The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) today (16 January) successfully held the Good Seed 2016 Kick-off Ceremony cum 2015 Award Presentation Ceremony, in which 10 outstanding social innovation projects were granted. Concurrently, the Social Enterprise Fair was held to promote the diverse services of social enterprises in Hong Kong.
Funded by the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund), PolyU first launched the Good Seed Programme in 2015, with an objective to unleash the creative potential of young people to drive social innovations for addressing the issue of poverty. Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Miranda Lou, Vice President (Administration and Business) of PolyU said, "Good Seed Programme echoes the motto of PolyU to advance knowledge and the frontiers of technology to meet the changing needs of society."
Good Seed 2015 attracted over 200 participants, comprising students and alumni from different higher education institutions in Hong Kong, and generated nearly 40 creative ideas. Subsequent to a stringent assessment process, ten outstanding projects were selected to receive HK$100,000 each from the SIE Fund for project implementation. These projects include online learning platforms developed for primary school children and the disabled, mobile matching applications developed to resolve the problem of out-patient services in public hospitals, and redesigned walking aid. Target beneficiaries include students with special educational needs, elderly people in need, children with Spasticity Diplegia and Cerebral Palsy, low-income families and ex-offenders, etc.
Professor Stephen Cheung Yan-leung, Chairperson of Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund Task Force of Commission on Poverty; Mr. Kim Anthony Salkeld, Secretary-General of the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund Secretariat and Dr. Miranda Lou officiated at the Good Seed 2016 Kick-off Ceremony today to mark the start of a new round of recruitment for the Programme. With a distinctive emphasis on "Design and Technology", the Programme provides training to unleash the participants' creativity and foster their entrepreneurship spirit. It harnesses the collective wisdom and resources among stakeholders in the social innovation and entrepreneurship eco-system to encourage and support future social innovators to develop creative solutions for social problems. The Programme is open to students and graduates of all local higher education institutions and is accepting application from now on until 2 March 2016. Interested parties may visit the official website at www.goodseed.hk for more details.
A Social Enterprise Fair was also organized concurrently to promote the concept of social innovation and entrepreneurship. More than 20 social enterprises and non-governmental organizations attended to showcase the diversity of social enterprises via different workshops, performances and products/services demonstration. Participated social enterprises include ADAM Arts Creation, iBakery Cafe, Y-Multi (YMCA of HK Multicultural Network), JC Building Sheltered Workshop, Eldpathy Hong Kong and Micro Forests, etc.
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