Arthur Huang is the Founder and CEO of Miniwiz, a circular upcycling technology company dedicated to transforming consumer and industrial waste into high-performance materials. His expertise in structural engineering and architecture has played a crucial role in Miniwiz’s groundbreaking initiatives in ESG engineering and upcycling since the company’s establishment in 2005. Miniwiz’s efforts have been well-recognized by the international community: It won the Wall Street Journal’s Asian Innovation Award in 2011 and was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2015.  

As part of our “Build Back Greener: Addressing Climate Change in Asia” report, CAPS spoke (virtually) to Arthur in February 2022 to understand Miniwiz’s core values and the process of translating such values into innovative solutions within the ever-evolving environmental, social and governance (ESG) landscape.  

CAPS: Arthur, thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. Miniwiz is deeply committed to realizing a truly circular economy, one that is based on reusing and recycling to preserve resources and lessen the environmental footprint. Could you share with us the premise behind Miniwiz’s work?  

Arthur: Of course. I would like first to emphasize that the most effective way to reduce our carbon footprint is by reusing resources rather than simply recycling them. Recycling invariably presents environmental challenges due to the requirement of waste segregation, which exists in almost all such schemes in developed economies. Unfortunately, this process not only devalues waste materials but also causes secondary pollution as additional processing is needed, leading to a trash conundrum.  

This is precisely why Miniwiz has tasked itself with reusing as much of the original configuration as possible when turning waste into scalable resources. It is essential to understand that technology plays a pivotal part in achieving this objective, and it works hand in hand with environmental activism to build a fairer and more sustainable planet. These two elements should be linked together, albeit they are often perceived as separate.  

CAPS: How have you put these ideas into practice?  

Arthur: We strive to unlock the potential of upcycling, which involves reusing waste in its current state and refurbishing it to create a higher-quality product. Drawing from my own experience in structural engineering, we convert low-value waste into high-performance building materials and modules as alternatives to existing carbon-intensive products.  

For example, commissioned by the Nan Fung Group in Hong Kong, we have conducted a series of experiments to transform post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles into 3D-sublimated textile fabric designed for interior spaces. The material exhibits not only splash- and abrasion-resistance but also acoustic and antibacterial qualities, marking critical technological breakthroughs. 

** In a follow-up with Arthur in November 2023, CAPS learned that this collaboration successfully repurposed over 140,000 disposable water bottles as curtain wall systems for the newly opened AIRSIDE mall in Hong Kong. The surfacing itself contributed to a carbon footprint reduction of more than 48,000 kg.  

CAPS: Do you collaborate with other companies to help grow the circular economy? 

Arthur: Yes, we do. Interestingly, several of our innovative ideas have stemmed from collaborations with the Fubon Group, a conglomerate with diverse business interests including banking and telecommunication. A case in point is making wireless phone chargers out of recycled surgical masks, with each charger composed of nine recycled masks at a low cost. The Group even invited us to display the manufacturing process in front of its employees as part of their ESG initiatives. All of this points to how ESG demands can organically expand the notion of a circular economy. 

Our business partnerships go beyond Taiwan to all corners of the world, and one such instance is the previously mentioned collaboration with the Nan Fung Group in Hong Kong. Other leading property developers there such as Sino Group have also embraced our upcycled materials as their ESG solutions in the design and construction of shopping malls. 

CAPS: Speaking of ESG, what related trends have you observed in Taiwan and other economies you work in? 

Arthur: There is a notable trend in which the governments of Taiwan and Singapore are increasingly incorporating ESG themes into procurement and development projects. In Taiwan, this is particularly noticeable in initiatives related to public land development. This shift is likely motivated by public institutions seeking to showcase their ESG commitment to constituents, such as reducing emissions and benefiting the local economy. 

In the private sector, smaller companies often face resource, knowledge and capacity constraints when implementing ESG programs. Larger consumer companies, with whom we have partnered, intend to do good but struggle to have full control of their supply chains. This lack of control poses increased difficulties for them to effect meaningful ESG impact. On the other hand, the banking and real estate industries have shown significant interest in ESG initiatives, primarily due to the long-term nature of their projects. 

CAPS: How have these changes impacted Miniwiz?  

Arthur: Taken together, these shifts reflect a growing market demand for our sustainable products and services. While Miniwiz operates in various economies, we have refocused on Taiwan since the pandemic. This decision allowed us to engage in the previously discussed ESG-oriented procurement contracts with the government and the largest real estate developer in Taiwan. We could bid on these contracts at market prices comparable to typical technology companies, and these projects amounted to over US$1 billion.  

Such tremendous ESG procurement opportunities have, in turn, allowed us to reshape our business model. We have invested more resources in waste collection and enhanced our technological capacity to transform waste into sustainable materials locally. Seen this way, these substantial procurement volumes can translate into a significant force in influencing local transformation, ultimately disrupting long-established supply chains.  

Another way of looking at these procurement contracts is that the profits generated can be redirected to our operations in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, gradually expanding our global reach. 

CAPS: Finally, with respect to the private sector, what do you think could be done to drive impactful ESG outcomes?  

Arthur: One positive step corporates can take is to integrate ESG components into their current research and development (R&D) projects. This way, R&D can serve as a means to promote not only technological progress but also industry transformation towards greater sustainability. This also brings us back to the idea I said earlier in our conversation – harnessing technology for doing good. 

In late 2022 and early 2023, CAPS surveyed 135 ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) individuals—those worth more than US$30 million—across mainland China, Hong Kong, and Chinese Taipei.  Respondents answered questions about their philanthropy and other private social investments as well as their sources of advice, the impact of philanthropy on their personal lives and families, and their interest and engagement on social and environmental issues.  

This report draws on the analysis of these findings, building on CAPS’ studies and observations on philanthropy in the region. Findings show that UHNW individuals and families in Greater China are actively doing good and that philanthropy and social investments are seen as benefiting UHNW families across generations.  

在2022 年末至 2023 年初期间，CAPS向135 位来自中国内地、香港和中华台北拥有超过 3,000 万美元家族凈资产的高凈值个人或家族成员代表进行了问卷调查。受访者就财富管理、公益慈善事业、私人社会投资、获得专业建议的信息渠道、公益慈善事业对个人生活和家族的影响，及他们对社会和环境议题的关注点等方面回答了一系列问题。

本报告基于对调查结果的分析、CAPS 过去十年对整个亚洲的慈善家的研究和观察，以及广泛的文献综述。我们的研究表明，在大中华地区，超高凈值个人和家族将社会投资视为财富管理、家族传承和对社会的承诺的一部分。在此基础上，我们得出了四个主要洞察。这些发现构成了本报告的主要内容，随后的章节将探讨这些发现对亚洲私人社会投资和财富管理所产生的影响。

張榮發慈善基金會於2023/4/25與台灣永續能源研究基金會、聯聖集團，共同舉辦「社會責任如何影響中小企業永續的經營與發展」國際論壇，並邀請中小企業和社福團體共同參與，超過200位人員熱情出席參加，共同關心社會責任議題。 More here.

Iris Liu is the Vice President at Taiwan Mobile (TWM), the second largest telecom company in Taiwan. She joined in 2014, the year that Taiwan Mobile formed its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) steering committee. Iris oversees sustainability, brand management, public relations, as well as the TWM Foundation. This allows her to create synergies within the company and develop multiple-win projects. Taiwan Mobile has become a pioneer of sustainability and innovation in Taiwan’s telecom sector, not only reducing environmental impact but also actively creating shared value. CAPS spoke to Iris Liu in January 2022 to understand Taiwan Mobile’s journey towards sustainability.

CAPS: Thank you, Iris, for sitting down with us. You started with Taiwan Mobile at the beginning of their sustainability journey. Can you share an important learning from the past eight years with the company?  

Iris: Without a doubt, it is the importance of leaving no one behind in our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) planning. Everyone in the company must be on the same page and recognize the same goal. We really struggled in the first two years because people didn’t know what they should do. It took many workshops to communicate with our employees and the steering committee, as well as our executives. This process helped us to get everyone on the same page.  

CAPS: How has Taiwan Mobile crafted its ESG strategy and goals? 

Iris: We update our strategy annually through a collaborative process with employees. Every year, we hold key workshops where around 200 executives gather to learn about the company’s ESG focus. This year the focus of the workshop is on Net Zero planning for 2050. We examine 52 KPIs for sustainability across the company and ask ourselves whether these are achievable and ambitious enough. Then at the end of the year, we review our progress and each business unit is assessed on its ESG performance. For instance, one of the KPIs I set for my team was to complete 50 hours of training, which they surpassed.  

TWM also asked employees to “imagine the year 2030” when creating long-term goals, which helped shape the direction of our ESG strategy. TWM aims to reduce its footprint and be a responsible business. Overall, we emphasized staff working together to reach goals, and routinely updated them to respond to the changing world. Along the way, we offer many educational classes, movies related to ESG, and training support for our employees to integrate sustainability into their thinking and work. 

CAPS: Who provides these workshops and classes? And when your team needs support, who can you turn to? 

Iris: Since sustainability is integrated into our employees’ daily work and responsibilities, a lot of the classes are delivered internally by Human Resources. We also offer online training. In fact, during Covid-19, this option made it easier for our employees to participate because they could choose their preferred time and select what they wanted to learn. We also have an external consultant, KPMG, and we consider their advice when creating projects. And, luckily, our team always has strong support from other business units like Technical Group, Information and Technology Group, Customer Business Group etc. that give us all the resources we needed in every different projects. Most important and strongest support is from our president, our chairman, and the Board.  

CAPS: Can you tell us about some of the projects that you’ve been doing as a result of this work? 

Iris: Yes, for example Solar for Good. Sunnyfounder, a social enterprise, helps people develop solar energy projects in Taiwan. Sunnyfounder identifies non-profit organizations (NPOs) with available rooftop space where solar panels can be built. Sunnyfounder then attracts investments to build the infrastructure, and the energy generated by the solar panels can either be used by the NPO or sold to generate income

When I heard about this project I was immediately excited as we had a previous campaign where NT$2 from the sale of any device through Taiwan Mobile’s channels went towards developing green power and I wanted to create greater synergy by merging the two concepts. We could use the technical knowledge from Sunnyfounder to build solar panels on NPOs’ rooftops. TWM would donate one million NTD on each project and help raise money to support more NPOs to install solar panels. We named this project as “Solar for Good”.  

We started “Solar for Good” since 2017, help 5 NPOs raised over NTD 24 million to build up the solar energy systems and generate over 1.4m kWh of green electricity, with more than NTD 8 million revenue accumulated till now for those five NPOs. In 20 years, the estimated total revenue for those five NPOs will be around NTD 63.21 million and approximately 9.36 million kWh of green electricity will be generated, equivalent to carbon reduction of 4907 tons of CO2e. That means that we guarantee a 20-years stable income for those NPOs and also benefit our planet with more clean energy at the same time.  

CAPS: You’re creating a win-win-win for the NPOs, the community, and the environment. That is wonderful.  

Iris: Thank you. For us, the win-win-win is very important. Not only are we helping to boost renewable energy, we are also helping NPOs. We also saw invisible benefits. The solar panels on the rooftops lowered the temperature of the whole building by 3-4 degrees, and so the energy consumed by the NPOs was also reduced.  

CAPS: We also heard about your fiber optics project, can you tell us a bit more about that?  

Iris: Three years ago we started the Circular Economy Forum. At the time, our performance on circular economy and waste management was not good enough, so we wanted to force ourselves to be better. We co-worked with KPMG and host the first forum, made a declaration with our suppliers that we would become more circular. In the second year, we consulted with our technical group to see what kind of waste we were producing and try to figure out the item that we can start our efforts with. They noted that we produced a lot of waste fiber optic cables (FOC) and identified a company, Miniwiz, researching to reduce waste. We now work with Miniwiz as well as Chang Gung University to identify how fiber optic waste cables can be turned into new products.  

In a follow-up interview with Arthur Huang, CEO of Miniwiz, in February 2022, CAPS learned that as a result of this project collaboration, Miniwiz developed the technology to take FOC waste and turn it into brick and rebar substitutes. Instead of sourcing steel for construction projects, for example, a builder might source FOC “rebar” instead, which is stronger and more water-resistant than steel. 

CAPS: What has been the most rewarding part of being part of TWM’s sustainability journey? 

Iris: The change in people. In our steering committee, I can see that each executive is really trying to learn more about sustainability: recognizing the issue of climate change, methods used to reduce carbon emissions, and so on. But this change was not limited to the executive team, the employees also changed. In less than 3 years we have seen employees really becoming interested in integrating ESG in their work. So, I would say the biggest achievement is that we set our goals and did it together.  

COVID-19 has exacerbated income inequalities and social disparities across Asia, serving as a force multiplier for trends already in place. Assessing performance across four sub-indexes – Regulations, Tax and Fiscal Policy, Ecosystem, and Procurement – CAPS’ biennial flagship study, the Doing Good Index 2022, examines the social investment landscape in Asia. Read here.

According to the Doing Good Index 2022, which analyses the social investment landscape in Asia, Covid-19 has exacerbated social disparities and income inequalities and across the region. We talk to Dr. Ruth Shapiro, the Co-Founder and Chief Executive of the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society (CAPS), which conducts the study biennially, about the pandemic’s impact on people in Asia, her work and improving Hong Kong’s social sector. Read here.

Almost half of Asia’s social delivery organisations have reported a decline in funding in the last 12 months, some as much as 50 percent, according to new research. The Hong Kong-based Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society (CAPS) surveyed more than 2,000 entities and some 120 experts across 17 Asian economies, including India, Pakistan, China, and Singapore. Read here.

Covid-19 has exacerbated income inequalities and social disparities across Asia, serving as a force multiplier for trends already in place. A new social impact study released today by the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society (CAPS) shows how to maximize philanthropic and policy responses to cope with these post-Covid challenges. Read here.

Doing Good Index microsite

Our interactive microsite lets you visualize, explore and compare our data. Use our graphics and maps to help you understand Asia at a glance. The data dashboard allows you to compare economies and track changes across time. Economy profiles present a visual and digestible deep dive into each economy.

What is the Doing Good Index?

The Doing Good Index 2022 is the most comprehensive social impact index in Asia to date, highlighting the factors that drive or hinder private capital flowing towards social and economic challenges across 17 Asian economies.

The Doing Good Index comes at a critical time when economies have been heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Inequalities have been exacerbated, and hard-won progress in social and economic growth has been undone. An estimated two-thirds of those newly forced into poverty live in South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific.

To address these shared challenges, all parts of society—individuals, companies, government and the social sector—must work together to drive more resources towards building a better future together. The Doing Good Index shows how. It provides a roadmap of the policies and practices that can unleash this capital by mitigating the trust deficit; leveraging local support; and facilitating cross-sector collaboration.

In 2022 we surveyed 2,239 SDOs and interviewed 126 experts across 17 Asian economies. In mapping the landscape of social investment, the study examines four sub-indices: Regulations, Tax and Fiscal Policy, Ecosystem, and Procurement. We also include a section on how the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the social sector.

The Doing Good Index is published every two years. Read the inaugural edition from 2018 and our 2020 edition.

There is a growing trend in Asia of governments and the private sector coming together to address social needs, and our latest study spotlights these “public-private partnerships for social good.” With 88% of top business leaders in Asia believing such partnerships will become even more common over the next five years, it is more important than ever to understand what they are and how they work.

We conducted an in-depth analysis of 20 notable PPPs for social good spanning 11 Asian economies and 9 sectors to find out. Our report showcases why this trend is taking root, what best-in-class PPPs for social good look like, and how they maximize impact.

The report sets out 6 strategies that enable public-private partnerships for social good to achieve greater impact, how they can prepare for sustainability, and how they can navigate risks.