiveness VHIS products that keep pace with times.”
John Tsang, Bowtie’s Senior Advisor said, “Witnessing the growth of Bowtie has been a meaningful journey for me, I am honoured to participate in Bowtie’s VHIS upgrade campaign. We have already made significant contributions to relieving pressure on public hospitals by filling a protection gap of over HK$60 billion for Hongkongers via pure protection products; we hope to unlock private hospital services for more people in the near future.”
[1] The percentage of policies sold through the online channel (direct sales) compared to the total number of policies sold among long term business in all channels
[2] With reference to the Provisional Statistics For Long Term Business for 2018-2022 published by the Insurance Authority
[3] According to Insurance Authority’s Provisional Statistics for Long Term Business 2022, Bowtie Life ranked first in number of new individual paid policies through online sales channel (Direct channel) in Hong Kong
[4] Google search based on “Insurance company brand + VHIS”, within 12 months from May 2022
[5] All insurance products including both individual and group insurance plans
[6] Calculation method: Number of paid claim ÷ (number of paid claim + number of declined claim)
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Bowtie
The Bowtie Life Insurance Company Limited is an authorised life insurance company and Hong Kong’s very first virtual insurer approved under the Fast Track pilot scheme. Through the use of modern technology and medical expertise, Bowtie offers a commission-free convenient online platform for customers to quote, apply and claim for health insurance plans certified by the Health Bureauunder the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS), Life Insurance and Critical Illness Insurance. Bowtie is backed by Sun Life Financial, Mitsui & Co., Ltd and supported by leading international reinsurers. Stay up to date at https://www.bowtie.com.hk/.
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 30 May 2023 – In a game-changing announcement, Stellaris AI, a trailblazing spin-off company from the HKU Department of Computer Science (CS), introduced Stellaris GPT (SGPT), a truly innovative large-scale language model boasting hundreds of billions of parameters. Uniquely, SGPT has been developed entirely from scratch by the Stellaris AI team, without relying on OpenAI or any pre-existing ChatGPT-like systems. This breakthrough achievement offers a powerful AI-driven language model without the encumbrance of copyright or legal risks.
China’s AIGC (Artificial Intelligence (AI) Generated Content) market is forecast to surpass RMB 1 trillion by 2030. Language models powered by AI, such as ChatGPT, are crucial to support this burgeoning industry. The brainchild of Professor Siu-Ming Yiu, Executive Director of the HKU-SCF FinTech Academy and Professor in the Department of Computer Science, along with his former PhD student, Dr. Jacob Jikun Wu, CEO of Stellaris AI, SGPT v2.5 enters the scene as a game-changing, independent solution.
“With this ground-breaking model (SGPT), there could be tremendous emerging and non-trivial applications, e.g., medical-related, financial-related, and educational-related applications, to be developed that can benefit Hong Kong, GBA, the whole country and even the world,” said Professor Yiu.
During a live demonstration on May 10, 2023, SGPT astounded participants with its exceptional performance across various tasks, including text generation, language understanding, knowledge-based question answering, news commentary, financial queries, technical commentary, programming question answering, code understanding, code generation, general knowledge, numerical computation, logical reasoning, multilingual and cross-language interpretation, multi-round dialogue, and human-like empathy. Remarkably, SGPT excelled even in complex corner cases involving intricate mathematics, logic, ethics, and other areas where other large models had faltered.
Stellaris AI’s future development plans prioritize technological excellence, industry-leading research and development, and unwavering support from a top-tier scientific research team. SGPT v3, an even more powerful and faster version, is slated for public testing in June 2023. This next iteration will feature multimodal conversation, plugins, open API calls, longer context and memory, local deployment, auto mode, industry-specific large models, a secure LLM security framework, and compliance protection.
Stellaris AI’s groundbreaking SGPT is set to captivate the international audience as it redefines the AI industry and ushers in a new era of language models.
Hashtag: #HKU
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 30 May 2023 – Steering Committee on the Northern Metropolis and the Advisory Committee on the Northern Metropolis have been set up in March 2023. The Harbour Metropolis in the South and Northern Metropolis in the North will become the major economic engine of Hong Kong and achieve new industries and landscapes. Therefore, opportunities in the Northern Metropolis have become a hot discussion topic in Hong Kong. As a result, JCI North District started the “Collaboration with the GBA – Northern Metropolis: Opportunities for Youth and Industry Forum Series”.
During the panel discussion, guest speakers shared various development opportunities in the Northern Metropolis
Through Study Missions, Surveys, and Discussion Forum in the project series, JCI North District aims to provide new angles for young people to understand the development of the Northern Metropolis. During the forum, speakers shared their views on the development of the Northern Metropolis from the employment, entrepreneurship, housing, and community development point of view. The forum also explored Northern Metropolis’ collaboration with nearby regions in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The organizer believes Northern Metropolis can help Hong Kong integrate into the national development plan under the new industry landscape.
Raymond Lai, 2023 President of the JCI North District, remarked, “Our forum series provided high-quality youth and industry development solutions for the Northern Metropolis. Furthermore, the Northern Metropolis will create opportunities for youth and provide platforms for different industries. The forum also demonstrated the R.I.S.E. concepts of the Junior Chamber International — Reset, Invest, Sustain, and Evolve. Subsequently, young people are empowered to cultivate a fantastic and diversified Northern Metropolis.”
Edward Lau Kwok-fan MH JP, member of the Legislative Council, stated that “the Northern Metropolis is the new centre of Hong Kong, the centre of the Greater Bay Area, and the first centre planned to integrate into the country’s overall development. The Northern Metropolis can provide land to solve Hong Kong’s housing problems, develop innovation and technology industries as a new growth point for Hong Kong’s economy, and cooperate with the Greater Bay Area to build high-quality development. The new government has established the Steering Committee on Northern Metropolis and is amending the development procedures. We hope that the government will continue to use new thinking, new speed, and new policies and accelerate the construction of the Northern Metropolis through comprehensive planning and public-private cooperation.”
Professor William Wong Kam-fai MH, member of the Legislative Council, said, “Young people need room for living and development. They need space to showcase their abilities. Our mother country supports Hong Kong in developing into International Innovation and Technology hub. The position of Northern Metropolis should be ‘Hong Kong’s Silicon Valley.’ Upon completion of the Northern Metropolis, we can expect young people can get extra room to innovate and fly high.”
Professor Witman Hung, JP, Adjunct Professor, College of Business of City University of Hong Kong, claimed that the Northern Metropolis should adopt an innovative development model to seek for support national policy support. Through constructing the “Shenzhen-Hong Kong Boundary Control Points Economic Belt”, cross-border cooperation could be deepened. Furthermore, Northern Metropolis should have a diversified industry structure and create the area as a ‘Special Zone of the Special Zone’.
Through Study Missions, Surveys, and Discussion Forum in the project series, JCI North District aims to provide new angles for young people to understand the development of the Northern Metropolis. During the forum, speakers shared their views on the development of the Northern Metropolis from the employment, entrepreneurship, housing, and community development point of view. The forum also explored Northern Metropolis’ collaboration with nearby regions in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The organizer believes Northern Metropolis can help Hong Kong integrate into the national development plan under the new industry landscape.
Mr Wing Chu, Head of Special Projects and Business Advisory Section, HKTDC Research – The Northern Metropolis is close to Shenzhen. Hong Kong companies should make good use of Hong Kong’s advantages and use the Greater Bay Area as a springboard to explore the huge mainland market.
Kenneth Yu, 2023 National President of Junior Chamber International Hong Kong said that Hong Kong aims to become an “international innovation and technology hub,” with the northern metropolis as a new focal point for the city’s future development. The area is essential for promoting diversified industries and innovation, with available land combining high-quality living, emerging economies, and cultural leisure. In addition, it can attract international talent, enhance Hong Kong’s development momentum, and promote economic cooperation with the Greater Bay Area, bringing unlimited opportunities to Hong Kong’s youth. It is truly a dream factory for realizing aspirations.
The Junior Chamber International Hong Kong has always played a role in training international youth leaders and connecting people. It brings international talent to Hong Kong and the other cities of the Greater Bay Area, nurturing our future leaders through comprehensive leadership training and practical work plans that cater to the needs of society.
During the panel discussion, guest speakers shared various development opportunities in the Northern Metropolis for youth and industries from the perspective of career development, innovation and entrepreneurship, housing, and smart community.
Calvin Tse Hoi Fat, Chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs, said, “Northern Metropolis is one of the key drivers to Hong Kong’s future development and possesses huge potential. Therefore, Hong Kong youth should equip themselves to seize this rare opportunity.”
Joseph Ho, Councilor and Past President of The Cosmetic & Perfumery Association of Hong Kong, “All things are possible if you believe. The Northern Metropolis Development Strategy is not only a picture, but we can also visualize the roadmap of Hong Kong Future supported by the National 14th Five-Year Greater Bay Area Plan. Small economies need to be open to being successful economically. Economies of scale lower the average cost of production, but large-scale production is economical only if there is sufficient final demand for the output. The domestic demand of small economies is usually too small to support large-scale domestic production. In fact, openness is essential to growth for economies of all sizes. Medium to large economies must also be open to international trade and investment to maintain economic growth.”
President of the Cyberport Startup Alumni Association, Kelvin Lei, believed that “Hong Kong, as an international financial centre, has a deep accumulation of talents reserves and capital markets in the financial market, making it very suitable for the entrepreneurship and development of fintech companies. Moreover, it can reach the mainland market through the Greater Bay Area and have broad development prospects.”
Ms Yvonne Wong, Chairlady of the Hong Kong United Youth Science and Technology Association, believed that North Metropolis is a vital innovation engine for Hong Kong and shared the mission to synergize with nearby regions through deepening cooperation. However, to maximize collaborative efforts, homogenous development should be avoided.
Sunny Cheung, Chairman of the “Collaboration with the GBA – Opportunities for Youth and Industries in the Northern Metropolis Forum Series”, remarked that the forum on May 19 was the 4th event of the project series. Following the previous study missions in Shenzhen and Zhuhai, the delegates visited the Greater Bay Area’s innovative technology and culture enterprises. A visit to the major projects in Fanling of the Civil Engineering Development Department (CEDD) was paid on April 28.
Esteemed forum speakers presented different industry opportunities in the Northern Metropolis for youth. Opportunities in innovation and technology, e-health, professional services, education, culture and creative industries are mentioned. Besides, the forum audience was updated with the latest progress of Northern Metropolis. To assist young people in understanding opportunities in Northern Metropolis, the organizing committee will organize a Study mission in Northern Metropolis and a questionnaire survey subsequent to the forum.
ABOUT “Collaboration with the GBA – Opportunities for Youth and Industries in the Northern Metropolis Forum Series”
Through Study Missions, Surveys, and Discussion Forum in the project series, JCI North District aims to provide new angles for young people to understand the development of the Northern Metropolis. The organizer believed that Northern Metropolis is an essential platform for Hong Kong to integrate with the National Development Plan and deepen the collaboration with different regions in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Therefore, we wish to provide different perspectives to help youth explore opportunities in North Metropolis, such as career development, innovation and entrepreneurship, housing, and smart community.
Hashtag: #NorthernMetropolis #JCINorthDistrict
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Junior Chamber International North District
Junior Chamber International North District was established in 1985. It is one of the 21 chapters under the Junior Chamber International Hong Kong. Junior Chamber International provides leadership development, business affairs,
community development and international affairs opportunities for youth aged
18-40. Through project organization and execution, young people are upskilled through community services. When the association was founded, it was mainly
based in the North District. However, to cope with the organization’s new development, members are now from different regions in Hong Kong.
Sponsors HKJC Foundation 匯生會 SDLIVINGCULTURE 安健中醫ONKIN CMC BOBO仔
Support Organization Cyberport Startup Alumni Association (CSAA)
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 30 May 2023 – Research has shown that most mental disorders develop in childhood and adolescence before the age of 25, with one-quarter of years lived by young people with disability due to mental and substance use disorders.
To address this pressing concern and mobilise global efforts, the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP), International Society for Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology (ISAPP), World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH), and World Psychiatric Association Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (WPA-CAP) have jointly declared April 23 as the World Infant, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Day (WICAMHD).
This year witnessed the second annual WICAMHD event under the theme of Stand Against Infant, Child and Adolescent Trauma.
Children and adolescents form one third of the world’s population. Childhood and adolescence are foundational years characterised by growth, learning, and carefree exploration. However, many around the world are inflicted by trauma and crisis – adverse experiences which research has shown to have long-lasting effects on their mental and physical well-being.
Studies also show that about 15 percent to 43 percent of girls and 14 percent to 43 percent of boys experience at least one traumatic experience.
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are also contributing factors in the development of mental disorders in adult years. The indirect and compounding effects of this is a ballooning economic burden on society, especially in the areas of healthcare and productivity loss.
Children in war zones and natural disasters are particularly vulnerable. During the second annual WICAMHD event under, three renowned speakers shared their expertise on childhood trauma.
Dr Dennis Ougrin, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Visiting Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Global Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London discussed the impacts of the war in Ukraine.
Dr Fusun Cetin Cuhadaroglu, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey presented on the traumatising effects of the recent earthquake in Turkey.
Finally, Dr Michelle Miller, Director of Mental Health Programs, National Children’s Alliance, United States highlighted evidence-based response for children subjected to trauma. This was followed by a panel discussion.
In addition to the main event, several national organisations held events and advocacy efforts commemorating WICAMHD.
These include the Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (IACAM), the Lithuanian Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (LVPPD), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), the Austrian Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy (ASCAP) and the Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, College of Psychiatrists, Academy of Medicine, Singapore (SCAP).
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
ABOUT THE ORGANISATIONS
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED PROFESSIONS (IACAPAP)
The International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP) mission is to advocate for the promotion of the mental health and development of children and adolescents through policy, practice and research.
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY AND PSYCHOLOGY (ISAPP)
International Society for Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology (ISAPP) is an organization established to work for the mental health of adolescents, and it is comprised of individual members devoted to working with adolescents, either in the field of child psychiatry and psychology or adult psychiatry and psychology.
The International Society for Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology’s (ISAPP) mission is to increase public and professional awareness about the mental health and development of adolescents all around the world.
WORLD ASSOCIATION FOR INFANT MENTAL HEALTH (WAIMH)
The World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH) is a not-for-profit organization for scientific and educational professionals. WAIMH’s central aim is to promote the mental wellbeing and healthy development of infants throughout the world, taking into account cultural, regional, and environmental variations and generating and disseminating scientific knowledge.
WAIMH’s mission promotes education, research, and study of the effects of mental, emotional and social development during infancy on later normal and psychopathological development through international and interdisciplinary cooperation, publications, affiliate associations, and through regional and biennial congresses devoted to scientific, educational, and clinical work with infants and their caregivers.
WORLD PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY SECTION (WPA-CAP)
The World Psychiatric Association Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (WPA-CAP) section supports the overall mission and goals of the WPA in:
Working with its members and partners around the world to promote child and adolescent mental health and to encourage the highest possible standards of clinical practice and ethical behaviour in child and adolescent psychiatry.
Contributing to education programs and research, meetings, and publications to increase knowledge about child and adolescent mental disorders and skills in addressing them.
Disseminating knowledge about evidence-based therapy and values-based practice in child and adolescent psychiatry.
Being a voice for the dignity and human rights of young patients and their families
Upholding the rights of the child and adolescent psychiatrists where they may be challenged.
Dubai achieves 89.5% YoY growth in total announced FDI projects in 2022 compared to 2021
Dubai attracts total estimated FDI Capital of AED47 billion ($12.8 billion) in 2022 and creates an estimated 38,447 jobs
Dubai’s share in attracting global Greenfield FDI projects reaches 4% in 2022 – an increase of 1.9% compared to 2021 – with a record 837 projects, achieving the highest growth in global shares across the past seven years
The top five source countries for FDI capital accounted for 72% of total estimated flows into the emirate in 2022, while the top five source countries for FDI projects accounted for 54% in 2022
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 30 May 2023 – Dubai retained its No. 1 spot globally for attracting Greenfield FDI projects in 2022, further reinforcing its position as the world’s top foreign direct investment hub, according to the latest data from the 2022 Financial Times ‘fDi Markets’ report.
Retaining its top spot for a second successive year, Dubai achieved 89.5% YoY growth in total announced FDI projects in 2022, while total FDI capital surged 80.3% over the same period, further consolidating the emirate’s status as one of the top three global cities, a key goal of the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Financial Times Ltd. ‘fDi Markets’ data for 2022 showed that Dubai continued to maintain and improve its leadership position across key FDI attraction metrics. The emirate ranked first in attracting FDI projects into tourism, business services, financial services, transport and warehousing, consumer products, and software & IT services sectors. Dubai also emerged as the 2022 world leader in attracting FDI projects in the creative industries cluster, in research and development projects, and in attracting FDI project headquarters by hosting international companies’ global and regional headquarters.
His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, said: “Dubai’s leading global FDI ranking underpins a comprehensive framework of initiatives that were launched to further strengthen the city’s business and investment environment, based on the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
“Our strategy to further consolidate the city’s position as one of the top three global cities, in line with the Dubai Economic Agenda, D33, is again strengthened by the achievement of attracting and stimulating FDI and reflects the confidence investors, multinational companies, start-ups, and global talent have in Dubai. The growth of the city’s share in global Greenfield FDI projects clearly indicates our strategy’s effectiveness and also highlights the city’s position as the capital of the global digital economy and a hub for innovation and technology, further ensuring that increasing FDI inflow remains a top priority and key goal of the D33 Agenda,” HE Helal Almarri added.
Overall in 2022, Dubai ranked seventh globally in attracting Greenfield FDI Capital and fifth globally in FDI Jobs. From a MENA perspective, Dubai ranked second in FDI Capital and first in FDI Jobs. Compared to 2021, Greenfield FDI (wholly owned) and new forms of investments increased by 6% in 2022. The new forms of investments demonstrate the level of Dubai’s domestic market maturity and the diverse non-equity-based partnership opportunities across joint ventures, strategic alliances, sub-contracting, licensing, production-sharing franchising, and turnkey projects.
The emirate’s share in attracting global Greenfield FDI projects reached 4%, an increase of 1.9% compared to 2021, with a record 837 projects enabling the city to achieve the highest growth in global shares across the past seven years, according to data from Financial Times’ fDi Markets, the most comprehensive online database on cross-border Greenfield investments. Dubai attracted a total of 1,173 FDI projects in 2022.
Dubai FDI Monitor’s data also revealed that the total estimated FDI capital flowing into Dubai in 2022 was AED47 billion ($12.8 billion) compared to AED26.07 billion in 2021. An estimated 38,447 jobs were created in Dubai in 2022 compared to 24,932 jobs in 2021.
The top five source countries for FDI projects accounted for 54% of the total in 2022, split among the United States (20%), the United Kingdom (13%), India (12%), France (5%), and Switzerland (4%). Additionally, the top five source countries for FDI capital accounted for 72% of the total estimated flows into the emirate in 2022, split among Canada (41%), the United Kingdom (12%), the United States (11%), India (4%), and Switzerland (4%).
The top five sectors – transportation & warehousing, hotels & tourism, renewable energy, software & IT services, and consumer products – accounted for 76% of the total estimated flows into Dubai and 68% of announced FDI projects — the transportation & warehousing sector led the pack with a dominant 45% share of FDI capital. Dubai FDI Monitor data also revealed that the top five business functions accounted for 78% of total estimated flows into Dubai, while 93% accounted for the total announced FDI projects in 2022. Business services also remained a prominent business function based on FDI projects and FDI capital in 2022.
Types of foreign direct investment by projects Compared to 2021, Dubai leads the world in a number of important metrics as a result of attracting different types of FDI projects and capital, including Greenfield FDI and new forms of investments: mergers, acquisitions, reinvestments, VC-backed FDI and greenfield joint ventures.
Complementing the 2022 increase in FDI capital, the hotels & tourism sector and the software & IT services sector catalysed growth in total estimated jobs created through FDI. High and medium-tech FDI projects accounted for 63% of the projects recorded in this sector in 2022, highlighting Dubai’s position as a preferred destination for high-tech FDI projects and a global centre for specialised talent in the digital economy.
KEY DATA – HONG KONG
Dubai ranked #2 as a Destination City for FDI from Hong Kong
Hong Kong ranked in the top 20 source markets for announced FDI projects and estimated FDI capital
Hong Kong FDI into Dubai by Type of FDI Projects in 2022
Greenfield (wholly-owned) – 70%
New Forms of Investments (NFIs) – 22%
Reinvestment – 9%
Top Sectors by FDI Capital from Hong Kong into Dubai in 2022
Software & IT Services – 39%
Financial Services – 35%
Consumer Products – 8%
Business Services – 6%
Medical Devices – 6%
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About Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET)
With the ultimate vision of making Dubai, the world’s leading commercial centre, investment hub and tourism destination, Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) is mandated to support the Government in positioning the emirate as a major hub for global economy and tourism, and in boosting the city’s economic and tourism competitiveness indicators. Under this remit, DET is driving efforts to further enhance Dubai’s diversified, innovative service-based economy to attract top global talent, deliver a world-class business environment and accelerate productivity growth. Additionally, DET is supporting Dubai’s vision to become the world’s best city to live and work in by promoting its diverse destination proposition, unique lifestyle and outstanding quality of life, overall.