2nd Greater Bay Area Youth AI Innovation Competition Concludes in Hong Kong

The 2nd Greater Bay Area Youth AI Innovation Competition concluded on 7 August 2026 at HKBU Affiliated School Wong Kam Fai Secondary & Primary School. The competition was organised by IITS Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Branch of the Youth IT Training Project.

The event is a Guangdong Provincial Department of Education whitelisted qualifier: winners advance to the provincial final at Hengqin, Zhuhai in November. It drew 130 young competitors from Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Jiangmen and Beijing, with more than 170 teachers, parents and industry specialists attending.

Guests at the opening ceremony included Legislative Council member Mr Tang Fei; Professor Chan Wai-kai, Principal of HKBUAS Wong Kam Fai; Dr Lee Chit-wang, Vice Principal; Mr Zhu Hao of IITS headquarters; Dr Tsui Yin-kam, head of the Youth IT Training Project Hong Kong Branch; Mr Li Ben-li, Director of Academic Affairs at IITS Hong Kong; and Ms Lorraine Moore, Education Consultant at IITS Hong Kong.

In his opening address, Mr Tang Fei described artificial intelligence as a core industry of the future and youth innovation education as central to the Greater Bay Area's talent pipeline. He encouraged competitors to experiment boldly and to learn from one another.

Professor Chan Wai-kai spoke to the competition's name. "AI Without Borders" means that AI is not confined by geography, he said, and innovation has no borders — urging students to turn the ideas in their heads into working things, and to let the exchange broaden what they think is possible.

Mr Zhu Hao described the competition as combining enjoyment, hands-on practice and technical rigour, with a clear progression from the Bay Area round through to the provincial final.

Six organisations received Outstanding Organiser awards: HKBUAS Wong Kam Fai; Cho Yiu Catholic Primary School; Christian Alliance S. Y. Yeh Memorial Primary School; Zhuhai Huafa International Exchange Training School; Xinhui Shangya School, Jiangmen; and Zhuhai Dahua Education — Guangdong Science Popularisation Education Base. Certificates of appreciation went to Mr Tang Fei, Professor Chan Wai-kai, and Mr Liu Kwok-leung, Director of Culture and Education at Bauhinia Magazine.

Judges and competitors each took an oath before the competition began — the judging panel to rule objectively and by the rules, the students to compete fairly and to innovate.

Teams then worked through robot assembly and programme debugging. The competition brief centred on everyday themes such as low-carbon living, drawing together programming, mechanical design and applied AI. Teams divided the work between them and handled problems as they arose.

Mr Li Ben-li said the competition had grown this year, and that IITS Hong Kong would continue to bring more Greater Bay Area schools in. Beyond programming and practical skill, he said, the value is in what it asks of the children: communicating, collaborating, and facing a challenge in front of an audience.

Dr Tsui Yin-kam said the organisers would carry forward the cross-border spirit of "AI Without Borders", deepening exchange between young people across Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.