At the inaugural Tech For Good Festival held over the weekend, a team of 2 sisters earned the Best Advocate Award for their AI-powered solution, iCross, that aims to help the visually impaired cross roads more safely.
Sophia Curic (10) and her sister Anjali (12), currently students from Bukit View Primary, were the youngest team among 30 to take part in the Festival’s innovation challenge this year.
The girls learnt coding as toddlers, and revealed that they plan to continue developing the solution to make it more portable.
Said Sophia, the team leader: “I started coding when I was 3, but that was just block page coding. When I was 7, I did Python and Javascript.”
On their win, she added: “I’m very proud of what I have done. I learned that however old or young you are, you can always help people.”
The sisters were among 30 youth teams that included participants, aged 10 to 25, that were given problem statements from organisations that include AWWA, SG Enable, and Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped.
Teams were given eight weeks to create or hack solutions for these problems, and presented them at an all-day event at the National Library on 2 Nov (Sat).
Guest-of-Honour Desmond Lee, Minister for Social and Family Development & Second Minister for National Development, presented the merit awards.
These awards included:
Most Empathetic: ITE College East MET 2, a team that created a solution for a client who was unable to use a regular nail clipper.
Most Impactful: Play For All, an independent team of tech-savvy civil servants, for an innovative playset for children with special needs.
Most Resilient: NUSHmaritans, two classmates from NUS High School of Mathematics and Science, whose app included helping wheelchair bound users know if the oncoming bus had wheelchair accessibility.
Award recipients may see their creations developed into pilot projects for beneficiary organisations, and will also land job-shadowing opportunities to encourage them towards careers in STEM.
Tech For Good was sponsored by the Infocomm Media Development Authority and Our Singapore Fund, with presenting partner S&P Global Foundation.
Said Ms Koh Li-Na, Assistant Chief Executive, Digital Readiness Cluster, IMDA: “We hope to see more people step forward to build digital readiness through community efforts, supported by the Our Singapore Fund for Digital Readiness.”
Added Ms Annette O’Hanlon, Chief Corporate Responsibility and Diversity Officer and President of S&P Global Foundation: “We are pleased to partner with Engineering Good in the Tech for Good initiative, to equip young people with STEM skills and to create a more inclusive society for people with disabilities and children with special needs.”
“STEM skills are increasingly in demand as the global economy continues to transform.”
