Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, a global youth education program, has gained special recognition in China. The Chinese Ministry of Education designated the program as one of the top 35 national elementary, middle, and high school competitions, and so far more than 30,000 teams have participated in the program. These participants from China find innovative ways to solve social problems using STEM knowledge, artificial intelligence, 5G, IoT, and big data, and learn social responsibility.

Designing an underground parking lot to prevent heavy rain damage

Yiquan and Xiaomin are middle school students who participated in China’s Solve for Tomorrow. Observing the needs of their community, Yiquan and Xiaomin paid attention to the flooding of underground parking lots. As climate abnormalities became more frequent, heavy rain caused frequent and severe damage to their neighborhood. Rainwater was likely to be concentrated in underground parking lots on lower grounds, and cars would break down if drained in water. Even when repaired, unfound malfunctions in these cars could lead to serious accidents.

Yiquan and Xiaomin used the science and technology they learned through Solve for Tomorrow to solve the problem. We have created a water shut-off shutter to prevent water from filling the underground parking lot and designed a system to monitor and control the shutters to operate. With support from Samsung employee mentors and teachers, they built a miniature prototype to verify the effectiveness of their system. The two students’ idea functioned with no trouble, and if implemented in real life, could avoid water inflow to the parking lot during heavy rain.

Solving social problems using STEM knowledge

Like Lee and Xiaomin, many students who participated in China’s 7th Samsung Solve for Tomorrow presented ideas for solving social problems based on the theme of “Science, Safety and Environmental Protection.” Students were eager to contribute to society with their ideas and inventions in different fields – like an intelligent disease testing robot for health, and a smart garbage bin that separates the collection of different materials for environmental protection.

Science and technology are the forces that solve social problems and make life beneficial. Teenagers interested in social issues will be able to strengthen their knowledge and capabilities in science and technology through Solve for Tomorrow and create a better future together.