A new round of the Jockey Club CarbonCare Open Innovation Lab (JC COIL) Incubation Programme has been launched again! Two weekend-long "Design Thinking Boot Camps" were held on May 26 and 27, as well as on June 23 and 24 at The Wave in Kwun Tong, kicking off Cycle Three of the COIL Programme.
These two "Design Thinking Camps" had attracted a total of nearly 90 participants. Led by coaches from Education for Good, participants were introduced to one another and were encouraged to share their enthusiasm for environmental protection and form green teams for innovative climate solutions. Referencing on previous training camp programmes, participants were asked to write about their own experiences and environmental concerns at the beginning and post them on the Asset Wall, so that everyone could quickly understand each other and participants could find like-minded green partners. This first idea-jamming session gave rise to many interesting environmental ideas and solutions, including, among others, a birth certificate for environmental-friendly products and a star-grading system to encourage the upcycling of plastics.
During the next session of the camp, participants exchanged their green initiation stories with one another. Mr Chong Chan Yau, co-founder and advisor of “CarbonCare InnoLab”, also shared his own experience. In 2007, Chong Chan Yau attended the United Nations Climate Change Summit as an observer and found that many young people in other countries (such as Singapore and African countries) were greatly concerned about the impact of climate change. By comparison, the people of Hong Kong were much more passive. The worsening of climate change is attributed to affluent societies (such as Hong Kong) where people are leading a convenient and comfortable life, but it is those people living in impoverished communities who suffer most from the consequences of climate change. Mr Chong was deeply touched by the concept of "climate justice" and he was determined to make a contribution towards mitigating climate change.
After lunch on the first day of the camp, Ir Albert Lai, co-founder and advisor of "CarbonCare InnoLab", was also invited to share his insights with everyone. Ir Lai reminded participants of the threat of climate change and asked them to bear in mind two key figures related to climate change. The first figure relates to the limit of global temperature rise, which is 2 °C (the Paris Agreement actually recommended keeping the rise to below 1.5 °C). The second figure points to the amount of annual global carbon emissions, which are estimated to be around 40 billion tonnes. He reminded participants that by 2050, only 5 billion tonnes of carbon emissions could be accommodated if we were to keep the 1.5°C goal. In view of these severe circumstances, he encouraged participants to find environmental solutions and develop green proposals to contribute to carbon reduction.
A new feature was added to the two training camps of this year -- the ‘human library’ session. We were very honored to have invited 14 representatives of environmental groups or consultancies to share their experiences and insights regarding many aspects of the environment, from carbon reduction and air quality to waste reduction, urban climate adaptation, sustainable fashion, circular economy, renewable energy and energy conservation. These sharing sessions deepened participants' understanding of different environmental issues and helped them develop practical and creative solutions.
After much thinking and reflection over the night, the coaches led the participants to conduct a field trip on the street to test their proposed environmental solutions on the second day of the camp. The success or failure of a plan lies in its market value. After collecting the views of the public or the market, the teams were taught how to re-adjust their proposals to balance and meet the market needs. Towards the end of the programme, the coaches also demonstrated the best practice of brainstorming, which helped to strengthen the participants’ collective creative thinking skills.
Eleven teams were created from these two design thinking boot camps. They will compete with the public teams to be recruited as Cycle 3 InnoTeams. Successful recruits will have the opportunity to receive Lean Startup training offered by Education for Good, allowing them to gain the necessary business skills required by start-ups to turn their green innovative ideas into a reality.
