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Major Speeches and Press Releases
S for IT visits Kowloon City District (with photos)
30 April 2018

The Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas W Yang, paid a visit to Kowloon City District today (April 30). He met with district council members and visited an elderly service organisation and a secondary school to get a better grasp of applications of technologies in the community and the latest developments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

Accompanied by the Chairman of Kowloon City District Council (KCDC), Mr Pun Kwok-wah, and the District Officer (Kowloon City), Mr Franco Kwok, Mr Yang met the KCDC members to discuss innovation and technology developments and district affairs.

The next stop was the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association (SCHSA) Jockey Club Oi Man Centre, where Mr Yang toured its 24-hour Call and Care Service Centre to learn about its round-the-clock services. He was given a briefing on the assistive technologies embedded in the various elderly care services, including the Jockey Club Community eHealth Care Project with its application of cloud technology and big data analytics, the 24-hour Call and Care Services as well as the Personal Emergency Link and Safety Phone.

Under the SCHSA's Smart Home for Seniors Pilot Project, the Smart Home for Seniors Test Lab is open to the public to showcase its service concept which combines the Internet of Things with smart home technologies to enable ageing in place. Temperature, water leakage, motion and door sensors are employed to monitor the living environment of the elderly at home. In the case of overheating in the kitchen or a wet floor in the bathroom, an alert will be triggered to the 24-hour Call and Care Service Centre for support services. Mr Yang said he was glad that the SCHSA has been embracing innovation and technology over the years in various ways to cope with the needs of the elderly and promote healthy and active ageing.

Mr Yang then went to Pui Ching Middle School, one of the eight partner schools of the Enriched IT Programme in secondary schools, to better understand the implementation of STEM education. He chatted with students active in STEM learning and encouraged them to continue to pursue various STEM activities and competitions to raise their technology literacy and cultivate problem-solving skills. The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer provides funding to partner schools for running enriched IT classes. Students who are interested and talented in IT are offered two to three hours of training per week. Subsidy for participation in overseas competitions is also offered under the Programme, which helps nurture young talents.

To conclude the district visit, a sharing session with members of the Kowloon City Youth Network Y-Dragon Programme was arranged for students to talk with Mr Yang about their experience on a study and exploration tour to Beijing, Jiuquan and Xi'an to learn about aerospace, history and economy. Mr Yang encouraged them to seize every exchange and learning opportunity to widen their horizons and broaden their knowledge of technological development.

-ENDS-