Speech by Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee at the Singapore Awards Presentation Ceremony for ISIE 2003 at Singapore Science Centre Auditorium
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Mr Clarence Sirisena,Assistant Chief Executive (Projects & Events),Singapore Science Centre
Mr Wong Sheng Kwai, Assistant Director-General, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore
Principals
Teachers
Parents
Students
Ladies and gentlemen.
I am happy to join you this afternoon at this awards presentation ceremony organised for participants who represented Singapore at the 1st International Students' Invention Exhibition 2003, held in Seoul, in July 2003.
The Exhibition was an excellent platform to showcase the creativity and wonderful innovations of students around the world. I understand it brought together a total of 437 inventions that were developed with the aim of improving our daily lives at home, at work and at play. Singapore sent 20 student inventions for this exhibition.
What is significant is the fact that these inventions were entirely conceptualised, designed and made by the youths themselves. The inventions bears testimony to our young creators' capacity to innovate and invent, and their bold spirit in trying new things and breaking new grounds.
These are values that every one of our students in Singapore should espouse, beyond academic excellence. Our students must realise that anyone of us can be an inventor if we free our minds and let our creativity take flight. The late great inventor, Thomas Edison once said "The value of an idea lies in the using of it." The 33 students whose inventions represented Singapore, have proven this and are indeed young Edisons in the making.
Out of the 20 student inventions that Singapore exhibited, four won the Gold award, ten got the Silver and six were awarded Bronze. To all of you, I say "well done". You have put Singapore on the global map for student inventions. You have shown that a country as small as Singapore is capable of generating ingenious inventions that can impact lives in a big way.
This is true of none more so than two of the budding inventors amongst us today. Lee Li Ming and Tan Shao Min of Nanyang Girls' High School, who, with the help of their teacher mentors, created an invention known as "Chair Stow-away". This involves a system of special folded chairs that are portable, so that the hall can be used for both seated functions as well as other school activities. For their efforts, they won not only a Gold award, but also the prestigious World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Special Award.
Their invention is highly practical and can be used in our schools to help conserve space. The chairs are quick to set up and easy to dismantle. I look forward to the day when auditoriums such as the one that we are in today, can be converted into indoor street soccer courts or a badminton hall in a matter of minutes!
The "Spray Mate" is another noteworthy invention that Singapore exhibited. Created by Gabriel Wee of Maris Stella High School, the "Spray Mate" is a hassle-free and effort-less contraption that is attached to a can of spray paint. The "Spray Mate" eliminates straining of finger joints through prolonged pressing of the spray nozzle, thereby avoiding inconsistent spray painting results. This also means that more time is saved and better quality of paintwork can be achieved.
I think this is one invention that can possibly interest some businesses in commercialising it! In fact, the inventors were rewarded with a Gold award in Seoul. They also bagged the Special Award given by the Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation.
It is clear from the above examples that inventions can play a critical role in our daily lives. Inventions need not be earth-shattering discoveries or highly complicated contraptions in order to make an impact. Our students have shown that simple, practical inventions fashioned out of low-cost materials, can improve the efficiency and make it easier to perform mundane tasks such as setting up a seating arena or even spray-painting.
Some of the other student inventions are equally useful and can help to improve our daily lives whether at work or at home. The inventions of our primary school students are excellent examples. Contraptions like "Tissue Let It Fall" from Rosyth Primary, "Stamp Roll" from Ai Tong Primary, "Quickshine" from Tao Nan Primary are simple creative inventions that are both practical and useful.
The capacity to imagine, to dream, and to create exists in all of us. As George Bernard Shaw once said, "Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will."
Creativity is the first step towards greater invention. But creativity alone is not enough to encourage innovations that would benefit the community. It is Intellectual Property (IP) protection and the reward it gives that provide the incentive for inventors to continue their good work. It is therefore imperative that our young inventors must start learning about IP during the important formative years.
The Intellectual Property Officer of Singapore or IPOS is actively promoting interest in IP and creating an IP-savvy culture in the schools. Besides creating an interactive-learning CD-ROM on IP, and a multi-media website on IP at www.iperckidz.gov.sg to cater to the schools, it has been actively participating in innovation-based programmes of valued partners such as the Ministry of Education, the Tan Kah Kee Foundation, and the Singapore Science Centre.
I thank namely the Gifted Education Branch and the Technical Education Unit of the Ministry of Education, the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors' Award Committee as well as the Science Upstream Group of the Singapore Science Centre, for their support. Through many innovation activities and programmes, we have uncovered budding inventions that have now done Singapore proud in an International Students' Invention Exhibition.
In closing let me once again congratulate our 33 young Edisons for their achievements. I encourage you to venture beyond this success and inspire your fellow students. Continue to think with an analytical mind, be curious about things, ask questions, create ideas and dare to invent. Enjoy your journey into the world of creativity, inventions and intellectual property.
Thank you. |
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