Team Blahaj, comprising of students Wang Zerui, Vincent Kwok, Christian Tan and David Chik, will walk away with a total of $10,000 worth of Samsung products and $6,000 cash prize. NUS High School of Mathematics and Science will also be receiving a Samsung interactive digital whiteboard – the 55” Flip Pro.

Team Blahaj testing their prototype, which allows visually impaired individuals to better understand and navigate their surroundings.

With the aim of revolutionising sensory experiences for visually impaired individuals, Team Blahaj proposed a two-part solution that leverages advanced technologies such as AI to offer visually impaired individuals a detailed understanding of surroundings through auditory and tactile cues.

• Software Solution: LiDAR and Object Detection – Utilising LiDAR and AI-driven object detection in smartphones, the solution can create an “obstacle map” with tactile representation and multisensory instructions. This enables users to navigate their environment seamlessly.
• Hardware Solution: Real-time Tactile Interface – This interface translates the visual data captured by the device into tactile feedback, allowing users to “read” their surroundings through touch.

As many as 1.1 billion people were thought to have vision impairment in 2020, and this figure is predicted to increase by as much as 55% in the next 30 years, according to a report by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB).  The solution aims to transform the reality for visually impaired individuals and improve their overall quality of life by enhancing their ability to navigate their world independently and safely.

Sharing the inspiration behind their solution, Wang Zerui, Team Leader of Blahaj said: “Our inspiration stems from the desire to help enhance the quality of life for the visually impaired and even seniors in our community, including our own grandparents who are grappling with vision challenges. By leveraging modern technologies like AI, we hope to address the needs of these individuals and help forge a more inclusive society for everyone.”

“The ingenuity we see in this year’s Solve for Tomorrow competition reflects the limitless potential of our youths. Their dedication to addressing real-world challenges is inspiring and Samsung is proud to champion their efforts. We will continue to nurture our youths’ passion and creativity and provide them with the opportunities to transform their ideas into reality,” said Dennis Jang, President of Samsung Electronics Singapore.

Dennis was one of three judges who evaluated the students’ submissions in the final round of the competition. The other judges were Mock Yi Jun, Co-Founder and President of Advisory Singapore, and Kelvin Leung, Vice President of Openspace Ventures.

Driving Positive Social and Environment Changes with Technology and Passion

Other entries that stood out in this competition were the deep water culture-based hydroponics system by Team Glacial Planters from Pei Hwa Secondary School and the ElderGuard Innovations, a smart fall detection technology by Team Senior Safety Solutions from the School of Science and Technology, Singapore. Team Glacial Planters and Team Senior Safety Solutions won the 2^nd and 3^rd prizes, respectively.

Teams Glacier Planters and Senior Safety Solutions impressed the judges with their inventiveness, outstanding application of technology, and their solutions’ potential to bring positive change to our community and environment.

Team Work for Youths from Pei Hwa Secondary School with their Work For Youths Web idea to improve the financial situation of lower-income families also won the People’s Choice Award.

“These secondary school teams have truly exceeded my expectations. Despite their youth, they’ve displayed outstanding maturity, awareness, and critical thinking in identifying and tackling the different issues in our community. Their remarkable solutions underscore the influential role of youth and technology in driving positive societal change. Congratulations to all the winning teams for their outstanding ideas,” said Kelvin Leung, Vice President of Openspace Ventures.

Preparing the Next Generations for the Future Digital Economy

The World Economic Forum recently reported that 1.1 billion jobs are likely to be radically transformed by technology in the next decade^[1]. It is crucial to prepare the younger generations for the future by ensuring that they stay on top of relevant technical skills and competencies from a young age.

“Our Solve for Tomorrow journey has been an exciting and enriching one, giving us the chance to tackle real-world problems and bring our ideas to life. The hands-on experience not only offered us a glimpse into what our future careers in computing and software development might entail, but it also allowed us to sharpen our problem-solving skills, foster teamwork, and apply our knowledge in practical ways”, Zerui highlighted.

“Technology is changing the way we live, work, and play. Platforms like Solve for Tomorrow give students the tools and opportunity to imagine solutions to the problems they see around them, and help students realise that they’re never too young to innovate for the future. The digital economy of tomorrow will be designed by young people of today, and we should equip them early with the skills and confidence they need to create a more sustainable and inclusive society for generations to come”, said Mock Yi Jun, Co-Founder and President of Advisory Singapore.

For more information on Solve for Tomorrow and profiles of the judges, please visit the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow website: https://www.samsung.com/sg/solvefortomorrow/.

More details on the competition can be found in Appendix A.

^[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/01/reskilling-revolution-reaching-600-million-people-by-2030/

Appendix A

About Samsung Solve for Tomorrow

The Solve for Tomorrow 2023 competition, launched on 23 August 2023, encourages students in Singapore to take a closer look at the social issues around them and think about how they can make a meaningful impact on the community. At its launch, more than 80 students, forming more than 30 groups of two to four, submitted a write-up of their ideas or solutions.

The platform also allows youth to express their creativity and passion while encouraging them to apply their knowledge and skills across multiple disciplines – including critical and design thinking, marketing and communications skills, technological expertise and STEM knowledge – when developing their ideas and solutions.

Competition Overview

All students aged 12 years old and above and are full-time Secondary 1 – 5 students in Singapore are eligible to join the competition. For students in secondary schools with 6-year Integrated Programme (IP), only full-time students in Secondary 1 – 4 are eligible to participate. You can find the full list of eligible schools here.

A total of 10 teams were selected as finalists in December 2023.  A virtual workshop on design thinking was organised for all the finalist teams.

The public also got to vote for their favourite idea on the Solve for Tomorrow website. The finalist team with the most votes won the People’s Choice awards.

Judging Criteria for Finalists

• 30%: Feasibility – Elaboration on how the solution can be created and implemented.
• 20%: Creativity – Innovativeness, uniqueness and originality of proposed idea.
• 25%: Technology – Elaboration on the use of technology involved and how it is used to solve the problem.
• 20%: Video – Flow and effectiveness of the video.
• 5%: Public Voting – Finalists’ ideas were posted online and the public can vote for their favourite idea.

Prizes

• First Prize – Samsung products worth $10,000, $6,000 cash prize and Samsung’s interactive digital whiteboard – the 55” Flip Pro worth S$4,806 – for the school
• Second Prize – Samsung products worth S$7,000 and $4,000 cash prize
• Third Prize – Samsung products worth S$5,000 and $2,000 cash prize
• People’s Choice award: Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro

At its core, the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition was created to encourage innovative thinking, creative problem-solving and teamwork among the next generation of leaders, while enabling young minds to pioneer positive social change through technology and innovation. The 2022 edition engaged over 270 post-secondary and tertiary students.

In case you missed it, you can find more details about the winning teams’ innovations here.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announced that three new Young Leaders had joined Generation17, an initiative in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to support young changemakers working to achieve the 17 Global Goals.^[1] The addition of these three Young Leaders will help educate people about critical global challenges and the solutions needed to deliver a more prosperous future by 2030.

For the first time, Samsung and UNDP conducted an open call that rallied thousands of passionate young people from all over the world to apply to join Generation17. This new group of Generation17 Young Leaders, chosen from a competitive pool of candidates, will add new perspectives to the initiative, and their projects will bring forth new solutions in education, skills and training and health equity.

Mock Yi Jun is one of the newly appointed Young Leaders. Hailing from Singapore, Yi Jun is the co-founder of Advisory Singapore, an online portal dedicated to empowering young people from all walks of life to make informed education and career choices. He is passionate about providing quality education to youth to help them succeed in tomorrow’s economy.

The two other changemakers, Zubair Junjunia from the United Kingdom and Efe Johnson from Nigeria, have also been selected as Young Leaders. Zubair is the founder of ZNotes and Efe is a gender equality activist and founder of Xari Africa.

“I am truly excited about the selection of the three Young Leaders, especially Singapore’s representative Mock Yi Jun. We strongly believe that Yi Jun’s unwavering commitment and expertise will not only inspire the younger generation but also ignite their potential to drive impactful change. At Samsung, our commitment to nurturing and empowering youth runs deep, and we are always looking for opportunities to equip them with the skills and knowledge needed to forge a brighter future,” stated Dennis Jang, President of Samsung Electronics Singapore.

“At Advisory Singapore, we believe that every young person, regardless of their family background or schooling history, deserves the opportunity to pursue their aspirations. I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of an initiative like Generation17, which is an incredible platform for my team and I to empower individuals, particularly Singaporean youth, to take control of their education and career journeys. My goal is to inspire and support young people, helping them to pursue their aspirations and find meaningful work,” said Mock Yi Jun.

One of the initiatives that Yi Jun will be actively involved in is the Solve for Tomorrow 2023 competition. Aligned with his passion to deliver quality educational and career guidance to youth, the competition aims to give secondary school students the platform and experience needed to unlock their technological potential and help explore their passions. The experience will not only give them the opportunity to cultivate their problem-solving and critical thinking skills, but also help them grow and thrive as global citizens.

Amplifying Youth Leadership on a Global Platform

Samsung and UNDP launched Generation17 in October 2020, with the goal of magnifying the voices of young people accelerating progress for the Global Goals. Since the program’s launch, Samsung and UNDP have gathered 17 Young Leaders across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America who work on issues that touch all 17 of the Global Goals.

Together, Samsung and UNDP provide the Young Leaders with mentorship and the latest Galaxy technology needed to help progress their work. The Young Leaders also have the opportunity to participate in agenda-setting events to help elevate their platforms and connect with global decision-makers. Generation17 Young Leaders have participated in various events over the years, including Samsung’s Unpacked, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, UN ECOSOC Youth Forum, Stockholm +50 and the United Nations General Assembly.

Generation17 is grounded in Samsung and UNDP’s commitment to leveraging technology as a force for good. The two organisations first partnered in 2019 to create the Samsung Global Goals app, an education and donation-based mobile app that educates people about the Global Goals and encourages them to take action just by using their Galaxy devices. Since its launch, the app has been installed on nearly 300 million Galaxy devices worldwide, including smartphones, tablets and smartwatches.

^{[1] The 17 Global Goals, known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 and provide a blueprint to end poverty, protect the environment, reduce economic inequality and ensure peace and justice for all.}

Samsung’s global competition, Solve for Tomorrow, is back with its seventh edition in Singapore. Themed ‘Be the Change, Shape the Future’, starting from today until 15^th October 2023. This year’s competition is different as it is tailored for full-time students in Singapore’s secondary schools.

Solve for Tomorrow 2023 intends to inspire and uncover the next generation of changemakers by encouraging secondary school students to think deeply about the social issues affecting their community and pioneer positive social change through technology and innovation.

Aligned with Samsung’s global vision for CSR efforts – ‘Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People’, the competition aims to equip students with the experience and mindset to unlock technology’s potential. It also gives students a platform to explore their passion and nurture their social responsibility, allowing them to grow and thrive as a global citizen.

“We envision the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition as a catalyst to redefine youths’ connection with technology, empowering them to transition from mere users to technology creators with the potential to positively impact our community and environment,” said Dennis Jang, President, Samsung Electronics Singapore. “In a fast-evolving world, the interdisciplinary skills instilled in this competition – critical and design thinking, presentation and communications skills, as well as and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) knowledge, will definitely stand the students in good stead for their future.”

Team Hearable, the winning team from the 2022 edition, shares their takeaways – “We are really thankful to Samsung for organising the competition, which encouraged us to apply knowledge from the classroom to solve problems in the real world,” said team lead Christopher Angelo. “Our participation in Solve for Tomorrow 2022 not only expanded our horizons beyond classroom subjects but also honed our skillsets and deepened our STEM knowledge. We encourage our fellow students and aspiring inventors to join this transformative experience.”

Addressing Singapore’s Present and Future Challenges

Samsung has identified five broad themes for this year’s competition. Participants can develop their ideas around any one of these themes:

	1. Environmental Sustainability Sustainability remains a critical challenge today. Our society needs bold ideas to address our most pressing environmental issues and build a sustainable future.
	2. Wellness Technological innovations hold the key to unlock better quality of life, physically and mentally, for Singaporeans. It will also play a vital role in battling pandemics and other health risks in our society.
	3. Learning & Education Innovation and creative technology applications will play a pivotal role in transforming youths’ learning journey and prepare them more effectively for the evolving future.
	4. Inclusive, Harmonious Society To build an inclusive and harmonious society amongst the diverse communities in Singapore, we will need approaches and solutions that encourage them to share commonalities, values and experiences with one another.
	5. Singapore’s Digital Future As Singapore continues on its digitalisation journey, there are tremendous opportunities for the next generation of innovators to create future solutions that are uniquely Singapore, and to help the growth of our digital economy.

Competition Details

From today until 15^th October 2023, students can submit their entries for the competition by forming groups of two to four from the same school and submitting their innovative ideas or solutions on the Solve for Tomorrow 2023 website.

• Eligibility: Full-time students aged 12 to 18 years old, enrolled in any secondary school in Singapore.
• Secondary 1 to Secondary 5 if they are enrolled in the following:
  • Government schools (including autonomous schools)
  • Government-aided schools (including autonomous schools)
  • Independent schools
  • Specialised independent schools (SIS)
  • Specialised schools
  • Special education (SPED) schools

• Secondary 1 to Secondary 4 students if they are enrolled in IP (Integrated Programme) secondary schools with 6-year IP programmes.

Prizes

A total of 10 teams will be shortlisted to showcase their solutions at the finale in December 2023. The top three teams will receive the following prizes:

• First Prize:
  • S$10,000 worth of Samsung products
  • S$6,000 cash prize
• Second Prize:
  • S$7,000 worth of Samsung products
  • S$4,000 cash prize
• Third Prize:
  • S$5,000 worth of Samsung products
  • S$2,000 cash prize

In addition, the school of the First-Prize Winning Team will also receive a Samsung interactive digital whiteboard – the 55” Flip Pro, worth S$4,806.

For more information visit https://www.samsung.com/sg/solvefortomorrow or reach out to the team at samsungsolvefortomorrow@infom.asia.