The Continued Commitment Award was won by Arup Group, the global design, engineering, planning and business consultancy. The award recognises outstanding and continued commitment to Hong Kong and China, through past efforts or future projects, by an established UK based company.
The judges were highly impressed by Arup Group's long-standing commitment to training local professionals, developing local leadership and promoting the transfer of knowledge in China. Currently 90 per cent of their management team are locals and the 2008 intake of graduate trainees totalled 100. Having operated in China for over 30 years, the company has undergone continuous growth and expansion in the region.

The involvement of Arup Group in the delivery of a number of iconic structures created for the 2008 Beijing Olympics such as the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube was deemed very exciting. The judges also commended their plans to continue to deliver projects that enrich local communities and help China to realise its ambitions in the international arena such as the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.

The Rising Stars Award was presented to Belfast based Andor Technology, a company that specialises in the development and production of high performance digital camera and light measuring technology.
This award acknowledges business dynamism and success by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in Hong Kong and China.
Andor Technology was one of the first Northern Irish companies to establish a direct presence in China. They then expanded their distribution network from a Beijing-centric base to nationwide, with the appointment of Titan Electro-Optics (TEO) as their exclusive representative in Hong Kong and China in May 2007. As a result sales in China and Hong Kong have more than trebled since 2006.The judging panel felt that for a UK company to achieve success in such a competitive field was testament to the very spirit of dynamism worthy of winning this award.

Last year Cathay Pacific introduced a new award - The New Horizons Award - that recognises a single project or initiative that displays compelling evidence of dedication to China and/or Hong Kong through business innovation, research projects, or examples of environmental or corporate social responsibility activity.
The judges selected Sindicatum Carbon Capital (SCC) as the award’s first winners. The judges agreed that the contribution made by SCC to reducing pollution in China made this a stand-out entry. SCC specialise in the end-to-end development of clean energy projects powered by abated greenhouse gases. SCC’s vision is to introduce near-zero emissions mining to China by combining utilisation and abatement of drained gas with new technology for removal of low concentration methane in the ventilation air.
Such initiatives are expected to result in increased safety standards in the underground environment, clean heat and power generation from a “waste” product and significant reduction in GHG emissions.