Huawei’s Tech4City Competition Ignites Ideas For A Sustainable Singapore
2024.10.14
● Team Golden Gamers has won the S$20,000 grand prize money with their project, PrimePlay, an AI-integrated exercise game arcade that tailors programmes to seniors' physical abilities and health goals.
● The event aims to encourage youths in Singapore to develop solutions for inclusivity and sustainability using artificial intelligence (AI).
Tech4City 2024's Top Five Finalist Teams
[Singapore, 11 October 2024] Returning for its third edition, Huawei is proud to announce the winners of its Tech4City Competition 2024, its flagship hackathon competition event in Singapore. Youths between the ages of 18 and 35 formed teams of 3 to 6 persons to compete along this year’s themes of AI for Inclusivity and AI for Sustainability.
Huawei is encouraging youths in Singapore to develop solutions for inclusivity and sustainability using artificial intelligence (AI) through its Tech4City Competition 2024. The annual competition presents youths with opportunities to cultivate their ideas and skills through networking sessions, tech skills-enhancement programmes, Huawei’s global programmes, and potential internship opportunities.
Out of the five finalist teams from this year’s Tech4City Competition 2024, Team Golden Gamers from National University of Singapore won the grand prize of S$20,000. Their project aims to promote active ageing by providing seniors in Singapore with a comprehensive exercise system featuring personalised recommendations and progress tracking. Using Huawei Cloud, they developed PrimePlay, an AI-integrated exercise game arcade that tailors programmes to seniors' physical abilities and health goals.
Team Node won the second prize of S$12,000. Their project is an AI-powered personalisation app designed to digitally empower the lives of seniors through curated augmented reality (AR) adventures that gamifies community engagement to enhance social bonding, thereby promoting fun and active ageing in place.
Team BinaCloud from National University of Singapore won the third prize of S$8,000. Their project aims to improve accessibility, enhance efficiency and promote inclusivity by using AI to identify individuals with difficulty navigating our public transport infrastructure.
Team Cikgang from National University of Singapore won the fourth prize of S$3,000. Their educational technology solution is an AI-powered personalised learning platform built for the next generation of learning. Team MyCoTech Innovators from Institute of Technical Education won the fifth prize of S$3,000. Their project leverages internet of things (IoT) and AI for mushroom cultivation, providing precise control, automated monitoring, and improved resource efficiency. This innovation supports sustainable agriculture and future food security.
Team BinaCloud from National University of Singapore was also awarded an additional cash prize of S$3,000 for their project, SGTransaid, as the Best Innovation in Mobility, sponsored by SBS Transit.
Team Cikgang from National University of Singapore was also awarded an additional cash prize of S$2,500 for their project, Cikgo, for the “Swan & Maclaren Social Impact Award”, sponsored by Swan & Maclaren Group.
The first and second editions of the Huawei Tech4City Competition in 2022 and 2023, respectively, attracted more than 740 talented youths and inspired 180 innovative proposals. Winners received a combined total of $60,000 in cash prizes and were granted expedited entry into Huawei programmes.
The 2022 Tech4City grand prize winner, NUS start-up FingerDance, was a good example of that. FingerDance clinched the top award with their AI sign language solution prototype, and started their business after the competition, Huawei has continued to support these NUS graduates in incubating their start-up business through the Huawei Cloud Incubator, a joint programme with IMDA PIXEL, and referred FingerDance to its business partners including SBS Transit.
Together with SBS Transit, they developed SiLViA, an AI-powered sign language virtual assistant, that used advanced AI sign language LLM to translate spoken or written languages into sign language. Leveraging AI, SiLViA enhanced accessibility for the Deaf and hard of hearing, helping them to commute independently and confidently on public transport. SiLViA was rolled out on a trial basis at Chinatown Station on the North East Line. FingerDance demonstrated SiLViA onsite, providing AI Sign-Language translations for the keynote speakers on the day.
Creating an inclusive and sustainable environment
In first place was Team Golden Gamers with their project, Prime Play. Recounting their experience in the competition, the team leader of Team Golden Gamers, Jonathon Leong commented, “Winning the Tech4City 2024 competition is not just a victory for Team Golden Gamers; it's a testament to our commitment to empowering seniors through technology. With PrimePlay, we aim to redefine active ageing, ensuring that every senior in Singapore can enjoy a personalised and engaging path to better health and well-being."
Team Golden Games, from left to right, Ms Fatin Sharafana, Mr Jonathon Leong, Ms Denise Caluza, together with Mr David Wang Chengdong, President of Corporate Communications Department, Huawei Technologies
First announced in March, this year’s competition saw over 340 participants forming 70 teams to address the themes of ‘AI for Inclusivity’ and 'AI for Sustainability'. In the shortlisting phase, proposals were assessed based on the depth of research, innovativeness and feasibility, social value, use of technology, and logical implementation of each idea. The top five teams were also provided with mentors, technical training and S$2,000 funding to create their prototype which were exhibited in the finals.
Mr Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Digital Development and Information & Ministry of National Development was the Guest of Honour and gave his speech.
Mr Jeffrey Sim, Group CEO of SBS Transit said, "In promoting the use of public transport, it is necessary to make it accessible to everyone including those with disabilities. SBS Transit is therefore pleased to support the Tech4City Competition, which is focussed on creating inclusive and sustainable mobility solutions. We believe that this is a great platform for young talents to develop innovative mobility solutions and this is why we are sponsoring the mobility prize for the second year running. I am indeed impressed with the participants' enthusiasm as they think out of the box in coming up with new and creative ideas that we are constantly looking out for. I applaud all participants and extend my heartiest congratulations to the winners."
“Swan & Maclaren is excited to be part of Huawei’s Tech4City this year, showcasing the innovation and passion of young minds committed to a sustainable future. This year's theme of inclusivity and sustainability resonates deeply with Swan & Maclaren which reflects our commitment to purposeful design and impactful solutions, and we are proud to support an initiative that empowers the next generation to drive positive change in society,” Christopher Mo, Vice President of Corporate Operations at Swan Maclaren Group said.
“Huawei's Tech4City initiative is long-term strategy aimed at empowering local communities and inspiring young innovators to develop customized solutions for a wide range of real-world challenges to create a more inclusive and sustainable Singapore for all,” commented Maxi Wang, CEO of Huawei International on the 2024 edition of the Tech4City competition.
“We are pleased to facilitate a platform for young individuals to generate ideas using digital technology to address issues specific to Singapore, with a focus on community care. By doing so, we hope to continue pushing more progress in innovation and productivity from the future generations of Singapore. We are hopeful that some of today's innovative ideas will be implemented in real life, contributing to a sustainable and inclusive future. We express our gratitude to our industry partners and look forward to collaborating for a more inclusive and progressive growth story for Singapore.”
About the Huawei Tech4City Competition
First launched in 2022, Huawei aims to empower our youths to propose creative and innovative solutions using digital technology to build a sustainable and liveable Singapore of tomorrow. Participants do not need to have prior tech background or city planning experience – we welcome groundbreaking ideas from all walks of life.
More than just a competition, Huawei Tech4City presents an array of opportunities for young talents to cultivate their ideas and skills through networking sessions, tech skills-enhancement programmes, fast tracked into Huawei’s global programmes, and potential internship opportunities, aiming to bring technology for Care, Inclusion, Talent, and Youth. This initiative underscores Huawei’s commitment to nurturing talents in line with the Singapore National AI Strategy 2.0, thus contributing to the nation’s sustainable development agenda.
Tech4City underscores Huawei’s commitment to nurturing talents, which is in line with Singapore’s National AI Strategy 2.0. It also supports the national Digital for Life (DfL) movement, which mobilises partners from the private and public sectors to help Singaporeans embrace digital learning and leverage digital technologies to enhance their daily lives. In 2024, Tech4City was also officially recognised by the Dfl movement for collaborating with the community to further the country’s digitalisation goals.
To build a more vibrant ecosystem for youths and enable them to create social impact, the Tech4City Community has expanded its network of partners from various entities, including government agencies: The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the Health Promotion Board (HPB); Industry partners such as SBS Transit, SG Enable, SGTech, Swan & Maclaren Group; Knowledge partners including Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School, NUS Enterprise, SMU College of Integrative Studies (CIS), and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and community partners like Action Community for Entrepreneurship, Business China Singapore, the Global Green Economic Foundation, and Mentoring SG.
For more information on the Huawei Tech4City Competition 2024, please visit http://tech4city.sg/2024.