“If technology continues along its present course, ignoring the needs of the poor and showering benefits upon the rich, the poor will sooner or later rebel against the tyranny of technology and turn to irrational and violent remedies.”    That was written in 1997 by scientist and thinker Freeman Dyson.  It accords with my own reflections on growing up in the UK and US and then living and working in Hong Kong through 40 years, but it raises the question of whether it is possible to divert the torrent of technology driven growth into paths that enrich and give hope to societies?  The answer to that lies in innovation: innovation not in technology but in the ways we work together in society.   Here again Dyson, a favourite writer, has thoughts to share: “In almost all the varied walks of life, amateurs have more freedom to experiment and innovate.  The fraction of the population who areamateurs is a good measure of the freedom of a society”.  So, one does not need to be a professional social innovator, it is a role that any of us can play.

Kim has worked as a barman, boatbuilder, factory-hand, warehouseman and archaeologist in the UK before coming to Hong Kong in 1980 and working for 37 years as a civil servant, endinghis career running the Efficiency Unit and helping to set up the SocialInnovation and Entrepreneur Development Fund. Now retired, he continues to take interest in how cities and societies work and how organisations share knowledge, listen and keep learning.  He reads a lot, mostly historical studies and detective fiction, and paints miniature soldiers.