Samsung Solve for Tomorrow showcases how Generation Z uses technology to change the future

Samsung Taiwan's fifth Solve for Tomorrow "New Thinking, Heart-Technology, Sustainable Star Future" held its finals and awards ceremony on November 29. In cooperation with the Taipei City Government's Education Bureau, the program encourages high school students to explore the problems they face in their daily lives and use technology and innovative thinking to propose creative solutions that are close to Taiwan's local needs, demonstrating that the younger generation has a deep concern and practical ability for sustainability issues.

After a 10-month journey, eight elite teams from across Taiwan reached the final stage, responding to challenges with STEM knowledge and action. First place went to the team that developed a gamified AI learning platform for primary and secondary school students, which combines AI technology and games to help students learn AI in a more interesting way. The Outstanding Award went to the team that developed a multifunctional smart food processor that provides healthy food for elderly people living alone in rural areas. The Choice Award went to the students who developed the recycling bin that helps sort waste in a smarter way.

Li Yuanrong, Deputy General Manager of Enterprise Solutions of Samsung Electronics Taiwan's Mobile Communications Division, said, "Technological advancement is not only a tool to make life more convenient, but also a commitment to the earth and society. Samsung Solve for Tomorrow aims to create opportunities for the younger generation and provide a platform for realizing creativity and sustainable responsibility. In this year's submissions, we saw how Generation Z uses advanced technologies such as AI and IoT to focus on local social challenges in Taiwan. Samsung hopes to inspire the younger generation with innovative thinking to solve problems and cultivate them to become an important force in promoting positive change in society."

Generation Z uses technology to build a sustainable future

Taiwan's fifth Solve for Tomorrow attracted nearly one hundred teams. After several stages of rigorous selection, 8 teams stood out and successfully advanced to the final stage. The shortlisted proposals cover technologies such as AI, IoT, automated design, and image and sound wave recognition. With keen insight into the issues, they proposed creative and promising solutions to social and environmental challenges, demonstrating the determination of the younger generation to use technology to change the future.

The winning team was composed of two students from the High School Affiliated to the Normal University. They developed a gamified AI learning platform for primary and secondary school students which uses RPG games to arouse students' interest in learning. Their idea aims to solve the problem of teacher gap caused by remoteness. Students also went to remote areas to implement teaching. In addition to conducting pre-tests for the platform, it also contributed to the optimization of the overall platform.

The students from Taoyuan Luofu High School, who won the Outstanding Award, spent nearly a year visiting the elderly and caregivers in rural areas to understand their needs before creating their solution to provide healthy diet plan for the elderly. The students designed a multifunctional smart cooking machine which integrates a variety of cooking functions, such as automatic cooking, stirring, chopping, grinding, etc. Their solution aims to improve the quality of life of long-term caretakers in remote areas and realize the vision of "local aging".

The project that won the Choice Award aims to improve resource recycling by transforming the trash can and using image recognition to automatically classify garbage. At the same time, it can detect the amount of garbage and notify cleaning personnel to clean it when it reaches a certain weight. This simplifies the recycling process to implement resource reuse and inject more possibilities into environmental sustainability.

Expert judges select new creative "stars"

The fifth Solve for Tomorrow invited experts from the fields of design, technology, and education to serve as final judges based on five aspects: "Completeness of Works", "Technology Application", "Innovative Concepts", "Problem Definition" and "Proposal Skills", and jointly select 5 winning teams. The jury members included Li Yuanrong, Deputy General Manager of Enterprise Solutions of Samsung Electronics Taiwan's Mobile Communications Division, Huang Shiyu, Strategic Advisor of 5% Design Action, Ye Xincheng, Professor of the Institute of Sustainability Management and Environmental Education of National Taiwan Normal University, and Taiwan Childlike Creative Action Association (DFC Taiwan) founder Xu Xinwei and Professor Chen Penong of the Department of Information Engineering of National Taiwan University.

The judges unanimously agreed that the shortlisted teams demonstrated a very high level of sophistication in the finals, and many of their proposals surpassed the standards of high school students. In particular, most teams conducted in-depth interviews with target audiences in the early stages of research, proposed appropriate solutions, and created prototypes for testing.

Huang Shiyu, this year's jury representative, said, "This is the third time that 5% Design Action has participated in Solve for Tomorrow, and it is the first time that we have an in-depth collaboration as an official partner. This year, we are working with IxDA Taiwan Interactive Design Association's team of professionals to guide students to It is worth noting that among the eight teams shortlisted this year, two are from higher vocational schools. We have also noticed that more and more teams are being formed from different schools, allowing team members to play to their respective strengths through diversified collaboration. These students fully embody the spirit of Solve for Tomorrow, demonstrating not only their ability to solve problems, but also their ability to be the problem solvers of the future. Through the power of teamwork, we hope to bring positive changes to Taiwanese society and harness the power of young people to create a better future."