26 May 2018

The final of HSMC Computing Cup 2018 was held on 26 May 2018. The competition, with the objectives of promoting technology education among local secondary schools, enhancing students’ problem-solving skills using programming and advocating the concept of human-centred computing, was co-organised by the Department of Computing of HSMC, Broad Learning Education (Asia) Limited and the Hong Kong Association of Computer Education; sponsored by ICO Group Limited; and supported by various related professional bodies.

A total of 40 teams from secondary schools in Hong Kong and Macau joined the competition with participation by students from Macau for the first time. Each team was required to write a mobile app to introduce interesting features of Hong Kong and to help visitors to plan a one-day trip. After two rounds of selection, five finalist teams presented their work to the judges. The panel of judges, formed by experts from the local IT sector, was pleasantly surprised by the finalists’ in-depth knowledge of advanced computing methodologies, which are usually covered in university-level courses.

President Simon Ho of HSMC concluded in his closing remark that the making of a successful mobile app requires not just good programming skills, but also consideration of important aspects including social culture, user psychology, humanities and arts. This ties in with the “Liberal + Professional” education model of HSMC.