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Urbanisation in recent decades has fundamentally transformed the opportunities and challenges that cities face today. To address the opportunities and challenges of such metropolitan communities, the Club’s Charities Trust convened the 2018 Philanthropy for Better Cities Forum on 20/21 September at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The forum, first held in 2016, is the first of its kind in Asia to focus on metropolitan social issues. For this second edition, over 60 prominent speakers and some 1,000 thought leaders and delegates gathered to exchange views on topics related to five main themes: Leveraging the Market, Sustainable Development, Maximising Impact, Youth & Creativity, and Health & Well-being.

Through two keynote presentations, four plenary discussions and over ten track sessions, delegates were able to explore innovative ways in which different sectors could create social impact, drawing on international case studies with additional flavour from the perspective of Greater China.

Delivering the opening keynote address on the first day was Nobel laureate Professor James Heckman from the University of Chicago, who shared his views on whether philanthropists should put more focus on early childhood development. Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus was another of the first day’s prominent speakers, joining Professor Heckman in a closing dialogue on the topic of “Where is the next source of hidden value?”

Renowned political philosopher Professor Michael Sandel from Harvard University delivered the Day 2 opening keynote address on the topic of “The Ethics of Market-based Social Impact Work: What are the limits of markets to deliver social good?”. Other prominent second-day speakers  included President of the Michael Phelps Foundation Michael Phelps, Founder of The Yao Foundation Yao Ming, and Club Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, who shared their views on the question “Sports and Cities: How can we use sports to improve well-being and achieve social good in cities?”. 

Leading speakers addressing the two-day forum alsoincluded HKSAR Chief Secretary for Administration the Hon Matthew Cheung, Secretary for Innovation and Technology the Hon Nicholas Yang, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Dr the Hon Law Chi-kwong, and Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Executive Norman Chan.

For more details, please visit the forum website: http://www.citiesphilanthropy.com/en/