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The Asian Institute of Supply Chains & Logistics (AISCL) of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company (Cyberport) will co-host a 36-hour Smart City Datathon 2018 on 12-14 October 2018. The Datathon is designed to inspire innovation in the development of creative applications, business models and smart city concepts through Big Data Analytics. 

Twenty teams of 2 to 3 full-time students from top Asian universities in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia will gather in Cyberport for two nights to compete for the most innovative and creative application.

Cyberport will provide the data platform with a host of tools and libraries to facilitate the development of the applications, besides the supply of venue, facilities, food and refreshments during the 36-hour Datathon.  On the other hand, Variflight, a leading aviation data service provider, will provide a set of aviation data including flight schedule, flight status and airport information, while HKIA will offer different types of civil aviation data including flight schedule, flight status, and airport information related to Hong Kong International Airport. In support of the competition, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform, will act as the main technology sponsor with Acer and Leoteck being the IoT sponsors.

“The Datathon aims to encourage and inspire the next generation to take part in Smart City initiatives. This is an excellent opportunity for elites in the region to unleash their talents such as analytic skills, conflict resolution, time management and creativity”, said Professor Waiman Cheung, Director of AISCL.

“Cyberport is proud to host the Datathon for the first time at our Cyberport main campus.  Fostering the development and application of digital technologies is one of the strategic focuses of Cyberport to fulfill the Smart City vision of the Innovation and Technology Bureau of the HKSAR Government.  We are excited to serve as the data platform for hosting the aviation data feed for the participants. This demonstrates the potential of Hong Kong to develop into a regional data hub for the hosting, storing and processing of big data because of Hong Kong’s advance data communications infrastructure and established data protection practices”, Mr Peter Yan, CEO of Cyberport remarked.

“AWS is delighted to be the official cloud and technical sponsor in this Smart City Datathon. The Datathon provides a good platform for participants to explore and experience the smart use of data. We hope to nurture more young talent in Hong Kong to support the city’s initiative on Smart City development,” said Mr. Alex Yung, Corporate Vice President and Managing Director of AWS Greater China.

“VariFlight is honoured to have the opportunity to work with AISCL and Cyberport in nurturing young elites in Asia. Working with technology incubator Cyberport from Hong Kong, and industry giant Amazon Web Services (AWS), we hope to inspire more college students in their quest to enhance their cities by the using of data technologies. We are looking forward to hearing the inspiring ideas proposed by participants,” Zheng Hongfeng, Founder and CEO of VariFlight said. “

Exciting rewards have been lined up for winners of this competition. Champion of the contest will receive the “Hong Kong International Airport Award” with a prize of HK$ 50,000, while first runner-up and second runner-up will receive HK$30,000 and HK$20,000 respectively. Furthermore, winning teams will have the chance to take an express route and be invited to participate in the final round of selection for the Cyberport Creative Micro Fund or Cyberport Incubation Programme which offer up to HK$500,000 financial support for starting up their digital technology businesses!

Other supporting organisations of the competition include HGC Global Communications, Juniper Networks, Sino-US Global Logistics Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Smart City Consortium. 

About AISCL

The Asian Institute of Supply Chains & Logistics, formerly the Li & Fung Institute of Supply Chain Management & Logistics, was established in 2006 through a generous donation from the Victor and William Fung Foundation Limited.  Over the years, industry leaders including Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, China Merchants Group, Kerry Logistics and Pacific Air Limited have joined the Fung Group in supporting the Institute, which brings together scholars from different faculties specializing in supply chain management (SCM) and logistics to study specific areas and create synergy through research collaboration. We are committed to bringing (1) excellence to the local and regional logistics industry and supply chain management, (2) versatility to logistics and supply chain service providers, and (3) adaptability and sustainability to the professionals who enable the business community to stay agile in the efficiency-driven and highly competitive business world.

About Cyberport

Cyberport is an innovative digital community with over 1,000 technology companies. It is managed by Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, which is wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR Government. With the vision to become a main force in developing the digital tech industry as a key economic driver of Hong Kong, Cyberport is committed to nurturing youth, start-ups and entrepreneurs to grow in the digital industry by connecting them to strategic partners and investors, driving collaboration with local and international business partners to create new opportunities, and accelerating digital adoption amongst corporates and SMEs.

About Amazon Web Services (AWS)

For over 12 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 125 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 55 Availability Zones (AZs) within 18 geographic regions and one Local Region around the world, spanning the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the UK. AWS services are trusted by millions of active customers around the world—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—to power their infrastructure, make them more agile, and lower costs.

About VariFlight

Founded in 2005, VariFlight is the leading brand providing aviation data services. Began with the issue of flight delays, VariFlight has spearheaded the realization of flight data transparency. In 2009, VariFlight released the first version of VariFlight mobile application and achieved the milestone of 100% coverage on China’s domestic flights. VariFlight has started working on international flights data service since 2010, and have covered 94% of the global commercial flight data by May 2017. VariFlight’s data is used by over 300 million of travellers and thousands of class-leading businesses around the world.