11 November 2009 - Welcome Address By Mr Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry Of Community Development, Youth And Sports, At National Infocomm Club Awards During The Youth Infocomm Week At D’marquee, Downtown East
Welcome Address By Mr Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry Of Community Development, Youth And Sports, At National Infocomm Club Awards During The Youth Infocomm Week On Wednesday, 11 November 2009, 2.00 pm At D’marquee, Downtown East
Distinguished Guests,
Teachers and Students,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon,
1. I am pleased to see the tremendous energy and buzz at today's event as we gather here to celebrate the power of infocomm in making a difference to our lives. Today marks the culmination of the Youth Infocomm Week. The Youth Infocomm Week kicked off with the Youth Infocomm Seminar in which more than 200 students had the opportunity to interact with leading professionals from the infocomm industry. Over the past week, students also had fun with competitions, conferences, field trips, career talks and workshops which took place at selected schools across Singapore.
2. As the Youth Infocomm Week concludes later today, we would like to recognise infocomm talent and leaders among students through the Infocomm Club Awards. The Infocomm Club Awards was launched in 2007 by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore or IDA, to showcase the best Infocomm Clubs in innovation. The aim of this award is to motivate students to strive for excellence in the area of infocomm, through projects that benefit school, society, community or nation. I am glad to note that the number of schools with Infocomm Clubs has increased, from 150 in 2008 to 251 today. Student participation has also been high, increasing from 7,500 in 2008 to 10,500 at present.
3. As many of you know, the inaugural Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games will be held next year, from 14 to 26 August 2010. The YOG, where young athletes, aged between 14 and 18 years, will compete in 26 sports, will see Singapore welcome some 5,000 athletes and officials from 205 National Olympic Committees along with estimated 1,200 media representatives, 20,000 local and international volunteers and more than 500,000 spectators. Therefore, the theme chosen for this year's Infocomm Club Awards competition is "The Youth Olympic Games & Me". In total, 68 project submissions have been received. One interesting project is the online SMS information system submitted by Nan Chiau High School that allows the public to keep up to date on the latest happenings at the Singapore 2010 YOG and send well wishes to the athletes. Another innovative project was that submitted by Victoria School, which aims to support YOG by providing an online platform to welcome the foreign delegates and athletes. These projects are important as they seek to further the aim of the YOG - for youths around the world to interact and learn about different cultures, and through this, to embrace, embody and express the Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect.
4. An online virtual world platform, Singapore 2010 Odyssey, is being developed for the Singapore 2010 YOG to promote friendship and connect youths, like yourselves, from around the world ahead of the Games. Our hope is that through this online virtual world, Youths will also be able to learn about sports, culture and Olympic values, and find out more about Singapore and the YOG. I urge all of you to participate in this online virtual world and take the opportunity to share and interact with youths from other countries and cultures. You may discover that they are not as different as they may seem and in the process, you would be able to make more friends.
5. As exemplified through the creation of the Singapore 2010 Odyssey, infocomm can be used to make a difference in the world. With the likes of Bill Gates, who created Microsoft and Microsoft Windows which made personal computers user-friendly and resulted in its widespread use, and Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, who co-created Facebook which is used by 300 million active users around the world, a career in infocomm can be rewarding and would equip you with the skills to make a difference to yourselves, your fellow citizens, to Singapore, and even the world.
6. To develop aspiring youth infocomm leaders, I am glad to learn that a new batch of 18 Infocomm Club Ambassadors will be appointed to add to our current group of 45 ambassadors. These students, who have been nominated from their school's Infocomm Clubs, will represent the voice of students to facilitate more vibrant exchange of ideas amongst students and industry. Congratulations on your new appointment. As ambassadors, I hope that you will be able to contribute actively to the many interesting activities of the Infocomm Clubs, such as co-planning and co-organising workshops and briefing sessions, as well as participating in community work.
7. In closing, I hope that you have all enjoyed the various activities during Youth Infocomm Week, using infocomm, learning exciting things and making many new friends. Do continue to explore the fascinating world of infocomm, and I wish you all the best for your studies.
8. Thank you.
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