In December 2014 and January 2015, Dr Margarita Pavlova, Co-Director of the Centre for Lifelong Learning Research and Development, a UNEVOC Centre in Hong Kong, conducted a series of meetings and interviews in Sweden, Denmark and Finland to identify ways of green innovation diffusion and skills responses. These three countries have been ranked high on the Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index (GSCI), an index which ranks the World's nations according to their current level of sustainable competitiveness and prospects for achieving sustainable development.

Based on data collected during her visit, Dr Pavlova has identified a number of applicable cases, with a view to recommending green skills development strategies for Hong Kong. These included, among others, the Green Entrepreneur House in Denmark that serves as an incubator for green start-ups. It is a dedicated environment that enables network creations, prototyping, business and product developments as well as university collaborations.

Funded by HKIEd and supported by the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Denmark, Quality Integration Company, Finland and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, a project entitled “Challenges and Opportunities in Skills Building for Innovation: Human Resource Dimensions of Hong Kong’s Green Innovation”, targeted for completion by July 2015, aims to contribute to increased efficiency of government spending on Research and Development (R&D) in Hong Kong by examining the role of skills in the implementation of the results of R&D programmes.