Connecting with technology
HELD for the second time, “The Global Education Day” was organised by over 30 Engineering and IT students from SEGi College Penang.
This is to help tech-enthusiasts across all generations from business, engineering and education sectors to gain a better idea about emerging technologies, which are gaining momentum in the drive towards Industry 4.0.
The two-day event was opened by Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy at the 1st Avenue Mall in George Town.
Dr Ramasamy in his opening speech said: “Technology pervades every aspect of modern day living; people can shop, share news, learn, play, connect, and so on, mainly through mobile devices.”
“As technology is changing so rapidly, it is important that we do not embrace technology blindly.
“We must explore new technologies effectively to achieve a greater outcome for the development of our nation,” he said.
In today’s digital-driven economy, Dr Ramasamy said higher education institutions play a pivotal role in nurturing talents and equipping them with the right expertise to ride the digitisation wave.
The state government, he added, commended SEGi’s efforts in assisting young people to further their interest and develop their knowledge in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to unlock the potential of Industry 4.0.
SEGi College Penang principal Cheah Teong Keat said: “Students’ interest in technology has grown over the past few years.”
“Through programmes like ‘The Global Education Day’, SEGi hopes to help our communities gain better insights on the new technologies and inspire them to think about how to embrace these technologies to drive innovation,” he said.
Various immersive activities to encourage young people to be more involved in STEM were held during the evnt.
Young tech enthusiasts enjoyed the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity through the Robolympics, which is often touted to be the Olympic Games of robot design.
This was divided into three competition categories, namely robotic athletic, robotic sumo and a video competition; that aimed to give them a platform to learn to solve problems and enhance their robotics’ knowledge.
Cheah Wen Jie, 15, from Xenix Robotics in Kuala Lumpur emerged as the champion for the robotic athletic category. He won a RM 2,000 cash prize.
The first prize in the robotic sumo category went to the team from MRSM Parit comprising Faris Farhan Azlan and Muhamad Amirul Aiman. They won a RM2,000 cash prize.
“We were excited to win this competition. The intensive research prior to the competition helped us.
“This allowed us to learn various new techniques,” said Faris Farhan.
In the video shooting category, the first prize was awarded to Chia Che Keng, 19, who won RM1,000 while Lee Chi Thong who dressed as Queen Elsa from the movie, “Frozen”, clinched the grand prize for the Cosplay competition. She won RM1,000.
A dedicated e-Sports Experience Zone was set up, in line with SEGi’s aspiration to support the local e-Sports community.
SEGi also worked with partner universities, namely Troy University, University of Greenwich and the University of Sunderland, to share STEM education insights.