Students� Unlimited Creativity Unveiled in �Master Code� Award and Kick-off Ceremonies

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 28 June 2021 - Since 2016, Hong Kong Education City (EdCity) and Microsoft have co-organised the annual Master Code Competition. The award ceremony of 'Master Code 2020: Create a Zero Hunger Future with AI' was held on June 25. The organisers have also announced that the theme of 'Master Code 2021' is 'Reimagine Health and Wellbeing with AI', aiming to enhance students' understanding on the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare and wellbeing, where students can make use of their coding skills, along with creativity to design innovative solutions ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing at all ages, so as to co-create a healthy future.

Witnessed by a bunch of guests who joined in-person and through online, Mr Victor Cheng, Executive Director of EdCity unveiled the ceremony by his opening remarks. He expressed, 'Technology is for mankind. As the masters of our future society, students should learn how to solve problems through logical thinking and to explore possibilities in improving our lives by utilising innovative technology. The participating schools last year performed impressively and presented professional designs. We were glad to see students applying the knowledge they learned in designing creative proposals to achieve "Zero Hunger", which illustrated their spirit of global citizenship. This year, we are very honoured to jointly organise the "Master Code 2021" Competition with Microsoft for the sixth year. The theme of the competition aims to let teachers and students enjoy coding, at the same time to raise their awareness towards both physical and mental health. Artificial intelligence can lead the society to a healthier life � as long as we use AI creatively and ingeniously, a future filled with health is only a step away.'

Ms Serena Cheung , the Director of the Public Sector Group (PSG) at Microsoft, said 'Artificial intelligence plays an important role in driving digital transformation; therefore, it is important to equip our next generations with AI-related skills and to help them be future ready. We are honoured to co-organise the annual "Master Code 2021" Competition with EdCity. The competition allows students to apply their programming skills and creativity in designing a practical solution to social issues, so as to contribute to a better society. There are many impressive proposals with a shared goal to achieve "Zero Hunger", and I am impressed by how they leverage digital platforms such as Minecraft and PowerApps to present their innovative ideas. I look forward to learning more innovative insights into how to "Reimagine Health and Wellbeing with AI" from the upcoming competition.'

The competition saw the enthusiastic participation of students � with 14 vivid and diverse submissions and some with a global perspective showcasing students' broad worldview. A judging panel evaluated the submissions and selected the teams from St. Anthony's School, Tung Chung Catholic School (Secondary Section) and Carmel Divine Grace Foundation Secondary School as the champion of the Minecraft Education Edition � Primary School and Secondary School Divisions, and AI Application Design � Secondary School Division respectively. Highlights of their works include:

Students from St. Anthony's School built a Zero Hunger Farm in Minecraft. They utilised Face API for facial recognition to reduce food waste by calculating food portion according to the user's age and gender. The farm is also equipped with smart food ordering machines and food storehouses. A particularly thoughtful feature is the smart protective cover automatically created by the robot Agent. The winning entry by Tung Chung Catholic School (Secondary Section) features an 'Unlimited Design AI-assisted Farm'. Within the farm, there is an International Food Exchange, where facial recognition is used to regulate currency exchange. Together with voice recognition, it helps users from around the world to overcome language barriers and facilitate communication and fair food trade. This entry is revealing students' world vision. With the theme 'Bug Food Matter', the team from Carmel Divine Grace Foundation Secondary School leverages AI Builder and machine learning to analyse pests, which allow farmers to identify pests and thus come up with a solution to get rid of them. The team also builds a chatbot through Power Virtual Agents, which responds to users' questions and provides more information about the pests . (Details of the awardees available in the appendix)

The new edition of the competition has three divisions: Minecraft Education Edition - Primary School (P1 to P6) and Minecraft Education Edition - Secondary School (S1 to S6), and AI Application Design - Secondary School (S1 to S6). The level in all divisions is according to 2021/22 school year.

There is no limit on the number of participating teams a school can take part. Each team must be comprised of two to four students, and each student can only participate in one team in each division. Each team is required to design one or more solutions with Microsoft Azure AI to improve human health. Students can select one or more areas from the four specified areas to create their solutions. These areas are improving or monitoring users' health condition, assisting users in maintaining positive mental wellness, promoting the development of medical technology and cultivating positive living habits. Once the specified area has been selected, each team has to illustrate the current situation and problems, then how AI can be used to solve the matters. The Minecraft Education Edition requires participants to design and present the strategies / solutions using Minecraft: Education Edition, and optionally to add Microsoft Azure AI APIs. The AI Application Design requires participants to design a prototype made with at least one Microsoft Azure AI capability embedded to demonstrate the strategies / solutions.

Master Code 2021 will be open for registration in late June, and there will be a series of activities, such as Minecraft workshop and AI Application Design workshop, for teachers and students. The registration will close on October 22, and the deadline for accepting entries is 6 pm on November 2. Finalists will be required to give a 10-minute presentation about their proposals to the judging panel in late October 2021, and the award ceremony will take place in December.

For details of Master Code 2021, please visit: https://www.edcity.hk/coding/en/

Appendix: Winners of Master Code 2020

Champions

First Runner-Up :

Second Runner-Up :

Notes to the Editors

Please download high-resolution photos here.

Photo Descriptions

Photo 1: Prize-giving guests include Mr Victor Cheng, Executive Director, Hong Kong Education City (Left 5), Ms Serena Cheung, Director, Public Sector Group (PSG), Microsoft Hong Kong (Right 5), Prof Yeung Yam, Principal Investigator, CUHK Jockey Club AI for the Future Project (Middle), Ms Law Tik, Senior Service Manager (Charity Services), St. James' Settlement (Left 2), Ms Esther Ng, Acting Assistant Education Manager, Oxfam Hong Kong (Left 1) and representatives of supporting organisations and strategic partners shared the joy of the winning teams and witnessed the launch of 'Master Code 2021: Reimagine Health and Wellbeing with AI'.

Photo 2: Mr Victor Cheng, Executive Director, Hong Kong Education City (Left 3), Ms Serena Cheung, Director, Public Sector Group (PSG), Microsoft Hong Kong (Left 4) and representatives of supporting organisations and strategic partners officially launched 'Master Code 2021: Reimagine Health and Wellbeing with AI'.

Photo 3: St. Anthony's School, the Champion of the Minecraft Education Edition - Primary School Division, builds a Zero Hunger Farm, which replaces manpower with kiosk machine in order to reduce the risk of disease transmission. Also, they utilised Face API for facial recognition to calculate food portion based on the user's age and gender.

Photo 4: Tung Chung Catholic School (Secondary Section), the Champion of the Minecraft Education Edition - Secondary School Division, features an ' Unlimited Design: AI Farm Assistant '. Within the farm, there is an International Food Exchange, where facial recognition is used to regulate currency exchange. Together with voice recognition, it helps users from around the world to overcome language barriers and facilitate fair food trade.

Photo 5: Carmel Divine Grace Foundation Secondary School , the Champion of the AI Application Design - Secondary School Division, develops 'Bug Food Matter', which leverages machine learning to analyse pests. It allows farmers identify pests, then come up with solutions.

About Hong Kong Education City

Hong Kong Education City (EdCity) provides a one-stop professional education portal (EdCity.hk) with information, resources, interactive communities and online services. With the vision of 'Actualising Future Ready Education', EdCity continuously develops and introduces new services in the last 20 years, and endeavours to promote and support all schools in Hong Kong to adopt eLearning and innovative education.

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