In its triumphant second edition, Huawei’s Tech4City 2023 competition has come to a thrilling conclusion, highlighting innovation that transcends mere technology. With a focus on societal betterment, this competition has unearthed some remarkable solutions that promise to reshape Singapore for the better.
The Champions: Team Mobility
Out of a pool of eight formidable finalists, Team Mobility from The Institute of Technical Education has emerged as the undisputed victor, clinching the grand prize of S$15,000. Their groundbreaking project is poised to revolutionize Singapore’s traffic light system, making it more inclusive and safer for individuals with mobility conditions. The linchpin of their solution is the AI-powered Mobility Traffic Crossing System, backed by Huawei Cloud and the ModelArts AI development platform.
This intelligent system, trained through machine learning, can real-time detect commonly used mobility aids utilized by the elderly and persons with disabilities. Remarkably, their testing reveals impressive results – an 83% accuracy rate in detecting wheelchairs from test images and a mean average precision (mAP) of 84.9% for walking aids.
Runner-Ups: Innovation at Its Best
Team Payment in the Dark from the National University of Singapore secured the second prize of S$8,000. Their project is a beacon of accessibility for visually impaired individuals, incorporating voice recognition features into cashless payment methods.
Team Gnomes, also from the National University of Singapore, clinched the third prize of S$5,000. Their ingenious project aims to empower Singaporeans to consolidate their household energy usage on a one-stop platform, ultimately driving down energy consumption.
Acknowledging Excellence and Fostering Talent
Team Mobility’s excellence didn’t go unnoticed. They received an additional cash prize of S$3,000 for their project, the AI-powered Mobility Traffic Crossing System, deemed the best innovation in mobility, sponsored by SBS Transit.
The competition didn’t stop at the top three. Teams that secured the fourth to eighth positions were rewarded with S$1,000 each in cash. Moreover, the winning team will be enrolled in Huawei’s flagship CSR programme, Seeds for the Future. They will embark on the Huawei Asia Pacific Seeds Tour from September 15th to 19th, 2023, which includes a tour of Huawei Shenzhen Headquarters and a talent summit in Shanghai.
Tech4City 2023: Pioneering Innovation for a Better Singapore
This year’s Tech4City initiative was guided by a vision of amalgamating technological breakthroughs with the creation of social impact. It spanned five key areas: Well-being, Learning, Energy, Mobility, and Finance. As Huawei Singapore’s flagship ideation competition, Tech4City aims to empower youths to build the Singapore of tomorrow through technological innovation that aligns with these themes.
With a record-breaking participation of over 370 individuals forming 144 teams, this year’s competition attracted 89 remarkable proposals. Each proposal was scrutinized for its depth of research, innovativeness, feasibility, social value, use of technology, and logical implementation.
Supporting a Digital Future: The DfL Fund
In recognition of Tech4City’s dedication to technological innovation and its role in shaping Singapore’s future, Huawei is proud to share that Tech4City is partially supported by the Digital for Life (DfL) fund. This flagship fund is a pillar of the Digital for Life movement, aimed at supporting ground-up projects that enhance digital access, literacy, and wellness among Singaporeans.
Dialogues for Impact and an Expanding Community
Tech4City didn’t just stop at the competition; it fostered a vibrant ecosystem for youths. Dialogue sessions brought together industry experts, academia, and professionals to discuss key issues and insights related to the competition’s themes. These dialogues engaged over 120 participants and provided the ideal platform for youth-driven ideas to flourish.
The Tech4City Community has expanded its roster of partners, including Government agencies like the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the Health Promotion Board (HPB), industry giants such as SBS Transit and SGTech, knowledge powerhouses like Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School, and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), and community partners including Business China and GGEF (Global Green Economic Foundation).
