Press Release

HKHS Gerontech Competition Encourages Young People to Put STEM Learning into Practice to Improve the Quality of Life for Seniors

In the light of an ageing population, gerontechnology is pivotal to achieving ageing-in-place and independent living of the elderly.  The Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) being a pioneer in elderly housing and related services has organised the inaugural HKHS Gerontech Competition in this academic year, thereby supporting STEM education while promoting gerontechnology and intergenerational harmony in the community.  The Competition was successfully concluded with an award presentation ceremony today (April 16), and the winning designs are going to be showcased at the HKHS Exhibition Centre in May this year.

More than 750 students from nearly 150 teams participated in the two categories of "Secondary School Student" and "Tertiary Student (Vocational Training Council Group)", to compete for the Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards, and also the Best Creativity Award, Best Application Award and the Most Popular Award which was returned by public voting.

HKHS Chairman Walter Chan said, "The Housing Society has endeavoured to integrate the objectives of ageing-in-place and intergenerational harmony in our business.  Our first elderly housing projects were launched more than 20 years ago, and since then elderly housing has become one of our core business in face of the ageing population.  The third Senior Citizen Residences Scheme project at Lee Kung Street is expected to complete in 2022, and we will also provide elderly housing in rental estate redevelopment and dedicated rehousing estate projects, in an effort to help the elderly people age in place.

It is our great pleasure seeing the students applied what they learnt in the classroom and their creativity to design innovative yet practical age-friendly products.  I wish that such experience will help them broaden their horizon and inspire them in their pursuit of excellence and understanding of gerontechnology."

HKHS has offered the students various learning opportunities in the course of the competition through workshops, experts sharing as well as visits, to enhance their understanding of gerontechnology and the needs of the elderly.  The winning teams are selected by a judging panel composed of representatives from HKHS and the six partnering organisations (Association of IT Leaders in Education, CityU Apps Lab, Innovation and Technology Co-creation Centre of Vocational Training Council, Senior Citizen Home Safety Association, The Institute of Active Ageing of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Hong Kong Education City), based on the judging criteria including the relevance to the theme, practicality, creativity as well as the teams' presentation skills.  The final results are as follows:

The Gold, Silver and Bronze winning teams in each category would receive prizes of HK$15,000, HK$10,000 and HK$8,000 respectively, and the Gold winners would also be offered an overseas exchange opportunity.  The winning teams of the Best Creativity Award, Best Application Award and Most Popular Award are presented with a prize of $5,000 each.