Updated on 4 August 2026
Building Trust Across Borders: "Social" Metric for ESG
Co-founder at IITTI World Civility Index
Canada
About
Building Trust Across Borders: Towards An Assurance-Grade "Social" Metric for ESG
One of the biggest unresolved challenges in ESG is measuring the Social ("S") pillar.
Organizations can report hours spent on employee training. But demonstrating that these investments produce lasting improvements in professional behaviour, intercultural collaboration, and workplace culture remains far more difficult.
Established in 2011, IITTI is an international NGO that has developed the **World Civility Index (WCI)**—an independent, third-party framework designed to measure and document continuous human capital development across international boundaries.
The framework has been piloted across Southeast Asia and South America, with approximately 5,000 exam participants from enterprises, universities, and government organizations, including the Marlow/MSC/UMTC Shipping Group (Philippines), the Leadership Institute of the Sarawak Civil Service (Malaysia), entrepreneurship initiatives in Peru, and Universidad Tecnológico Espíritu Santo (Ecuador).
As Belt & Road projects increasingly connect organizations across different cultures, languages, and business environments, risk mitigation depends on standardized, "common interface" professional behavior and intercultural trust. This allows everybody to know what to expect, and what is expected!
IITTI is seeking strategic partnerships with:
Enterprises & SOEs: To pilot documented "S" pillar human capital data for supply-chain ESG compliance (GRI, IFRS) via a 6-month initial project with 2-3 partner enterprises.
Universities & Research Institutions: To expand longitudinal behavioral validation models and academic co-research, targeting a co-authored validation study starting Q1 2027.
Governments & Trade Bodies: To establish standardized cross-border workforce readiness credentials with one trade body as first mover.
By focusing on the "S" in ESG, the ultimate goal is to allow Chinese businesses to learn about Western business protocol and etiquette, and Western businesses to learn about Chinese business protocol and etiquette.
Project Location
- China (Hong Kong)
Project Website
https://www.IITTI.org
Project Format
- Public-Private Partnership Project
Go Global Project
- Yes
ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)
- Yes
Project Stage
- Partner Identification
Main Project Sector
- Urban Development
Technology
- Education Technology
Urban Development
- Education
- Smart City Development
- Technology Park
- Industrial Parks
- Free Trade Zone
Other Sector(s)
ESG standardization in the Social pillar
Total Project Value
- 1,000,001 to 2,500,000 USD
Investment Capital Required
- 1,000,001 to 2,500,000 USD
Interested Format of Cooperation
- Public–private partnership / Concession
- Joint Venture
Preferred Financing Model
- Open for negotiation
Type(s) of Last Financing Round of the project (if Applicable)
- Equity (private)
Main Service(s) Required
- Professional Services
Organisation
Similar opportunities
Project
- Yes
- Yes
- Technology
- Private Project
- Project Planning
- Equity (private)
- Big Data Solution
- Professional Services
- Risk Management & Resilience
- Information Technology Services
- Private Equity & Venture Capital
Mingyang Xu
CEO at WEMEI by Go Tek Inc.
Canada
Project
- Yes
- Yes
- Fin-Tech
- Technology
- Private Project
- Financial Services
- Idea / Concept Stage
- 1,000,001 to 2,500,000 USD
- Government & Public Funding
- Information Technology Services
Wenjie Xu
Founder at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
China (Hong Kong)
Project
- Yes
- Yes
- Technology
- Operations
- Bootstrapping
- Public Project
- Financial Services
- Professional Services
- Environmental Services
- Information Technology Services
Maggie Lu
Managing Director at NeuraEdge Limited
China (Hong Kong)