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The Corporate Innovation Index (CII) Awards Presentation Ceremony and Forum 2022 was held today at Cheng Yu Tung Building in the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) to honour the top-ranked innovative corporations and SMEs in 2022.

Commissioner for Innovation and Technology Ms. Rebecca Pun Ting-ting and Legislative Council Member (Technology and Innovation Constituency) the Hon Duncan Chiu were invited as guests of honour to officiate and present awards at the ceremony, together with CUHK Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Rocky S. Tuan and CUHK Business School’s Dean Professor Zhou Lin.

In response to the Hong Kong government’s mission to develop Hong Kong into an innovation hub, the Asia-Pacific Institute of Business (APIB), the executive education arm of CUHK Business School, launched CII in April 2021, with The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC) as a strategic partner. The project is initiated by APIB’s Executive Director Professor Cheung Waiman and is funded by the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) of the Hong Kong government under the General Support Programme (GSP).

With the aim of energising Hong Kong’s economy with innovation in the digital age, CII is designed to provide an innovation management and assessment tool that helps promote innovation culture, enhance innovation capabilities and recognise achievements in technology adoption among large corporations and SMEs in Hong Kong.

It recruited more than 200 companies to undertake the CII 2022 survey questionnaire, which examined their innovation performance during 2021. The companies come from a wide range of industries, including retail, trading and logistics, manufacturing, tourism and hospitality, business and professional services, financial services and fintech, property, construction and proptech, information, technology and communication, healthcare and biotech.

Speaking at the awards presentation ceremony, Professor Rocky S. Tuan said, “Innovation, sustainability, and social responsibility are at the heart of CUHK’s vision and mission. We seek to become an agent of positive change in knowledge, attitudes and practices in relation to innovative and sustainable development of Hong Kong and elsewhere, and we believe that there is plenty of room and opportunities for the University to collaborate with the industry and the Government. Today, we are thrilled to unveil the inaugural ‘Hong Kong Corporate Innovation Index’ to celebrate the achievements of the top-ranked companies, as well as to inform policymakers on the current trends of innovation in the Hong Kong corporate landscape for the advancement of the innovation and technology ecosystem in Hong Kong.”

Congratulating APIB on its successful inaugural CII, Ms Rebecca Pun said, “Innovation and technology (I&T) provides key impetus for Hong Kong’s high‑quality economic development. We will further enhance the I&T ecosystem and re‑industrialisation. Particularly, we will introduce a new funding scheme, namely, the ‘Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme’, ‘RAISe+ Scheme’ in short, in the coming year to provide funding on a matching basis for research teams in universities which have good potential to become I&T start-ups, so as to encourage more collaboration among industry, academic and research sectors to drive the ‘1 to N’ transformation of outstanding R&D results and the tech industry development.”

The Hon Duncan Chiu added, “I would like to express my heartiest congratulations on the success of the Corporate Innovation Index Awards Presentation Ceremony and Forum 2022. This event provided those aspiring to drive innovation and transformation with a unique exchange experience where creativity is encouraged, expertise in application of technology is cultivated, and enterprises’ attainment of excellence and innovation is recognised.”

Professor Zhou Lin remarked, “By introducing the first-of-its-kind corporate innovation index in Hong Kong, we hope to extend our culture of innovation to the wider community and create a network of cross-sector experts in business innovation.”

Top 20 CII Constituent Companies and 25 Star Award SMEs in 2022 were honoured at the ceremony. WeLab Bank, HSBC and Hang Seng Bank were awarded the top three innovative corporations for achieving the highest scores in the CII 2022 survey. [For the CII 2022 top-ranked constituent companies and star award SMEs, please refer to appendix 2.]

The forum was divided into two sessions, one for corporations and the other SMEs, Lessons Learnt from Making Innovative Enterprises and SMEs Achieving Innovation Key Success Factors and Overcoming Challenges in Hong Kong. CUHK Business School’s Associate Professor of Practice in Management Professor Toa Charm and Associate Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship Professor Dominic Chan, CUHK’s Faculty of Engineering Professor of Practice in Financial Technology Professor  CK Chan, and HKGCC’s Smart City Working Group Convener Mr Patrick Lee jointly moderated the forum. When addressing at the Forum, Mr Patrick Lee said, “We have embarked on an important journey to identify the success factors of innovation for companies big and small.”

CII online assessment tools, guidebooks and a series of seminars and workshops are now available to help companies rev up their innovation practice. Meanwhile, CII has launched its 2023 Survey; recruitment of participants is already in progress. For details, please visit: https://exed.bschool.cuhk.edu.hk/join-cii/