ICE Hong Kong Newsletter
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ICE Hong Kong Newsletter ICE Breaker – 2018 Issue 2 ICE Breaker – 2018 Issue 2 Messages and Notices Chairman’s Message – Leveraging on ICE200 programme to promote the Institution and the profession I am most honoured to have the opportunity to continue to serve members as the Chairman of ICE Hong Kong Association in the 2018-19 session. By serving two consecutive terms that straddle the bicentenary, I have been able to see through the implementation of the ICE200 programme. It was truly gratifying to experience the tremendous teamwork of our committee and the staunch support shown by members, as well as to witness the highly satisfactory outcomes and receive countless positive feedback on an informal basis. The ICE200 programme that we launched in Hong Kong during the year 2018 comprises the following signature events: (a) Board game design competition We have continued to play a key role in nurturing future civil engineers and upcoming industry (b) Innovation summit talents, providing quality CPD training for lifelong learning, promoting professionalism and (c) Masterclass for tomorrow’s global leaders domain expertise, and fostering a spirit of fellowship. Apart from celebrating the bicentenary, (d) Guinness world record LEGO® bridge we have also set out to leverage on the ICE200 programme to promote the Institution and the (e) Shaping our future city campaign civil engineering profession. Our vision encompasses the following four goals: (f) Special technical seminar series on ‘Recent Advances in Civil Engineering’ 1. SHOWCASE ICE’s thought leadership, advocacy and excellence (g) HKA delegation and G&S delegation to 2. ADVANCE professional knowledge, skills and insights the UK supporting the Presidential Address 3. ENTHUSE ICE members (h) ICE Bicentenary dinner, themed ‘Invisible 4. INSPIRE the next generation by sharing our stories Superheroes’ (i) ICE200 Distinguished Lectures as a tribute I hope members will agree with me that the above goals have been largely accomplished by our to Dr Robin Sham, James Blake and Prof ambitious ICE200 programme. The efforts and sacrifices made by all the unsung heroes who Mak Chai Kwong respectively, for their have devoted so much of their personal time in making our dreams come true are gratefully outstanding services to the profession acknowledged. I sincerely hope that all those who have contributed to and participated in this milestone year have found it truly memorable and remarkable, and that they would take much Details of the various events have been pride in being part of it. I myself certainly do! elaborated in separate write-ups in various issues of ICE Breaker. In the 2018-19 session, we have introduced two new subcommittees, namely Woman in Construction and Sustainability. We will continue to roll out quality learned society events for members’ sake. Our next signature event is a thought leadership panel discussion on ‘Urban Liveability & Sustainability’, which forms part of the British Council’s SPARK (The Science and Art of Creativity) Festival, and is being hosted in partnership with the Natural History Museum of the United Kingdom on 18 January 2019. Prof Ken Ho JP Chairman, ICE Hong Kong Association Session 2018-2019 2 ICE Breaker – 2018 Issue 2 Messages and Notices 2018 Year End Message ICE200 - Civil Engineers Protect and Transform Lives by Prof CK Mak, GBS, JP, ICE Vice President International 31 December 2018, Hong Kong Lord Mair giving Opening Remarks Lord Mair meeting Curacao Minister at GEC Week Grateful thanks to ICE Breaker editor’s very kind invitation for the opportunity to write you at the end of the ICE Bicentenary year. I am absolutely delighted to report to you the ICE celebratory events in 2018. May I first wish you and your families a joyous, progressive and blessed New Year. Looking back at ICE200, 2018 has been an exciting year both in London and in HK. With the full suite of activities starting at the beginning of the year, ICE HKA was proud to kick off the celebration on 12 January with the ICE Innovation Summit on Transform and Protect Lives. This was followed by the building of the World’s Longest Span Bridge with LEGO® Bricks in March and April. The record-breaking LEGO® bridge was displayed at the Elements shopping mall for a month during Easter attracting hundreds of thousands of the general public – a great demonstration of the work and contribution of the civil engineers. HKA also organised a series of three Distinguished Lectures and an ICE200 Commemorative Board Game Design Competition. All these were to highlight the ICE200 theme. Local members would already have shared many of the exciting moments of the HK events. The highlight of ICE200 was the Global Engineering Congress (GEC) held from 22 to 26 October 2018 in ICE Headquarters at One Great George Street, London. Hosted by ICE, and led by WFEO in association with ASCE, CSCE, ECCE and CEC under the patronage of UNESCO, GEC attracted over 3,500 delegates from 82 countries alongside with 18 government delegations. They attended the week-long Congress and listened to some 200 speakers sharing their vision and insight. As Nathan Baker, ICE’s Director of Engineering Knowledge pointed out, “The Congress generated energy, enthusiasm and passion. The audience was far more diverse and inclusive than any I have seen in the Institution. Ministers and students exchanged ideas in an open forum. Investors set out, with great clarity, just how the power of engineering can be harnessed to address the challenges of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).” GEC was truly a global gathering. Five of the Seventeen UN SDGs had been chosen as the theme of the Congress. The outcome of GEC will help pave the next step forward for the engineering profession. ICE has agreed to coordinate with other global Institutions to develop a continuous programme of activities on how to take the GEC initiatives, views and insights from agenda to action. GEC was also an excellent opportunity for delegates around the world to meet up for exchange and networking. In my role as ICE’s VP International, I was able to have face-to-face discussions with many delegates. This has added to my one-year experience in the VP position. In the international arena, the highly successful GEC clearly demonstrated ICE’s role in the global engineering community. With 25% of ICE’s 92,000 members being international members outside the UK, ICE has provided professional knowledge to engineers over a vast area and in return ICE has good support from this international membership. I further found that over half of the 23,000 strong international members are students and graduates. This is significant as they are the new blood of the Institution. That makes knowledge transfer, training and development to nurture the prospective young engineers to become mature professionals so much important. 3 ICE Breaker – 2018 Issue 2 Messages and Notices Taking part in ICE international business has allowed me to gain a deeper insight into ICE’s global perspective. As a learned society, Knowledge and Qualifications are the two pillars of ICE. Though not mutually exclusive, the focus and strategies in dealing with these two aspects in international matters are different – the regional specifics vary from place to place in different parts of the world. I am now working with the ICE International Committee members to develop a new approach to international engagement. I will report to members once we have a firm plan. I should further mention that from the international perspective, HK stands out as the largest and most energetic group. With HK membership now approaching 7,000, it is a pleasing sign to see senior and young members actively participating in a wide range of activities throughout the year. Thanks to the various division chairs and committee members who have dedicated great efforts in organising activities with innovative ideas to enhance the ICE mission and knowledge transfer. Hong Kong’s experience is unique. It would well be a useful reference for other international regions. All in all, we saw 2018 a fruitful and rewarding year for our Institution’s Bicentenary. A Service of Thanksgiving to celebrate “The Year of Engineering 2018” was held on 22 November at Westminster Abbey. This was the final event of ICE200 in London. A Historical Note jointly presented by The Right Honourable Chris Grayling, Secretary of State for Transport, Prof Dame Ann Dowling, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and ICE President Andrew Wyllie at the Service opened with the following quotation by Isaac Asimov, “Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world”. The Note also stated that “Appropriately, the Year of Engineering 2018 coincides with the bicentenary of the ICE. Anniversaries are by their nature an opportunity to look back on the past. However, it is equally important to recognize that engineering is very much alive, vibrant, thrilling: a constantly evolving force for good in our society and one that is central to meeting the demands of the future. We all have a duty to inspire the next generation with the variety and excitement of an engineering career, …” Indeed, the 200 years history of ICE has already demonstrated that Engineers transform lives. We, engineers, all know that. We do not need to convince ourselves. Government officials, politicians and the media also understand the benefits engineers bring. So, the focus of ICE200 is on the general public. We seek to convince those sectors of the general public who do not know the effect civil engineers have on their day to day lives. We also want to attract the next generation of engineers, making it clear to them that civil engineering is a creative and rewarding career full of fun.