The Data Centre Risk Index (DCRI) evaluates the top risks likely to affect the successful operation of a data centre in the 20 most important global markets.

“The underlying value of a data centre lies in its infrastructure. Data centre owners can mitigate risk by ensuring their facilities have the capacity to meet current demand for services as well as the flexibility to meet future demand, in terms of technological advances and changing operational requirements,” said Cushman & Wakefield Executive Director – Occupier Services Tom Pullinen.

“If an appropriate balance of capacity and flexibility is achieved at the development stage the data centre asset can be effectively future-proofed,” he added.

The ranking focuses on three key parameters of energy cost, international bandwidth and ease of doing business, which carry a 60% weight in the analysis. Five other factors – corporation tax, cost of labour, political stability, sustainability and natural disasters – account for a further 35% and GDP (per capita), inflation and water availability account for the remaining 5% weight.

The demand for data storage capacity, accelerated by recent advances such as cloud computing, means that more companies are now investing in data centres internationally. The DCRI allows companies to not only identify and mitigate risks across each of the 11 parameters as they move into less familiar locations but the weightings can also be tailored to reflect the relative importance of each key parameter for a specific company. Thereby providing a personalized assessment.

In the overall rankings the US comes out as the lowest risk country, primarily owing to relatively lower energy costs and a favourable business environment.  It is followed by Canada and Germany.

Six countries from Asia Pacific (excluding Qatar) are evaluated, with Hong Kong ranking 4th, Australia 10th and Singapore 11th.

In the overall rankings Hong Kong came out on top in the Asia Pacific region, scoring highly on international bandwidth, ease of doing business, corporation tax and cost of labor. Australia also performs well on most aspects with relative strength in GDP per capita, political stability, water availability and energy costs. Singapore, placed 11th in the composite ranking, is the topmost country for ease of doing business and also scores well on corporate tax, cost of labor and GDP per capita.

While the economic powerhouses of China and India placed lower in the rankings (18th and 20th respectively) they score ahead of most others countries on sustainability and cost of labor. Their lower ranking reflects relatively weaker performance on the three high-focus parameters of energy cost, international bandwidth and ease of doing business. Similarly, Japan is placed high for political stability and inflation but its overall ranking of 19th is a result of relatively higher energy costs and historically greater exposure to natural disasters.

Stephen Whatling, Global Services Director at hurleypalmerflatt, said: “Despite their status as engines of global growth, China and India score poorly as a result of strict foreign ownership regulations and other barriers to investment.”

Arvind Nandan, leader of the Data Centre Practice Group for Asia Pacific at Cushman & Wakefield further commented: “As the world’s leading emerging markets both China and India are destinations of choice for international business and locating a data centre in or near these countries is a commercial necessity for many companies. While China and India ranked lower they scored highly in areas of increasing importance to business, such as sustainability. With significant infrastructure investments being made by governments to support each country’s rapid development and with continual progress being made to ease strict foreign ownership regulations, it is expected both countries will fast track up the rankings in future years over more developed countries, leading to real commercial opportunities now as the investment climate becomes more favourable.”

By creating more partnerships for government and private investment in bandwidth and power infrastructure, it is expected that China and India will witness a higher demand for international data centre space, geared to meet data storage and cloud computing models.

Data Centre Risk Index risk categories:
-    Energy (cost per kWh)
-    International bandwidth (megabyte per capita)
-    Ease of doing business
-    Corporation tax
-    Labour
-    Political stability
-    Sustainability
-    Natural disasters
-    GDP per capita
-    Inflation
-    Water (availability per capita)

Source: Cushman & Wakefield

Susan is widely recognized as the leading workplace expert in Asia Pacific and joins the Firm from DEGW where she was formerly the Asia Pacific Regional Managing Director.

She has over 18 years’ experience in workplace briefing, strategy, space planning, design and change management, working with a diverse range of corporate, government, healthcare and learning environment clients throughout Australia and Asia.

John Forres, CEO of Corporate Solutions for Jones Lang LaSalle in Asia Pacific, said that “This appointment is in response to the rising demand for workplace strategies as ongoing economic uncertainty intensifies the focus on cost control and business performance. Companies worldwide are focused on increasing competitive advantage and growing their revenue in Asia and are looking to their workplaces to help them drive greater business productivity.”

“Many of our clients are asking us to help them not only design but also implement workplace change as they recognize that change management is critical to delivering successful workplace programs; something that wasn’t part of the corporate real estate discussion five years ago. Susan’s expertise and experience in workplace strategies will complement our existing workplace capabilities to deliver tailored solutions to our clients in the region,” said Mr Forrest.

Susan Lim said, “Jones Lang LaSalle is a pioneer in Asia Pacific with deep experience in how people, process and place can drive business productivity. Bringing my experience to an organization that has such an extensive regional platform makes this a very exciting opportunity for me and enables me to think about the workplace proposition from the ground up.”

“I am also excited by the opportunity to provide the first truly end-to-end workplace solution in Asia and to help companies to implement workplace strategies successfully across multiple locations worldwide,” said Ms Lim.

“Successful implementation of workplace change is not just about space; it is necessary to align all the components that touch employees when they work. This means coordinating across the environment, processes, technology, behavior and protocols and developing leadership and training that will help people learn how to work more effectively,” she said.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s Global Corporate Real Estate (CRE) Survey 2011 revealed that 66 percent of respondent companies had workplace mobility programs implemented or underway. A further 20 percent are planning or have proposed to introduce workplace mobility programs. Respondents cited management and/or employee engagement and resistance/fear of change as the two greatest constraints to adoption.

Since the return of the former railway land to Singapore on 1 July 2011, the Rail Corridor project has garnered widespread public interest. From the feedback we received, it is clear that there are many more people out there who would like to make tangible contributions towards the envisioning of the Rail Corridor’s future. In order to create the window of opportunity for all to participate in this project, the URA is conducting the Ideas Competition from 30 November 2011 to 9 March 2012.

About the Ideas Competition
The Ideas Competition covers a 25.3km stretch from Kranji coastal mudflats in the north to Tanjong Pagar district in the south of Singapore, as well as a 1.9km stretch of former Jurong Line which spurs off from the main line near Bukit Timah Railway Station to Ulu Pandan Canal.

We welcome participants to be bold and creative in envisioning the “possibilities” for the transformation of the Rail Corridor into a truly extraordinary trail with multiple landscapes and experiences that can be enjoyed by all. The challenge is to develop visionary and compelling ideas for the Rail Corridor in response to five key issues that we have identified over the course of our extensive public engagement process.

Useful ideas and concepts from the competition may be distilled into design principles as part of the brief for the Rail Corridor Design Competition that is being considered currently.

An exhibition which features a selection of entries including all award-winners will be held after the competition.

Two Categories – Open and Youth Challenge
There are two categories for the Ideas Competition, namely the “Open” Category and the “Youth Challenge” (secondary school students). While the “Open” Category is open to all interested participants, the “Youth Challenge” is a youth-centric competition which is targeted at secondary school students.

Under the “Open” Category, the public is invited to choose the issue that they would like to address and to propose innovative solutions and ideas in response to the issue. The five key issues are:

1. Bio-diversity and sensitive development
2. Inclusiveness, accessibility and resolving conflicts
3. Community ownership, pride and sense of well-being
4. Heritage
5. Great Ideas for a Public Space

Under the “Youth Challenge”, we encourage young participants in secondary schools to come up with exciting new ideas and proposals that will surprise and excite Singaporeans. The ideas, concepts and proposals need not be limited to the five key issues. They could be wide-ranging reflecting the interests and aspirations of the younger generation, and how the Rail Corridor could be especially meaningful to them. We welcome secondary school students to join us on this exciting journey, to dream up possibilities that could eventually be turned into reality.

Judging and awards
Judging panels, comprising subject matter experts, representatives from the public and private sectors, as well as Rail Corridor Consultation Group members, will be formed for each of the five issues and “Youth Challenge”.

For the Open Category, three top prizes will be awarded for each issue, with cash values of S$2,000, S$1,000 and $500 respectively. Three top prizes will also be awarded for the Youth Challenge comprising cash values of S$1,000, S$500 and S$250 respectively.

For more details, please visit Urban Redevelopment Authority website.

Four thousand students will decend on Tsuen Wan in Hong kong as the new design centre.  Their centre for learning is an architecturally award winning building, the commission of which was also the subject of a design competition of 162 teams from 23 countries. The winning design is based around the concept of a blank piece of paper, held aloft on four fingers of a hand.  

Rather than the usual approach of creating a poduim sunk beneath high-rise towers, in the HKDI the image is inverted with a ‘floating poduim’ sitting several stories up, creating an umbrella of the space beneath for exhibitions, events and, importantly for Hong Kong, public space. The building is not an obstacle, instead it is a natural gathereing point and thoroughfare for people, ideas and the breeze.

Architect Thomas Coldefy of Coldefy and Associates, a firm started by Thomas’  father in 1984, “has a passion to help introduce low carbon living to Asia Pacific”. As such despite the brief not mentioning any environmental requirements, he was keen to develop his programme to be as green as possible.  He belives that part of an architect’s duty is to educate, inform and influence clients, particularly in low-tech green solutions.  

Coldefy, thingks that the low tech slutions are often overlooked because many of the initial ‘green buildings’ were commercial endevours with big budgets. In these cases, the fundamental building design stayed the same, but expensive high-tech features were added to mitigate environmental impact. For example, he states, the architect deigns a fully glazed building, requiring increased energy consumption for air-conditioning. So the ‘green’ solution was to add double glazing, rather than assessing the need for a fully glazed building on that site. As such Coldefy is not interested in chasing the traditional building certifications such as LEED or BREAM, but searches instead for solutions adapted to the site and purpose.

Working green design
While HKID’s classic materials of glass steel and concrete are hardly green per se, the periferal steel trellis structural system has reduced the number of columns and walls required thus reducing the usage of construction materials all the while channelling natural breezes into the interior, to regulate temperature. Underneath, Hong Kong’s longest escalator of 60 m “tethers” the podium to the ground and shuttles students into the sky of ideas in the podium above.

While accepting that cultural and public building commissions give greater opportunity to “express creatively”, at the Coldefy studio, they teach as part of the comapny culture an ethos of design and space that is both sustainable and uniquely creative whatever the remit.  Setting up a permanent practice in Hong Kong the group want to bring this approach to further commissions in Asia. Even if it means sometimes turning down work.”If you want 300 “Venetian style” villas”, says Coldefy, “We cant help you”.

“What makes buildings exciting is a change of scale and space” he says. However even in cases where teh brief is not as expansive he tries to bring his own ideas. He describes the design institute as a “quite fantastic client” as the changes and restrictions on design were of a moderate and practical nature. The purpose of education is to “elevate the mind” says Coldefy balancing a blank sheet of paper on the tips of his fingers and raising it up. And with the purity of vision that the team were able to achieve, the architecture, he believes, assists in that.

The report also showed that Shanghai was ranked the world’s sixth financial center in the Xinhua-Dow Jones International Financial Centers Development Index in 2011, moving up two positions from 2010.

Continued growth of local enterprises in Asia Pacific is anticipated to keep the region’s overall office demand stable in the near term, despite the deepening sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the slowdown of China’s overall growth pace, according to Colliers International’s Asia Pacific Office Market Overview 3Q 2011.

In 3Q 2011, office leasing demand from multi-national corporations slowed due to the lack-luster growth prospects around the globe. However, local enterprises in Asia Pacific continued aggressive expansion plans resulting in mixed and uneven rental trends in the region during 3Q 2011. This is largely reflected in the average Greater China office rental growth of 4.5% quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) which out-paced the region’s overall growth of a mere1.3%.

Lina Wong, Managing Director of East and Southwest China and China Investment Services at Colliers International, said, “Despite the impact from European debt crisis, the market is growing in China, though at a slower pace. Several upcoming office projects in Shanghai have achieved high pre-lease occupancy rates during 3Q 2011. Rental and capital values are expected to increase against the backdrop of the generally optimistic business outlook for Shanghai and China as a whole.  Demand for office space from luxury brands is particularly strong, and Colliers has recently assisted TOD’S group, the Italian leather goods luxury brand, to lease a 1,490-sqm new office in Wheelock Square in Jing’An district in Shanghai.”

Sales transaction activity in Asia Pacific was relatively quiet. Around the region, the Colliers report noted the lack of en-bloc office sales transaction in Beijing in 3Q 2011, while the office sales transaction volume plummeted almost 70% in Hong Kong. However, on the flip side, other individual markets in the region, underpinned by local private investors’ buying interest, registered exceptionally encouraging sales volume in the quarter. They included Guangzhou in which a number of office projects in Pearl River New City were launched, and Brisbane where strong sales volume of large and prime assets was recorded.

“Looking forward, the continued positive support from sustained capital inflows and private consumption in Asia Pacific is anticipated to hold steady the region’s overall office demand. In the near term, office rents and prices are anticipated to move flatly, while sales volumes will be reduced in most markets in the region except China that will see continued demand from local investors.” Wong added.

Source: Colliers International

Mr Kwan FRICS, FHKIS, HKIAC Accredited Mediator, RPS(QS), RCE(PRC) is an experienced quantity surveyor. He has been a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors since 1989. He joined Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB), a global property and construction service provider, in 1986 and became a Director in 2001. He has extensive experience in different types of projects in both public and private sectors in Hong Kong, and projects in Macau, mainland China and a few other cities in the world.

Mr Kwan also promotes the QS practice in different occasions by giving lectures to the students of the local Universities, to the Architects and to the other professionals. He has delivered public speeches on the QS Profession Practice to mainland China professionals in the construction field as well.

Currently, apart from being the Chairman of the RICS Hong Kong Board, Mr Kwan is also the Chairman of the Asia QS and Construction Professional Group Board of the RICS.

Mr Kenneth Kwan, the new Chairman of RICS Hong Kong, said, “I am honoured to be the Chairman of the RICS Hong Kong Board which gives me a better opportunity to serve the members. Together with the Board and the support of the RICS Hong Kong office, I believe we can make RICS even stronger and better.”

The newly elected office bearers and members of Hong Kong Board for year 2011/2012 are as follows:

Chairman: Mr Kenneth Kwan
Vice Chairman: Mr Edward Au
Hon. Secretary: Mr David Edwards
Hon. Treasurer: Mr H K Yu
Elected Members:
(in alphabetical by last names) Mr Ben Chong
Mr David Faulkner
Dr Daniel Ho
Mr Simon Kwok
Prof Andrew YT Leung
Mr Gary Man
Mr Kenneth Pang
Mr Albert So
Mr David Tse
Mr KK Wong (Immediate Past Chairman)
Mr Reeves Yan

The Organizing Committee of the HKIA 55th Anniversary Conference was much honored to have invited Mr. Donald TSANG Yam-kuen, GBS, GBM, Chief Executive of the HKSAR Government, as Guest of Honor of the Conference. Mrs. Carrie LAM CHENG Yuet-ngor, GBS, JP, Secretary for Development, Development Bureau of the HKSAR Government, and Ms Eva CHENG, GBS, JP, Secretary for Transport and Housing Bureau of the HKSAR Government, have also presented their keynote speeches in the morning session and afternoon session respectively and shared their views on the future development of Hong Kong as an important city in the globe.

Other speakers invited are all renowned architects, engineers, academia, politicians from Hong Kong, Mainland China and overseas. Plenary sessions were also hosted to cover infrastructure, transport and the high-density cum high-rise development in Megalopolis.

With all the interesting topics covered, today’s Conference has attracted over 600 architects, legislators, government officials, developers, consultants, contractors and other stakeholders to attend.

Mr. Dominic Lam, President of HKIA, commented, “Hong Kong is a unique city with high density development and full of high-rise buildings. We have to study its merit and problems which will help many other cities in the world of plan for their urbanization development in future.”

Why Megalopolis and Architecture?
Megalopolis is a densely populated urban region embracing one or more very large cities or metropolises. Megalopolis evokes daunting size, a vast scale of infrastructure, organization and governance of an unprecedented order. Academics, architects, planners, city developers and governance designers have explored the concept and the way in which accepted ideas of the city and urban hierarchy needs to be re-conceptualised for a well-balanced living environment in the future.

In today’s context, with economic considerations to the fore, Megalopolis becomes manifest with the joining of a number of independent cities through fast transport and electronic systems. The successful linking and merging of such systems has sparked current concerns with the need to house an increasing proportion of the population who will be moving from the country side to the city to take advantage of employment and the convenience of urban living.

Under the 12th Five-year Plan for China, Hong Kong will play a significant role in the development of the Pearl River Delta region. With the recent development of cross-boundary facilities and infrastructure, Hong Kong would be better connected with the Pearl River Delta and with the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Quality Living Area. The Hong Kong-Pearl River Delta region will surely develop into a Megalopolis in the 21st century.

The 55th Anniversary Conference aimed to explore the development of Megalopolis and its components – the architecture with particular reference to Hong Kong and Pearl River Delta region and other similar developments in the world.

HBO+EMTB’s Managing Director, Kevin Fitzgerald made the announcement today, saying “Larissa is an outstanding designer and studio leader and brings to the position a wealth of experience from the UK, Middle East and Asia where she has worked for many of the world’s largest companies and institutions.”

Larissa’s recent commercial portfolio in Singapore includes HSBC,  Lend Lease,  Savills, Hogan Lovells, Accor, Sime Darby and in the health sector National University Hospital and National Heart Centre. In addition to this Larissa has worked for Lloyds TSB, KPMG, and Astra Zeneca amongst other blue chip brands in the UK and Middle East.{jcomments off}

Kevin Fitzgerald said “The continuing strong growth of Singapore as an international business, trade and tourism hub combined with the expansion our business here has lead us to expand our leadership team so that it can best facilitate the delivery of our multi-disciplinary design services.”

In leading the design studio Larissa will work closely with Jeremy Doherty who will continue to be responsible for business development and marketing of the Group within Singapore. Jeremy has an outstanding track record in the Asia Pacific design industry spanning more than fifteen years.

Mr. Fitzgerald added “It is both a challenging time and an exciting time for HBO+EMTB in Singapore. For the Group, Singapore is also a major gateway to Central Asia and the Middle East and as such occupies an important position in our regional network of twenty three offices.”

About HBO+EMTB

Earlier this year London based industry publication Building Design rated HBO+EMTB the world’s 41st largest architectural practice in the annual BD World Architecture Top 100 Survey

With 23 offices throughout Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, and specialised divisions in architecture, interior and workplace design, consulting, urban and landscape design, and heritage, HBO+EMTB offers a multi-disciplinary service accounting for a facility’s full lifecycle. During its120-year history this multi-award winning firm has developed expertise and experience across all industry sectors, both public and private.

ISS is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Claus Madsen to the position of CEO & Country Manager of ISS Hong Kong and Regional Director of ISS Greater China, as successor to Dr. Keith Futcher, who continues with ISS as an Advisor to the Group.{jcomments off}

Mr. Madsen is a veteran in finance & marketing management and has over 30 years of experience across various portfolios. He joined ISS in 2002, with his appointment to Country Manager of ISS Argentina and ISS Chile which he undertook for four years, followed by five years as Country Manager of ISS Mexico which he built from a start-up enterprise. His knowledge and contributions to those businesses, and to ISS in the South Americas, have been significant factors in the growth of the ISS Group in this rapidly emerging economic region.  

In making the announcement, Dr. Keith Futcher, warmly welcomed Claus to Greater China and to Hong Kong in particular, saying that, ‘Claus’s decade of leadership in building ISS businesses in the emerging economic region on the other side of the global economy, was sure to be of immense benefit to ISS as we implement our strategic plans in the already-emerged-economic region of Greater China.’  

Taking over the executive responsibilities from Dr. Futcher, Mr. Madsen confirmed that he is ‘intent in continuing the already fivefold expansion of ISS Hong Kong achieved in recent years and will be further expanding the ISS enterprise in terms of footprint and diversity throughout Greater China.’   

Mr. Madsen holds a BA degree in Economics from the Copenhagen Business School and a MBA degree in Finance & Marketing from Fordham University in New York City.

At GreenBuild Asia in Hong Kong this May, Malcolm Lai, Director – Head of Construction, Asia Invesco Real Estate stated “There is a correlation between green and financial sucess”. This is why his company invests in greening their projects. This was also why pretty much every other speaker at the event spoke to the cost benefits of green building.

However, project owners expressed their frustration with a lack of expertise and willingness for service providers to take risks in green projects. One such person was Professor Richard Whitfield, Professor of the School of Intelligent Systems and Technology at the University of Saint Joseph in Macau, who is currently building a new campus and faces a lack of expertise in a number of areas. For example, finding energy saving air-conditioner alternatives such as chilled beam ceilings, and people with the expertise to install and maintain them is proving a challenge in Macau.{jcomments off}

For Whitfield cities like Macau, and their governments, could do more for themselves in greening every thing from transportation to  sanitation. “There is a window of opportunity to be the next big thing that is being squandered” he declares citing the case for electric vehicles in a city as compact as Macau.

That opportunity to be world class is what many of the green building veterans are now broadcasting to the public and private sector in Asia.

The Green Commander
Klaus Toepfer is known internationally for his commitment to sustainable development, and for fighting for the cause of the developing world. During his stay for the Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition 2011 (MIECF), Toepfer shared with RFP his advice for the Chinese regulators on environmental development. Michael Lam reports.

Klaus Toepfer is widely recognised as having spearheaded environmental policy as Minister of Environment in his home country Germany. He introduced ground breaking environmental regulations and laws such as the law on the life-cycle economy and the packaging recycling system, “Green dot”.

Although Toepfer had never been to Macao prior to the conference, he is no stranger to Asia. Toepfer, the former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), was bestowed Honorary Professor of Tongji University, Shanghai, China in 1997. In addition, Toepfer worked together with China’s leading environmentalists to establish the country’s first environmental policies. In one recent interview, Toepfer revealed his “long and lasting love affair” with China would date back to the time when he was the federal minister for environment in Germany in the 1980s.

Green China?
Environmental issues were never high on China’s agenda as economic growth has always been placed as the priority, and debatably “the only objective for the country” according to Toepfer. However, in its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), China aims to cut down energy consumption per unit of GDP by 16 percent and carbon emissions by 17 percent. Although the world’s largest emitter has committed to reduce ‘energy intensity’, it is only committed to do so per GDP unit, not overall energy output. In other words, China thinks that not only it will carry on and emit more but that it believes that it cannot economically avoid it.  What would Toepfer tell the government?

“Gradual and significant changes have been seen.” Toepfer says. “Now it is well known that if you are not aware of economic growth giving you potential negative consequences to the social fabrics of the society or the environmental stability, you are deepening the economic costs as well. This is the idea of having the ‘Five-Year Plan’.” Toepfer is convinced that having such plan is necessary, even though it might not be “a giant step”. This is because people now realise that they will need to do more to protect the ecosystem’s services to be able to achieve economic progress now and for the future.

“Germany has one of the most demanding environmental policies in the world, yet it is still a successful economy,” Toepfer continues. “Economic growth and environmental stability can go hand in hand. In fact, economies that are not challenged now with their green policies will lose competitive potential for the future.”

Green Industries in China?
Whilst Toepfer believes that having the Five-Year Plan is one step closer to achieving environmental stability, will the industries in China be equally convinced and motivated to help the government achieve the goals?

Similar to all other regulators, Toepfer, encountered countless obstacles and oppositions against his programmes and targets when he was one of the most influential figures in setting environmental policies. “Setting a target might make industries protest,” Toepfer explains. “But once this has been decided, people will start thinking about innovations to achieve the target.” As dictating as Toepfer makes himself sound, this approach has provided some of the best outcomes for the policies he pushed through.

For example, Toepfer saw the successfully adoption of a law that banned the use of environmentally harmful substances such as Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) and ozone depleting substances. Initially, no one thought the target was achievable and that implementation would be an extremely expensive task. It turns out that, such opposing voices arose simply because it had not been done or thought about before. No one even talks about SO2 nowadays. It’s a given.

It has to be noted that not all industries are reactive in environmental development, as there are proactive exceptions too, Toepfer points out. Whilst a lot of companies are only coping with present goals, the larger corporations see the economic benefits for environmental sustainability for the future and they are eager to develop businesses around the green sector. The one company which stands out in Toepfer’s mind is Siemens, a German engineering company which specialises in green technology.

Green Future for China?
One of the recurring problems with introducing targets and environmental legislation is the initial opposition from the industries and society, partially due to the lack of green knowledge and innovation. As such, Toepfer suggests changing the culture and mentality of the industries through forum discussions and education.  

Toepfer also believes that through conferences such as MIECF, stimulating conversations will be encouraged in the public sphere, which will eventually lead to development in innovation and technology. On the other hand, in order to promote China’s environmental education, Toepfer donated 100 million RMB in November 2007 to start up “The Klaus Toepfer Environmental Scholarship” fund in China, aiming to raise more social donation, to encourage the China youth and to contribute to solve the increasingly outstanding global environmental problems.

Whilst China is arguably lacking green legends such as Toepfer at present, perhaps this scholarship can inspire our Generation Y and beyond to become the country’s very own commanders.