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The Smart Logistics Datathon 2024 (“the Datathon”), organised by the Asian Institute of Supply Chains & Logistics (AISCL) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), took place successfully at Hong Kong Cyberport recently. The Datathon is financially supported by the HKSAR Government’s newly launched Logistics Promotion Funding Scheme under the Maritime and Aviation Training Fund. 

This year, 20 teams from 20 different top universities in Asia, including from Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, were selected as the finalists among over 50 teams who entered. In addition, AISCL extended the Datathon’s reach to local secondary schools for the first time, selecting 10 teams to form a Secondary School League. A total of 82 students successfully completed the Datathon.

At the award presentation ceremony, Professor Cheung Wai-man, Director of AISCL, said, “The Datathon is a great success. The young and talented participants from all over Asia are highly motivated learners and keen on asking questions. The event’s success is built on the dedicated support of the Hong Kong Government, logistics industry players and technology companies.”

Inspiring winning students to pursue logistics careers

The members of the judging panel were highly impressed by the participating teams’ data-driven analysis and presentations. Mrs Vivian Cheung Kar-fay, Chief Operating Officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong, commented that not only had the teams’ presentations shown deep understanding of logistics operations, but she had also learnt a couple of logistics-related blind spots herself. Mr Wilson Kwong, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited, added, “Talent is the most important element for modern logistics.” He encouraged the participants to join the logistics industry and overseas competitors to come and work in Hong Kong. 

Ms Mable Chan, Permanent Secretary for Transport and Logistics in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, congratulated all the winning teams at the ceremony and applauded their outstanding achievements. She expressed her hope that the event would provide young participants with valuable exposure to modern logistics-related entrepreneurship and innovation. More importantly, she hoped the event would arouse interest in the young generation in joining the logistics workforce and becoming the engine propelling it.

Before the competition, participants were provided with training workshops on data analytics tools sponsored by Amazon Web Services Hong Kong (AWS), as well as site visits to a range of large-scale logistics infrastructure around Hong Kong International Airport and talks from logistics industry leaders. These activities further promoted Hong Kong’s status as an international logistics hub and brought out the potential of the city’s modern logistics industry.

Dexter Woo Teng Koon, a team member from CUHK, champion of the University League, said, “We are grateful to have this unique opportunity to work with teammates from different backgrounds, deep-dive into real-life logistics datasets and give solid recommendations on improving the operational efficiency of Hong Kong International Airport. This wonderful experience not only allowed us to leverage our skills to tackle logistics problems, but also provides us with a bridge towards a career in logistics.”

Charmaine Chan Tsz-yan, a team member from St. Paul’s Convent School, champion of the Secondary School League, said, “Through the Datathon, we have learnt how the logistics industry is closely related to the economy of Hong Kong. We also gained more understanding of the operations of the aviation industry and warehouse logistics through the site visits.”

For the winners list, please refer to the Datathon website: http://aiscl.cuhk.edu.hk/datathon/highlight2024.html