HKIA is not only a key transportation facility serving the people of Hong Kong, it also contributes to the social development of the city by strategically investing in the skills development of people in our neighbouring communities, and supporting the development of local technology.
In addition to maintaining our charitable donations and philanthropy, such as the annual HKIA Gift Donation Campaign, we have begun taking a more strategic approach to community investment by targeting social issues that directly impact HKIA’s business.
In June 2015, we established our community investment (CI) vision statement:
To support our vision of establishing HKIA as the Hong Kong people’s airport, we proactively collaborate with local universities, research and development centres, and start-ups to explore, test and implement locally-developed technological solutions.
We established the HKIA Innovation Centre under the HKIA Technovation Board with the aim of leveraging HKIA as a platform to test prototypes and innovative use of local technological solutions. We also set up a HK$20 million Technovation Fund to provide funding support for local start-ups to develop prototypes which could improve HKIA’s operational efficiency. Within AAHK, a Smart Airport Department was formed under the Airport Management Division in August 2016 to liaise with the airport community and facilitate the application of innovative technologies in our day-to-day airport operations.
Examples of technological solutions tested / implemented at HKIA:
“To contribute to the social and economic growth of Hong Kong, in particular Lantau and other neighbouring communities, by nurturing talent, realising the potential of individuals, and encouraging participation in aviation-related industries.”
Based on this vision, we developed a CI strategy that adopts the concept of “creating shared value” and incorporates social issues into our business strategy to benefit both the community and the long-term competitiveness of HKIA. Our key focus is to address labour issues by “nurturing talent” and “unleashing the potential of individuals”.
In 2016, we conducted a feasibility study to understand the employment challenges of HKIA as well as in our neighbouring districts such as Tung Chung, Kwai Tsing, Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun. The feasibility study proposed three programme ideas targeting working youth and non-Chinese speakers in our neighbouring districts, and working parents at HKIA. We are finalising the programme ideas and aim to launch the EXTRA MILE community investment project in 2017/18.