Some 200 students across nine Junior Colleges, IP Schools, Polytechnics and Universities attended the Business China Youth Showdown on 13 July, with Hwa Chong Institution (Team 1) emerging as the overall champion. The other two winning teams were Singapore Institute of Management (Global Education) and Singapore Polytechnic.
The Youth Showdown, themed ‘Youths and the Sharing Economy’, saw five finalist teams presenting their research on the challenges and opportunities of the sharing economy and the implications for Singapore. These five teams emerged from the Preliminary Showdown held earlier on 24 June when a total of nine teams participated. The students showcased their creativity through innovative skits and videos, eliciting much laughter from the audience.
The Guest-of-Honour was Ms Sim Ann, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth and Ministry of Finance. In her welcome remarks, she shared that the concept of the ‘sharing economy’ was transforming the way we work, live and play. By choosing ‘Youths and the Sharing Economy’ as the theme of this year’s Youth Showdown, Business China focused on a subject that had not only brought about significant changes to the economy worldwide, including to Singapore and China, but looks set to influence business and industries for some time to come.
The judging panel consisted of Dr Zhou Zhao Cheng, Assistant Vice President (New Growth), Lianhe Zaobao; Mr Benjamin Cheong, Partner, Technology, Media and Telecommunications/ Competition Practice, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP; and Mr Olivier Darrieux, Manager, IT Advisory, KPMG. Through the enthusiastic participation from youths at the event, the judging panel were heartened to see young Singaporeans’ interest and passion in keeping well-informed of the latest developments in China and were able to relate its relevance to Singapore.
The objective of the Business China Youth Showdown is to equip the youths with a deeper understanding of the forces and factors shaping China’s emergence as a global power and more importantly, the relevance of this to Singapore. This bilingual national platform provides the opportunity for Singaporean youths to exchange their views on hot-button China topics and interact with like-minded youths.
The top three teams of the Youth Showdown were awarded complimentary access to the prestigious FutureChina Global Forum 2016 held on 18 and 19 July at Shangri-La Hotel Singapore.