Supported by the Government, the HKAI was launched in 2005 by merging the former Hong Kong Awards for Industry and Hong Kong Awards for Services, established in 1989 and 1997 respectively.
The HKAI aims to recognise the outstanding performance and achievements of Hong Kong enterprises in enhancing their competitiveness in various aspects.
The 2023-24 HKAI comprises five categories, each run by a respective organiser:
Category | Organiser |
---|---|
Product-based Categories | |
Consumer Product Design | Federation of Hong Kong Industries |
Equipment and Machinery Design | The Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong |
Company-based Categories | |
Customer Service | Hong Kong Retail Management Association |
Innovation and Creativity | Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce |
Upgrading and Transformation | Hong Kong Young Industrialists Council |
Each organiser is responsible for drawing up and administering the rules of its respective award competition, publicising the competition, inviting entries and conducting a preliminary evaluation of entries.
Overall coordination of the HKAI is provided by the Organising Committee of the HKAI. This Committee is chaired by the Deputy Director-General of Trade and Industry (Bilateral Trade, Controls & Industries Support) with membership drawn from the respective organisers of the five award categories.
There are three tiers of Awards to be presented in each category, namely Grand Awards, Awards and Certificates of Merit. One Grand Award is presented in each category per term. For the company-based categories, a maximum of 5 Awards and 10 Certificates of Merit can be presented. There is no limit for product-based categories. To maintain the high standard of the HKAI, the judging panels may decide not to present the Grand Award in any given term.
The preliminary judging process in each award category is carried out by the relevant judging panel. The final judging panels are responsible for the subsequent adjudication process. While the two product-based categories will set up their own final judging panels, the company-based categories will jointly form a final judging panel. To ensure consistency of judging standard in each category, the final judging panels are chaired by the same person who is of high standing and invited by the Organising Committee of the HKAI.
The funding of the HKAI is directly subsidised by the Government.
The symbol of the HKAI, expressed both in the award logo and in the trophies conferred on winners, juxtaposes two precious elements, a pearl and a pierced jade amulet, to form a design which has happy connotations in both Chinese and Western contexts.
The pearl (Zhu珠) is of particular significance to Hong Kong, an ancient source of fine pearls in China, and traditionally known as the Pearl of the Orient. The jade amulet (Bi璧) represents the Heaven, according to Eastern Han scholar Zheng Xuan (鄭玄). The pierced disc resembles the ancient calligraphic symbol for the sun, and the amulet is decorated with a stylised version of the traditional 'grain' (穀) pattern. In Chinese, the two words together signify a perfect match. In the Western context, the two symbols together form the letter 'Q', which is widely associated with the concept of quality.