Latest News and Events

• Voluntary Work

15/10/2023

On 15 October 2023, the Efficiency Office Volunteer Team collaborated with social enterprise Gingko House to show our love and care to people in need.

• Business Facilitation
• Business Facilitation Advisory Committee

22/09/2023

The Business Facilitation Advisory Committee held its 52nd meeting on 22 September 2023.  Please refer to the press release for more information.

• Business Facilitation
• Business Facilitation Advisory Committee

28/06/2023

The Business Facilitation Advisory Committee held its 51st meeting on 28 June 2023.  Please refer to the press release for more information.

• Citizen-centric Services
• SIE Fund

17/04/2023

Subsequent to an earlier exercise for inviting expression of interest for implementing the Venture Building Initiative (VBI), the SIE Fund plans to launch the initiative in the second half of 2023. Suitable organisation(s) will be engaged to assist social ventures in building collaborative network, particularly through introducing the rich resources and expertise from business sectors/ investors, to help social ventures grow, thereby fostering sustainable development of the social innovation ecosystem and bring about greater social impact.

• Promotion of I&T Adoption in the Government
• Exhibition
• BTSR
• SGS
• 1823

12-15/04/2023

The Efficiency Office participated as one of the exhibitors in the Smart Hong Kong Pavilion of InnoEX 2023 held from 12 to 15 April 2023 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre to introduce the “Be the Smart Regulator” (BTSR) and the “Streamlining of Government Services” (SGS) Programmes, as well as the services provided by 1823.

• Citizen-centric Services
• SIE Fund

22/03/2023

The Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund) has recently appointed four organisations as the third batch of intermediaries to launch a new round of innovative programmes to provide support for more social entrepreneurs, thereby fostering the continuous development of the social innovation ecosystem. The four intermediaries appointed are Fullness Social Enterprises Society Ltd, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, MakerBay Foundation Limited and Oxfam Hong Kong. It is expected that the four intermediaries will fund and incubate more than 240 innovative projects during the three-year engagement period. More information about their innovative programmes can be found on the SIE Fund website.

• Promotion of I&T Adoption in the Government
• 1823

15/03/2023

1823, under the Efficiency Office, has been striving to enhance service quality by adopting various innovation and technology solutions, such as introducing Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot to provide information for simple enquiries and handle service requests, and launching the revamped Tell me@1823 mobile app for the public to use 1823 services anytime and anywhere. The Commissioner for Efficiency, Mr Ivan Lee, together with 1823 colleagues visited the CPII of CUHK InnoHK again on 15 March 2023 to exchange views with Professor Helen Meng on how the latest AI technology can be applied in 1823 to provide better service for the public.

• Citizen-centric Services
• SIE Fund

15/03/2023

The Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund) has funded four innovative projects seeking to promote inter-generational digital inclusion by engaging young people to make good use of their digital knowledge to help the elderly understand and use digital technologies, and at the same time foster inter-generational harmony and enhance social cohesion.

• Voluntary Work

04/03/2023

The Efficiency Office Volunteer Team turned out for a meaningful event again on 4 March 2023. We participated in the “Model and Capacity Building for Intergenerational Digital Literacy Training for Older Adults in Hong Kong”, a digital training activity for the elderly organised by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Research Centre for Gerontology and Family Studies, as Young Teaching Assistants to support tutors in teaching senior participants to use digital wallet mobile applications.

• Job Shadowing

03/03/2023

For another year, the Efficiency Office (EffO) continued to support the programme of the Junior Achievement Hong Kong and helped 20 students from True Light Girls’ College understand their interests for planning their future studies and career pathways through job shadowing.

• Business Facilitation
• Business Facilitation Advisory Committee

23/02/2023

The Business Facilitation Advisory Committee held its 50th meeting on 23 February 2023.  Please refer to the press release for more information.

• Citizen-centric Services
• SIE Fund

30/01/2023

Striving to promote the “Pay-for-Success”(PFS) funding model, the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund has commissioned Oxfam Hong Kong to take forward the city’s first PFS project, namely "Start from the Beginning - Chinese Supporting Scheme for Non-Chinese Speaking Students (NCS) in Kindergarten". The project has seen notable results since its inception in 2020, with huge improvements in the Chinese proficiency of non-Chinese speaking kindergarten students and significant enhancements in teachers’ overall teaching skills. For more information about the project, please watch the newly published video.

• Citizen-centric Services
• SIE Fund

06/01/2023

SIE Fund has been encouraging social entrepreneurs to make good use of resources from different sectors, such as the business and philanthropy sectors, to jointly promote the sustainable development of the social innovation ecosystem. The Fund plans to launch the Venture Building Initiative to further promote cross-sector collaboration. Organisations with extensive network and professional knowledge will be invited to assist social ventures in coping with various challenges during development stage, and in turn support the ventures to create greater social impact.

• Business Facilitation
• Business Facilitation Advisory Committee

30/12/2022

The Government announced appointments to the Business Facilitation Advisory Committee for a term of two years from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2024. Please refer to the press release for more information.

• Citizen-centric Services
• SIE Fund

30/12/2022

The Government announced appointments to the SIE Fund Task Force under the Commission on Poverty for a term of one and a half years from 1 January 2023 to 30 June 2024. Please refer to the press release for more information.

• Citizen-centric Services
• SIE Fund

07/12/2022

The Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund) Task Force and the Secretariat paid a visit to the Wong Tai Sin District Health Centre (WTS DHC) on 7 December 2022 to gain a better understanding of the operation of a district health centre and services provided for users of different ages with the adoption of technology. Operated by the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council, the WTS DHC provides health promotion, health risk factors assessment, chronic disease management services and community rehabilitation programmes to the local community.

• Citizen-centric Services
• SIE Fund

26/11/2022

Over the years, the SIE Fund has participated in the Social Enterprise Summit, a spectacular event of the social innovation circle. The International Symposium of the 15th Social Enterprise Summit was held from 24 to 27 November 2022. The SIE Fund, as in previous years, hosted the Social Innovation Exhibition at the Symposium’s venue to introduce the Fund’s major works and achievements.

• Citizen-centric Services
• SIE Fund

21/11/2022

Launched in 2017, Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund’s food support flagship project FOOD-CO has brought significant enhancement to the efficiency of Hong Kong’s food support services through the application of technology and cross-sector collaboration and promoted “save and share” through diverse activities in the community. It has so far facilitated more than 10 000 transactions of food donation, with food weighing over 1 500 tonnes in total.

• Promotion of I&T Adoption in the Government
• Exhibition

11/11/2022

The Efficiency Office, together with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) and Cyberport, organised the Innovation and Technology Solution Expo 2022 on 11 November 2022. 46 companies were brought to showcase their latest innovations to more than 390 officials from 55 government bureaux and departments (B/Ds).

• Citizen-centric Services
• SIE Fund

03/11/2022

The Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund) Task Force paid a visit to the Gerontech and Innovation Expo on 3 November 2022 to keep abreast of the latest development of gerontechnology and exchange views with practitioners of the sector.

• Promotion of I&T Adoption in the Government
• Exhibition

13-16/10/2022

The Efficiency Office participated as one of the exhibitors in the Smart Government Pavilion of the International ICT Expo 2022 from 13 to 16 October 2022 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre to introduce the “Be the Smart Regulator” and “Streamlining of Government Services” Programmes.

• Voluntary Work

10/09/2022

On Mid-Autumn Festival on 10 September 2022, the Efficiency Office Volunteer Team celebrated the occasion in a meaningful way.

• Citizen-centric Services
• SIE Fund

02/06/2022

The Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund) engages intermediaries as strategic partners to design and deliver innovative programmes to support social innovators/ventures of different forms and at different stages of development. Services of the batch of intermediaries engaged by the SIE Fund in 2020 are due to expire and the Fund is planning to appoint the third batch of intermediaries in the latter half of 2022. Following two online exchange sessions organised earlier to collect views of stakeholders, the SIE Fund is now inviting proposals from interested parties to apply for the role of intermediaries for designing and administering innovative programmes. Proposals from entities established in Hong Kong that share the Fund’s objective are welcome.

• Citizen-centric Services
• SIE Fund

12/04/2022

The Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund) has engaged two batches of four intermediaries in 2015 and 2020 to design and deliver “Innovative Programmes” that offer funding and incubation programmes meeting the needs of the social innovation space. The services of the second batch of intermediaries are due to expire and the Fund is planning to engage a new batch of intermediaries to further take forward the Fund’s work. To collect views from the social innovation sector regarding the engagement work, the Fund is organising online exchange sessions with stakeholders on 20 and 22 April 2022. Interested individuals and organisations are welcome to attend either one of the online sessions for sharing views and suggestions.