Past Activities

We had another convivial gathering with memebers of the Esperanza community yesterday. Our key takeaways are:

1. AI is not as complicated as we think but it is changing fundamentally everything, especially education or more precisely learning.

2. It is imperative to understand what AI can and cannot do, and how mankind can collaborate with AI by understanding the virtue and strengths of humanity.

3. We do not have the luxury to wait and see. But we need some guidelines to ensure we can use AI effectively, ethically and responsibly, especially for educators.

Esperanza was delighted to have a face-to-face networking event with its members. John shared Esperanza’s two key aspirations at the gathering.

Click here for the synopsis of the event.

Esperanza organized a virtual EdTech Showcase to introduce the solutions of seven service providers that use technology to make language learning, STEM education and life skills development more effective. They were previous participants of the Edventures GBA Fellowship.

Click here for the synopsis of the event.

Esperanza members had a glimpse of metaverse and exchanges with our guest speakers at an exclusive community event on 20 April.

Click here for the synopsis of the event.

Esperanza conducted a study on whether and how we can develop Hong Kong as a learning innovation and technology hub in the Greater Bay Area.  This webinar shared the major recommendations of the study. Audience also learnt about the work of the Jacobs Foundation, EduCapital and Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) in sporting the development of EdTech. 

Click here for the synopsis of the event.

With technology becoming an integral part of our life, coding is now an indispensable tool and a world language. To promote the importance of coding education, Esperanza organized “Code for Fun” on 22 Jan 2022 together with its coding school partner R-Kids.

Click here for the synopsis of the event.

After 6 months of the ISTE programme learning, 18 schools shared their blended learning projects experiences on 14 and 15 Jan.  

Educators are keen to apply  blended learning to motivate learning, enhance student agency, enable more personalized and inclusive learning, and to develop  21st century skills.

Click here for the synopsis of the sharing session.

The 2021 Edventures GBA Summit (3 Nov) gathered experts to share key trends in EdTech hotbeds and:

• How technology can improve learning outcome and democratise quality education
• The case for public and philanthropic capital to be involved in funding EdTech startups
• How we might foster cross-sector and cross-border partnerships, including the potential role of Hong Kong

Check out the synopsis of the expert panels:

Investor Panel with Bill Ning of Blue Elephant Capital, Vinit Sukhija of Learn Capital, James Tieng of Lumos Capital and Yat Siu of Outblaze

Ecosystem Panel with Olli Vallo of Education Alliance Finland, Mia-Stiina Heikkala of Helsinki Education Hub, Avi Warshavsky of MindCET and Jennifer Cheng of NewChic Capital

Open Forum on Developing Hong Kong as Education Innovation and Technology Hub with Peter Yan of Cyberport and Ada Wong of Ednovators

Esperanza held this experience sharing event which enabled educators to learn from experts and their peers the dos and don’ts of blended learning. Participants have also learnt hands-on how students could collaborate online with peers from around the world to learn and tackle global issues. Click here for the synopsis of the event.

Hong Kong students are arguably one of the most stressful groups in the world. The pandemic has exacerbated the problem and taken a toll on the well-being of students. Before the resumption of schools in September, Mr John C Tsang led a panel discussion with 3 other Esperanza directors and members of the Esperanza community on 30 August to share their experience and thoughts on how to improve students wellbeing. Click here for the synopsis of the event.

The pandemic has accelerated the need for organisations to transform themselves digitally. Esperanza is pleased to launch the Go Digital programme with JobsDB on 12 Aug 2021. This pilot programme seeks to match organizations in need of digital transformation with training partners in the Esperanza and SEEK network, and connect them with funding support from the Government’s Reindustrialisation and Technology Training Programme (RTTP). Click here for the synopsis of the launch event.

“Professional development of teachers should be of utmost priority in any blended learning development strategy”. This was the key message resonating with speakers at the “Get Started with Blended Learning” webinar on 24 April. The 220 educators attending the webinar were eager to learn how schools could learn from the remote learning experience during the pandemic and migrate to blended learning when schools resume face-to-face teaching.

Check out our webinar synopsis highlighting key insights from the session.

Esperanza organized together with Cyberport a webinar on “Do Good and Do Well with Edtech Ventures”, attracting 300 participants from diverse background. The webinar looked into:

1. 1. The STEM learning solutions of the award winners of the Edventures GBA Fellowship and partnership opportunities 
   2. The importance of integrating science of learning in edtech solutions 
   3. The unique nature of edtech ventures and considerations for startups and investors
   4. The measurement of impact  
   5. Why and how family offices and foundations should support edtech ventures with a continuum of capital tools
   6. Partnership opportunities with edtech ventures from the perspectives family office, investor and career professionals
   7. The work plans of Esperanza and Cyberport to catalyse education innovation in Hong Kong

Click the keywords above to find the panel synopses and recordings.

In the last two years Esperanza has been working with a myriad of partners in and outside of Hong Kong to reimagine how we should teach and learn in the 21st century. It organised the Reimagine Education Challenge last year, and more recently the Edventures Global Business Acceleration Fellowship to identify promising innovators in the ed-tech space.

In addition to supporting education innovators, Esperanza has also initiated discussions on the future of early childhood education, blended learning for K to 12 students, as well as higher and continuing education.

Click here to check out the meet-up synopses.

COVID-19 has triggered in a matter of weeks a revolution in how we teach and learn. Edtech experts from the US, the Mainland and Hong Kong shared at the Edventures GBA Summit on 3-4 Nov:

1. what it takes to be a successful edtech startup
2. what edtech investors should get prepared for
3. the growth opportunities in China
4. the role of HK to foster cross-border partnerships

Check out the expert insights from the panel synopses.

• Welcome remarks from John C Tsang, Founder, Esperanza
• Edtech Investment Panel with Matt Greenfield (Rethink Education) and Bill Ning (Blue Elephant Capital)
• Global Edtech Development Panel with Richard Culatta (ISTE), Kamran Elahian (Global Innovation Catalyst) and Elliott Masie (the Learning Consortium)
• China: the Epicentre of Edtech Panel with Julian Fisher (British Chamber of Commerce, Beijing), Dr Simon Leung (NetDragon) and Dr Steven Li (Tencent Research Institute)
• Summit Highlights Video

In a new era of market-based approaches to address social problems, impact investors could play a vitally important role in addressing the global education crisis through supporting sustainable, business-based solutions and by learning how to work collaboratively with a range of other investors, locally and cross-border. It is also high time for foundations to consider setting aside additional resources to support edtech ventures besides traditional charities or non-profit organisations.

Check out our webinar synopsis highlighting key insights from the session.

At the Reimagine Higher and Continuing Education webinar on 24 Sep, Prof Christopher Dede of Harvard Graduate School of Education introduced his 60th Year Curriculum Initiative.

Check out the webinar synopsis and recordings to learn more about the sharing from Chris and other speakers.

We hosted a webinar on edtech opportunities in the Greater Bay Area – aka the Silicon Valley of Asia. John Tsang, Founder of Esperanza. The pandemic has sparked the world’s largest remote learning experiment and underscored the importance of international partnerships. “We believe that we can learn from and collaborate with one another in developing effective solutions with global significance,” said John C Tsang, Founder of Esperanza.

Check out our webinar synopsis highlighting key insights from the session.

Esperanza kicked off the “Reimagine Higher and Continuing Education’ discussion with an online co-creation workshop with members of the Esperanza community on 27 July. Check out this synopsis to find out the barriers to lifelong learning identified by the participants and what different stakeholders could do to turn Hong Kong into a learning society.

The inputs of the co-creation workshop will inform the design and discussions of a webinar on Reimagine Higher and Continuing Education to be organised by Esperanza together with a few other local and international education institutes at the end of September 2020. Share your ideas with us too!

“Successful implementation of blended learning requires effective collaborations among the interconnected group of players outside the classroom, from policy-makers, educators, businesses, technology solution providers, funders to parents.’ said John Tsang at a webinar on 22 May.

Esperanza co-organised with HKEdCity and English School Foundation a webinar on “Embracing the New Normal in Learning”. Local and international educators shared their experiences in leveraging education technology to equip the future-ready generations, and to make learning and teaching more effective, fun and meaningful.

Here is the synopsis of the webinar.  Check out the webinar synopsis, videos and slides: https://bit.ly/2Y1vqeI

To empower teachers to implement effective online teaching as well as get prepared for the future of blended learning, Esperanza and HKEdCity jointly organised a webinar on 30 March. Community champions of online learning and educators from local and international schools shared their experiences in designing lesson plans and conducting virtual learning, and introduced the support available to teachers.

Here is the synopsis of the webinar.  You can also watch it on:

https://www.hkedcity.net/goelearning/en/resource/5e83f99aaee1bec953b18c32

Esperanza kicked off our 2020 Reimagine Education programme with discussions on the future of early childhood education in Hong Kong earlier this month. Experts see the need for convergence of the local and international systems, with emphasis on developing children’s learning motivation, their social and emotional skills through supportive and yet not over-protective parenting. The single most important message is perhaps “we can all co-create changes – parents, teachers, children and the society at large.”

Click here to learn more.

Esperanza is pleased to present the 4 winners of the Reimagine Education Challenge at the Learning & Teaching Expo 2019. John also shared his thoughts on why we need new ways of learning, delivering and acquiring knowledge, as we head into a world of intelligent machines. “We have to rethink the role of teachers, how the curriculum, the assessment and the school should be redesigned; and how public monies should be allocated to enable people to learn continuously throughout their entire life span.” he said.

John Tsang presented the awards to the 4 winning teams of the Reimagine Education Challenge. John and Charleston Sin, Executive Director of MIT HK Innovation Node talked about the trends in innovation education. Esperanza also kicked off the “Reimagine Education” community building activities with 4 group discussions at the Roundup.

The Reimagine Education Challenge, organized by Esperanza,

was concluded on 28 August 2019 with the selection of the top four:

Best Performing Teams: Tecky Academy (startup) and Design for Hong Kong (social enterprise)

First Runner-Ups: MagiCube (startup) and Boundless (NGO)

Watch the video and learn more.

At the Cross-Sector Forum on 11 May, Mr John C Tsang unveiled the agenda of the Reimagine Education initiative based on views collected from a survey in the last few months. Quoting the words of Paulo Freie, a Brazilian educator, Mr Tsang said “education should help individuals and society to move towards new possibilities of a fuller and richer life”. Read more for a synopsis of the forum.

“Why do we have to go to school if knowledge is just a click away? WHAT skills should our next generations learn to prepare themselves for the future?”

Share your views by completing this short survey by 15 April 2019.

Esperanza is gathering community inputs to these two fundamental questions to guide our work under the “Reimagining Education” initiative.

At our first community meet-up on 31 Jan, participants rated “attaining a good life”, “developing one’s potential” and “imparting
values” as the top three purposes of education. They also indicated that Hong Kong has to step up efforts in developing some of the essential skills.

We are continuing the process of crowdsourcing inputs to the WHY and WHAT of education in the 21stcentury. We look forward to hearing from you.

Esperanza supports the Teach For Hong Kong movement.  TFHK is a growing movement of young leaders that drive systemic change in education with cross-sector collaboration. Through their one-year Fellowship Program, TFHK recruits and empowers the most promising and passionate young leaders to serve in underprivileged schools as full-time teachers. The Fellowship Program 2019-20 is now open for application. For more information, please visit here.