Weaving a Sustainable Future
Disruption is all the rage these days. Yet even the most dramatic innovations are rooted in the hard work of the past. On our cover, the familiar modernist skyline of Hong Kong is rendered as an intricate textile. As AI accelerates, we pose the question: How are we to weave sustainability into our future?
We have various responses to this question from leading practitioners spanning academia and industry. Professor Haiyang Li, of Rice University, Texas, and CB alumnus, takes the big picture and describes a future of flattening hierarchies where corporates increasingly adopt open innovation. Diversity of opinion and standpoint is implicitly the advantage as companies source ideas across their workforces, externally, and beyond the traditional preserve of in-house R&D.
Teresa Yang, Vice Chairman of Esquel Group, and member of our College International Advisory Board, has promoted inter-industry "Integral Conversations," for more than a decade. Here, a leading strategy has been open innovation: to solicit a wide range of viewpoints, beyond not only the company, but also the textile sector, in introducing innovative and sustainable practices.
For CB alumna Professor Helen Bao of Newnham College, Cambridge, academic freedom is key to fostering innovation. Such freedom is cultivated in the Cambridge University ecosystem which proffers a valuable dual affiliation – to both College and University. Intellectual curiosity flourishes in the more relaxed collegiate environment and mixing with colleagues from across the University offers wider perspectives beyond the rigours of department and faculty.
Universities are edging ever closer to market and commercial goals, and academics may feel torn between their identity as researchers and entrepreneurial expectations. Professor Joohyung Kim of the Department of Management, takes a novel tack, considering the individual psychological experiences of researchers who are being encouraged to adopt this new approach.
As part of our ongoing outreach to the Greater Bay Area, Professor Michael Wong, shares insights from the Global EMBA Master Class delivered in Shenzhen, offering a Roadmap for Chinese Enterprises identifying critical challenges and the changes that need to be made to prioritise international expansion.
Finally, I am pleased to report that CB has achieved a further 5-year AACSB accreditation extension, the latest in a continuous run that dates back to 2006. I would like to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to all advisory board and committee members, faculty, staff, students, and alumni for your hard work and commitment during the AACSB Peer Review Team's visit in November 2024. Your dedication made this achievement possible.
I do hope this issue of City Business Magazine encourages us all to think about the best way forward, and to talk realistically about the benefits and possible pitfalls of the technology of our time.
Professor Kalok Chan
Dean
College of Business
