Chairperson and members of Curriculum Development Council appointed
The Government today (August 29) announced the reappointment of Professor Isabella Poon Wai-yin as the Chairperson of the Curriculum Development Council (CDC) for a term of two years with effect from September 1, 2025.
The Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, said, "Professor Isabella Poon Wai-yin is currently Provost and Wei Lun Professor of Statistics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has vast experience in teaching, research and administration. Since assuming the role of Chairperson of the CDC in 2023, Professor Poon has demonstrated her exceptional leadership and professional expertise by guiding the CDC to uphold the 'Led by Professionals' principle, actively promoting the ongoing renewal and optimisation of the school curriculum, which includes updating the Primary Education Curriculum Guide, Curriculum Guide for Special Schools, Primary Humanities Curriculum Guide, and Science (Primary 1 - 6) Curriculum Guide, as well as optimising the curricula and assessments of various senior secondary elective subjects, thereby creating space for students and catering for learner diversity."
The Government also reappointed 15 members and appointed five new members to the CDC for a term of two years, ending on August 31, 2027.
Dr Choi thanked the outgoing members, Professor Ching Wai-ki, Ms Hui Ha-mei, Mr Lee Wai-hung, Mr Shek Wai-keung and Professor Cindy Sit Hui-ping, for their invaluable contributions to curriculum development in Hong Kong during their tenure.
"The Education Bureau (EDB) will continue to provide full support to the work of the CDC and listen to their valuable advice on matters relating to curriculum development," she said.
The CDC comprises members drawn from diverse sectors, including academics from universities and tertiary institutions, frontline principals and teachers, professionals in the business and technology fields, and representation from parents. Their participation is conducive to providing views and suggestions on promoting student learning effectiveness and fostering their whole-person development.
The membership list of the CDC with effect from September 1, 2025, is as follows:
Chairperson
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Professor Isabella Poon Wai-yin
Non-official Members
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Ms Chan Mei-kuen
Mr Cheng Ka-ho
Ms Cheuk Ting-yan*
Professor Cheung Chak-chung
Mr Eugene Fong Yick-jin
Dr Kam Wai-keung*
Mr Kwan Chi-hang*
Mr Kwok Lung-kei
Ms Lai Wan-yim*
Professor Lau Chi-pang*
Ms Lee Yi-ying
Ms Mandy Leung Man-yee
Mr Li Kin-man
Professor Lo Ming-tung
Ms Ng Kai-kwan
Professor Johnny Poon Ming-lun
Mr Paul Tai Lun
Ms Ting Wing-sze
Dr Wong Ching-yung
Dr Yip Chi-sio
Ex-officio Members
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Principal Assistant Secretary (Curriculum Development) of the EDB, also the Vice-chairperson of the CDC
Chairperson of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority Council or his/her representative
Representatives from other Divisions of the EDB
*new members
Source: AI-found images
Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference
Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the CUHK EMBA Annual Conference today (May 9):
Professor Dennis Lo (Vice-Chancellor and President, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)), Professor Lin Zhou (Dean, CUHK Business School), Macy (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Ms Macy Chan), Michael (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Mr Michael Chan), CUHK EMBA alumni and students, business leaders, distinguished guests and friends,
Good evening.
Addressing a room full of Executive MBA students and graduates is both an honour and a privilege. There is a particular kind of ambition in this room — one that is not content with success alone, but driven to understand it more deeply, in the belief that better ideas lead to greater impact.
That kind of commitment — to learning, to growth, to asking harder questions — is precisely what today's conversation is about.
The theme of this conference, which focuses on innovation and agile leadership, could not be more timely. Most of us here have lived through the Internet age and the smartphone revolution, which made communication faster and more seamless than anyone had imagined.
Today, the rise of AI places us at a more fundamental tipping point. Technology is not merely changing the answers — it is redefining the questions themselves.
Consider what is already within reach. An AI assistant can learn your preferences, curate a personalised shortlist, and simply ask for your confirmation. We should even ask whether the smartphone and the search engine will remain our primary gateways to the digital world, or whether something altogether new is already taking shape.
To draw an analogy, the power of technology does not lie in drawing the old map with greater precision. It lies in revealing how much of that map remains uncharted — and in showing us that entirely new maps, with new co-ordinates, are being drawn.
This redefinition is unfolding across three dimensions simultaneously.
First, the redefinition of products. Products are no longer discrete, standalone objects. A smart car is a vehicle, but also a mobile platform for data. An insurance policy can be a contract, but equally a dynamic reflection of health data. Innovation today is born from cross-sector convergence and continuous evolution.
Second, the redefinition of services. Services are no longer delivered solely by enterprises. They emerge from collaborative networks of people and AI. But the more profound shift is in what customers now expect. In the past, good service meant reaching the right person quickly. Today, customers expect a solution that anticipates their needs before articulating them. This requires a new architecture of service delivery: human and machine, with AI handling the scale, the speed, and the personalisation that no human team alone could sustain.
Third, and most importantly, the redefinition of business models. In the past, we sought optimal solutions within established frameworks — when demand rose, we expanded capacity; when service needs grew, we opened more branches. Technology invites us to break out of those frameworks entirely. Intelligent manufacturing means that "economies of scale" is no longer the only answer; flexible supply chains have made customised, on-demand production the new normal.
These three redefinitions are opening a commercial frontier unlike anything we have seen before. But if the benefits of technology accrue only to a small circle, its power remains fundamentally constrained. This brings me to the second message I want to leave with you today: inclusivity.
Inclusivity is not charity. Yet it is the smartest business strategy available. The unmet needs of the broader public represent the largest and most underserved market opportunity in existence. When you make quality healthcare, education and financial services accessible and affordable to ordinary residents, you are not serving a group in need of handouts — you are unlocking a vast market that traditional business models have consistently overlooked.
Hong Kong has a distinctive role to play here. We can be a co-architect of standards, a hub for capital, and a bridge between innovation and real-world deployment — from clinical validation of smart healthcare, to green technology financing, to regulatory sandboxes for fintech. Our contribution draws not only on institutional strengths and international networks, but on our genuine commitment to broad-based participation.
Yet inclusive products and services are only the first step. The deeper dimension is empowerment.
History reminds us that the dividends of technological revolution need to be actively guided to reach the many. In the age of steam, and again in the Internet era, early gains concentrated among capital owners and top-tier talent. But today we have the opportunity to write a different story. AI, as an amplifier of human capability, is already enabling what was previously unimaginable: a solo entrepreneur, with the right tools and the right vision, can build a unicorn.
In other words, the unit of competitive advantage is shifting — from the size of your team to the skill with which you orchestrate your tools.
Our mission should be to make that shift available to everyone. To turn individual readiness into collective prosperity, and to ensure that the productivity gains of AI flow broadly across the society.
This is precisely why, in this year's Budget, I placed such emphasis on the "AI Training for All" initiative.
We are not trying to turn everyone into an engineer. We are ensuring that workers, managers, SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) owners, and ordinary residents become capable collaborators with AI: people who can access it, use it effectively, and put it to work as their assistant.
That may sound ambitious, but consider this: if AI can one day be as intuitive as the smartphone, then mass adoption is not difficult to imagine at all. Just as computers once migrated from specialist facilities into offices and homes, AI will find its way into everyone's daily work and life.
For business leaders, it may be tempting to think of AI as "digital employee" that can replace existing workers. But think of a different framing: equipping your workforce with powerful digital assistants can achieve productivity gains, while also freeing your people to do what humans do best — create, imagine and innovate.
Companies that take those extra steps, and think those extra moves ahead, will find that an empowered workforce is also a more innovative one.
All in all, the power of technology must ultimately be measured by its contribution to inclusive growth. And inclusive growth, in the end, depends on, yes, commercial acumen — but also empathy, compassion, and the conviction that a rising tide should lift all boats. I can see that those qualities live in this room.
I will close with this thought. Someone once joked that economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. With AI, let us never fall into the same trap — in our race to price every efficiency gain, let us not lose sight of the deeper value we are trying to create: a society where the fruits of innovation are broadly shared, and where technology lifts not just the fortunate few, but everyone willing to reach for it.
So here is my ask: let us grow the pie together. And make sure we cut it well.
Thank you very much.
Source: AI-found images
Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Source: AI-found images
