Third Regional Launch Event, 28 October 2010, Shunde, Guangdong Province
With a view to raising project awareness among regional policy-makers and increasing the outreach of training and certification activities to SMEs of the electrical and electronics industry in the Shenzhen Industrial Zone area, a third Regional Launch Event was held in the city of Shunde, Guangdong Province on 28th October 2010 following up from previous events organized in Jinan on 13th August 2010 and Huizhou on 16th September 2010.
With the support from Shunde SME Bureau and South China Home Electric Appliances Research Institute, the 1-day event organized for local policy makers and companies in the Shenzhen Industrial Zone area was successfully conducted at the Shunde Golden Hotel on 28th October 2010. In order to continue raising interest in the upcoming training programs for 500 SMEs, a selection of local enterprises in the electrical and electronic industry were invited to attend the events. More than 100 participants turned up, including representatives from the Chinese Institute of Electronics (CIE), China National Institute of Standardization (CNIS) and Renmin University as well as managers and engineers from the region small and medium companies and larger companies headquartered in Guangdong province such as Midea Group.
Chaired by Vice-Secretary Yang Dongjing from the E-waste Comprehensive Utilization Work Committee of China Electronics Energy Saving Technology Association, the Regional Launch Event consisted of detailed presentations by partners and experts on the project objectives and benefits for SMEs in improving their eco-efficiency, OHS and CSR performance through a series of possible measures as detailed in the project’s Standard Guidelines and Conformity Model concept and interactive discussion. Opening the event, Mr. Liu Weilin from South China Home Electric Appliances Research Institute welcomed representatives from the local enterprises, AHKB as well as the project partners and experts. Project Team Leader Mr. Igor Darbo gave a comprehensive introduction of the project latest status including the development of an online e-learning platform for SMEs and answered questions raised by companies’ representatives regarding the expected commitments and benefits entailed by their participation in the training and assessment programme. Interested companies were indicated how to register for joining in the project activities. Mr. Huang Jin from CNIS introduced the Standard Guidelines developed by the project consortium. Representing CIE, Mr. He Chuangxin then gave a detailed presentation about the Conformity Model and explained the four levels of compliance that SMEs can reach in the frame of the project. Detailed presentations on eco-efficiency were delivered by project expert Professor Jin Min from Renmin University who introduced the state-of-play of EU legal and regulatory requirements for EE sector, market incentives for eco-design, and an eco-efficiency comprehensive toolbox for SMEs. Representing project associate Deutsche Telekom, Head of Market Research Mr. Zhang Zhengqing gave a presentation on DT Group’s environmental strategy and sustainable supply chain management.
An in-depth interactive discussion with the experts’ panel followed Mr. Ho’s speech in order to sketch out the appropriate approach for the companies to initiate compliance/improvement measures and design an eco-efficiency/OHS/CSR Action Plan. A final Q&A session with participating SMEs highlighted the need for state-of-the-art soldering technologies and the resource efficiency potential of regional clusters and industrial parks.
Thanks to the one day event, a direct dialogue has been established between the project team and expert’s pool, the area’s SMEs and the local industry at large. Over 100 participating companies got a better understanding and awareness of the project objectives and were introduced to the project training programme on EU environmental and safety regulatory framework, sustainable production and product life cycle management. Training handbooks, copies of the project newsletter as well as DVDs containing Eco-efficiency and OHS video training modules were distributed to participants. This high level event provided a good start for further expanding the project outreach and mobilizing more SMEs in the Shenzhen Industrial Zone area for future capacity building activities. The Q&A sessions also pointed out the need for customized follow-up advice to SMEs in designing and implementing their compliance and resource efficiency Action Plan. A strong interest was expressed in using the project's e-learning platform for initial training on the basics of eco-efficiency, OHS and CSR.
