Competition Content
- The theme of the Competition is “5G x UAS – The Sky is the Limit for Knowledge”.
- The low-altitude economy refers to economic activities involving UAS operating in airspace generally below 1,000 meters. It offers a wide range of application scenarios, including rescues, surveys, and the delivery of goods and passengers. The unique characteristics of 5G technology, such as low latency, high speed, massive connectivity, are critical for managing low-altitude operations, for example, operating drones to provide various applications. Given the close connection between mobile communications networks and the development of the low-altitude economy, participating teams should demonstrate in their work with creativity on how to integrate 5G technology with the low-altitude economy to come up with innovative and practical applications and smart living solutions.
- The competition consists of two rounds. In the first round, participating teams are required to submit a project proposal outlining their ideas, including (1) how drones collect data, (2) the importance of 5G connectivity for drone activities, and (3) how 5G technology can be applied to the low-altitude economy to achieve at least one of the specific objectives of the Competition, such as enhancing campus life, improving learning environment, optimising teaching resources or learning experience, improving nearby community environment or facilities, realising smart city development in real-life scenarios, creating economic or social benefits. The proposals will be reviewed by the judging panel and 10 finalists will be shortlisted to enter the final round of the Competition.
- In the final round, the 10 finalists are required to complete their work according to the project proposal and develop a mobile app and/or a relevant prototype that integrates 5G technology with the applications in the low-altitude economy. The mobile app/and or a relevant prototype developed should be able to demonstrate the expected outcomes of the finalists’ ideas, including how the data collected by drones can be used for achieving the specific objectives of the Competition as aforementioned. Each finalist is required to give an oral presentation of their work before the judging panel in the final-round adjudication.
- For safeguarding aviation and public safety, if the 10 finalists wish to use drones to demonstrate their ideas, the operation of drones should comply with the provisions under the Small Unmanned Aircraft Order (SUA Order) (the weight of drones used should not exceed 250g) of the Civil Aviation Ordinance (Cap. 448). .
- Schools should participate on a team basis. Each participating school can nominate a maximum of two teams to join the Competition.
- Each team should consist of three to five students and one teacher as the team leader.
- Participating students must be full-time secondary school students in the 2025/26 academic year.
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The entries should illustrate how their projects integrate the low-altitude economy with 5G technology, to achieve one or more of the following objectives:
- To enrich campus life
- To improve learning environment
- To optimise teaching resources or learning experience
- To improve smart city development in real-life scenarios
- To realise smart city development in real-life scenarios
- To generate economic or social benefits, such as environment protection, long term sustainability
- The idea and content of the entries must conform to the theme of the Competition. Participants must ensure that their entries are original and have not been submitted previously for participation in any other types of similar activities or competitions.
- Each participating team can only submit one entry.
- Immediate family members of the employees of OFCA or HKPC are not allowed to participate in the Competition.
- Schools and participants must ensure that their entries do not contain any materials that are obscene, violent, pornographic, defamatory, indecent, disparaging, discriminatory or contents that are controversial and inappropriate, and do not violate the laws of the HKSAR and constitute or cause danger to national security, otherwise the participating team will be disqualified.
- The Organiser reserves the right to use, modify, duplicate and disseminate to any media channel the content of the work without prior consent from the schools and the participants.
- The Organiser reserves the right to amend the rules, terms and conditions, contents, and arrangement of the Competition at any time without prior notice to the participants.
- The Organiser reserves the right to disqualify any participating team at any time. Should there be any dispute, the Organiser shall reserve the right of final decision.
- Decision made by the judging panel for the finalists shall be final. Any objection to the results and awards of the Competition will not be accepted.
| * | Depending on the actual circumstances, the event dates given above are subject to changes. Announcement of changes will be made on the Competition website. |
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All students and leading teachers of the teams which have submitted applications for the Competition and those who have registered interest in the Competition will be invited to participate in the event. Speakers from renowned innovative technology companies and academic associations will be invited to introduce the latest developments of 5G technology and the low-altitude economy, and competition details will also be further elaborated.
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 Tentative course content:
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| *All participating teams are eligible to participate in the training workshop. |
- All participating teams are required to submit their project proposals by 25 July 2025 (Friday) 23:59 (HKT) via email to 5g.competition@hkpc.org. The proposal should cover:
- Design concept
- Problem statement
- How the design can contribute to smart learning and/or smart city development
- Applications of 5G technology in the low-altitude economy in real life
- Implementation Plan
- All submissions should be in PowerPoint or PDF format of no more than 20 slides, written either in English or Chinese.
- If necessary, teams can submit a short video of no more than 3 minutes in MP4 format to demonstrate its ideas according to the project proposal.
- The judging panel will shortlist 10 finalists based on the following selection criteria:
| Selection Criteria | Percentage |
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| Relevancy of content to theme | 25% |
Effectiveness in achieving at least one of the following key objectives:
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25% |
| Appropriate application of 5G technologies in the low-altitude economy | 20% |
| Innovativeness with innovative application in addition to delivery, surveillance or inspection | 20% |
| Feasibility and timeliness of implementation of the final product | 10% |
| * | The 10 finalists are eligible to participate in further training and attend the Final Adjudication cum Award Presentation Ceremony. |
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| All finalists are eligible to participate in the training workshop. |
- All finalists are eligible to apply a subsidy up to HK$3,000 for purchasing materials essential for developing the final products and demonstrating their ideas at the Final Adjudication.
- Interested teams are required to submit a list of materials, including reference prices and suppliers by 22 August 2025 (Friday) 23:59 (HKT) via email to 5g.competition@hkpc.org, for a one-off purchase. Request received after the deadline will not be accepted.
- The distribution of the requested items will take place within four to six weeks after the deadline.
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- All finalists are required to submit their project report by 7 November 2025 (Friday) 23:59 (HKT) via email to 5g.competition@hkpc.org; and attend the final adjudication, which should include:
- A 10-minute oral presentation to explain their design concepts and how to achieve their project objectives through the application of 5G technology in the low-altitude economy; and
- A demonstration of the final product in the form of a mobile app and/or relevant prototype
- Final adjudication and award presentation ceremony will be held on the same day. Judging panel will decide the final ranking based on the judging criteria:
| Scoring Criteria | Percentage |
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| Relevancy of content to theme | 20% |
Effectiveness in achieving at least one of the following key objectives:
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20% |
| Appropriate application of 5G technology in the low-altitude economy | 20% |
Completeness of solution
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20% |
| Presentation and demonstration of final product | 20% |
- Teachers leading the team can register through the registration page if their schools are interested in participating in the Competition.
- Following registration, teachers in charge will be contacted via email in a timely manner.
