Welcome Message

Prof. John Bacon Shone, HKU

Prof. Paul Cheung, HKU

Knowledge Exchange (KE) is best used to describe the proactive two-way flow of knowledge between higher education institutions and non-academic sectors to contribute to the advancement of society. It is increasingly being recognized worldwide as a necessary complement to universities' traditional roles of teaching & learning and research.

KE includes not only technology transfer activities that play a key role in the competitiveness of industry and business, but also community engagement that aims to bring social or cultural enhancement, or seeks to influence policy development for the benefit of society.

It is widely recognized that at the individual level, KE engagement has clear synergies with research activities undertaken by academics, and KE enables academics to maximize the impact of their research.

The University Grants Committee (UGC) has formally recognized the importance of Knowledge Transfer/Knowledge Exchange as one of the three missions of higher education since 2009. The UGC-funded institutions are aware of the complex issues involved in devising and implementing an effective strategic framework to instigate cultural change at the institutional level. The goal is to make systematic and sustainable changes within the institutions on how they relate and contribute to the community, industry and business.

The important questions that we must seek to understand are:

• What are the appropriate models and strategies that could enable effective KE between academics and the non-academic sectors of society?
• How could we match the unmet needs of non-academic sectors of society with the capabilities and expertise within our knowledge base, promote the linkages, and develop them into sustainable partnerships?
• In what ways could we apply our excellent research to help find possible solutions for the many challenges facing Hong Kong and the region?
• How could we demonstrate and assess the impact of our research on the economy, culture, environment, and social and policy changes?
• How could we balance between our commitment to making our knowledge accessible to the public through open access and the need to protect research results that have the potential for commercialization?
• What is the relationship between KE and the new "3+3+4" curriculum, and how to cultivate a student culture of contributing to society through knowledge by achieving synergy between KE and teaching & learning?

The Knowledge Exchange Conference: Knowledge Transforming Society provides a platform for participants to gain new insights on best KE practices world-wide and to keep abreast of the international debates on key KE issues.

We hope that through the Conference colleagues in the higher education sector could exchange ideas with policy makers, as well as partners and potential partners from the public sector, professions, industry, business and the community on issues of common concern that will impact on how to foster KE development for the benefit of society.

We welcome all of you who are interested in extending the power of knowledge to attend the Conference and join hands with us to make it a high-impact event.

On Behalf of the Organizing Committee