From August 16 to 20, 2024, the National Finals of the National Youth Information Literacy Competition — "Underwater Unmanned Systems Challenge" was grandly held in Tongxiang, Zhejiang. This competition attracted outstanding teenage contestants from all over the country. The Hong Kong and Macau regions sent representative teams for the first time, and achieved excellent results with outstanding performance, demonstrating excellent technological innovation capabilities and teamwork spirit.
The National Youth Information Literacy Competition is one of the competitions in the "List of National Competitions for Primary and Secondary School Students in the 2022-2025 Academic Year" of the Ministry of Education. The "Underwater Unmanned Systems Challenge" is an important part of the competition, jointly organized by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the Chinese Society of Oceanography. The "Underwater Unmanned Systems Challenge" aims to enhance teenagers' awareness of ocean and national defense, aiming to further assist in the cultivation of innovative talents in unmanned systems, comprehensively improve teenagers' scientific and technological literacy, and promote the popularization of cutting-edge technology of unmanned systems. Through competitions, it popularizes marine and national defense knowledge to teenagers, spreads marine culture, enhances national security awareness, stimulates teenagers' interest in marine science and technology, and cultivates the main force for China's future exploration, protection, and management of the ocean. The organizing committee also arranged the physical biomimetic submersible developed by Peking University, Antarctic scientific research ship, unmanned ship models, and VR science popularization reading materials to the competition site, bringing the most cutting-edge marine national defense technology display to teenagers. The competition content covers the design and operation of underwater unmanned systems, including autonomous navigation, task execution, and other complex links, putting forward extremely high requirements for the comprehensive literacy of the contestants.
During the competition, contestants from Hong Kong and Macau showed excellent capabilities, especially in the independent innovation link, demonstrating an impressive level. The successful participation of the Hong Kong and Macau representative teams benefited from the strong support and coordination of the Hong Kong Science Popularization and Science Fiction Academy (HKSPSF). As the organizer of the selection competition in Hong Kong and Macau, HKSPSF provided comprehensive training and guidance for the participating contestants. Through layers of selection, the contestants who finally represented Hong Kong and Macau in the national finals lived up to expectations and won multiple honors in the competition, winning glory for Hong Kong and Macau.
According to Researcher Ma Juanjuan, Deputy Director of the Youth Work Committee of the Chinese Society of Oceanography, the winners of last year's national finals went to the United States in May this year to participate in the Global Finals of the "SeaPerch" International Youth Unmanned Systems Challenge and achieved remarkable results. The winners of this year's national finals will form a team again to represent China in the 2025 International Underwater Unmanned Systems Challenge "SeaPerch" Global Finals.
This competition not only demonstrated the huge potential of teenagers in Hong Kong and Macau in the field of scientific and technological innovation but also accumulated valuable experience for future science popularization education and talent training. Chen Liuqi, Founder of HKSPSF and Deputy Secretary-General of the Science Popularization Education Professional Committee of the China Science Writers Association, said that the successful experience of this competition has injected new momentum into the future development of the Center. The Center will continue to strengthen cooperation and exchange with the Mainland and the international community, further promote the development of science and technology education for teenagers in Hong Kong and Macau, and stimulate the enthusiasm of more teenagers for scientific and technological innovation.
By competing on the same stage with outstanding contestants from all over the country, teenagers from Hong Kong and Macau not only improved their scientific and technological skills but also accumulated valuable practical experience. These experiences are of great significance to their future learning and career development.
HKSPSF will continue to promote the development of science and technology education for teenagers in Hong Kong and Macau, encourage more teenagers to devote themselves to scientific and technological innovation, and contribute to science popularization education in Hong Kong and Macau and the construction of a future scientific and technological power.
National Competition Winner List: