by Waltraut Ritter
(Hong Kong)
Hong Kong 1997 - it sounds like history today, but we are still at the beginning of a unique socio-economic and political transformation process of a city which will continue until 2047 and beyond.
I came to Hong Kong in 1997, just during the time of the handover and thought that this the city would be an exciting place to watch the development of a knowledge-based region in real time.
In 1997, ideas of knowledge management and knowledge economy were nearly unheard of. The Poon Kam Kai Institute at the University of Hong Kong supported some initial research on the perception of KM and Intellectual Capital in the local business community.
Out of this group of interested people from a wide range of companies, I founded the HK Knowledge Management Forum in 1998, which had been quite influential in growing the awareness for knowledge-based economy issues in Hong Kong and beyond.
The forum engages in advocacy of areas such as knowledge economy, intellectual capital, innovation, knowledge management across different sectors in the society. The forum is independent and receives no public/government funding. It operates thanks to volunteers, private donations and receives sponsorships and participation fees for public events and community-based activities.
In 2001, the HKKMF also led to the formation of the HK KM Society to provide a discussion forum for KM practitioners and the business community.
The Forum is connected to similar networks, research centres and associations throughout the Asia Pacific region and worldwide, and is organising the Asia-Pacific KM Conferences since 1999. This year is our 10th Anniversary!
www.hkkmf.org