Where Ideas Root and Flourish
Happy Year of the Ox – 2020 has finally drawn to a close! To better equip yourself for 2021, have you got any plans yet? No clue? Well, have some uplifting stories from Cubic Zine! May these cases on innovation and entrepreneurship inspire you, including our protagonist of this issue – Prof Winton Au, and his encounter with performing arts.
In this issue: #AudreyTang #ScholarSocialInnovators #OnePairStraw #FreePeriodProducts #PsychologyofTheatre #OneMonthOneArt
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Scholar-Social Innovators → GLOCAL
A monthly dose of art: Prof Winton Au advocates performing arts via social entrepreneurship
“I wasn’t this outgoing a decade ago – now I’m even younger than before!” Prof Winton Au of CUHK Department of Psychology chuckles. His secret to becoming young again? Nothing magical, “just engaging in performing arts, really. I underwent a transformation from being shy to being assured, then bold.” His high spirits are palpable and contagious.
Joking that it was his midlife crisis, he intentionally looked for a new pastime beyond his roles as professor and consultant. The result was an unexpected personal transformation. Eager to share his newfound passion, he established social enterprise One Month One Art with Ribble Chung (theatre veteran/Arts Administrator at CUHK) to promote art appreciation.
【Scholarly keyword】Psychology of theatre
“The influence of arts is eventually about personal growth.” Specialised in audience experience, Winton lists four dimensions in analysing audience reception – emotional resonance, cognitive stimulation, sensational excitement, and collective experience. “Why visit a theatre instead of watching the show on DVD? Because you get to share the experience as a group.”
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BUSINESS 2.0 → FORCE FOR GOOD
Free Period Products｜Scotland
To tackle the issue of period poverty, last November, Scotland has passed a bill to become the first region that offers free period products to citizens in need. BBC revealed that women in Scotland spend £8 (around HKD$84) on sanitary products every month, an unaffordable expense to some. Surveys found that about one in four local college students struggled to access period products.
According to the Parliament Member who campaigned for change since 2016, the bill hopes to resolve period stigma at the same time – it was reported that 71% of 14-21-year-olds felt embarrassed when buying period products.
One Pair Straw｜Hong Kong
Reusable straws are the latest trendy way to protect the environment. But even for glass straws, stubborn residues inside are not easily cleaned with cleaning brushes. Fret not – the detachable “One Pair Straw” and “One Roll Straw” are here to fix your pain points! The products are from Green One Lab, a Hong Kong-based social design lab.
Launched since 2019, the Straws have won several international design awards. Green One Lab Co-founder Mr Eddie Li was invited earlier by
I·CARE Centre for Whole-person Development to share his experience at InnoPort with Rolling Books Founder James Chong. Watch the entire programme here!
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Scholar-readers → FOOD FOR THOUGHT
《唐鳳：我所看待的自由與未來》(Chinese only)
Audrey Tang is often coined a child prodigy and tech genius. As the first Digital Minister in Taiwan, Audrey Tang and her team swiftly marshalled collective intelligence at the start of the coronavirus outbreak and launched a real-time facemask inventory level system “mask maps” to cope with the extreme shortage.
In fact, the self-taught tech genius is also a social innovation expert in crowdsourcing. “I am not working for people. I am working with people.” She undertook her current role to answer three expectations from the Executive Yuan – “open up the government”, “support social enterprises” and “encourage youth participation in policymaking”. In this biography, the two authors illuminate Tang’s efforts through different interviews and case studies. May her success inspire your own.
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BE → ENGAGING
Be our next scholar-social innovator!
CUHK runs two funding schemes that enable scholars apply their research to the community – KPF and S-KPF. The deadline for application of the two funding schemes just passed and evaluation is in progress. Wonder what projects have been funded over the years? Which topics are the hottest? Visit our SoCUBE platform to find out!
Apart from project profiles, ORKTS arranged photoshoots for our many teams. The latest batch is already online! If you have any thoughts or suggestions on their work, you are welcome to contact us !
InnoPort closes (for now)
In view of the recent upswing in COVID cases, precautionary measures at CUHK has been enhanced to keep you all safe. Communal areas at InnoPort are hence closed until further notice. We wish you a joyous year and hope to see you soon in 2021!
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