Tech For Good Essay Competition

Please read our detailed submission instructions before submitting your essays.

The Tech For Good Institute invites you to participate in this year’s Tech For Good Essay Competition, themed “Shaping the Future of Southeast Asia’s Digital Economy”.

The theme is designed to make leaders of tomorrow think critically about the future of the digital landscape they will shape, especially as digitalisation rapidly transforms Southeast Asia.

COMPETITION DETAILS

Write an essay of no more than 1,500 words about the digital economy, its challenges, and how its promise can be maximised for the most good in your country and/or Southeast Asia as a whole. You may consider the theme through the lens of sustainability, trust, or equity, though this is not a requirement. You are welcome to freely decide on the direction of your essay, but essays must:

  • Be aligned with the Competition’s theme;
  • Be relevant to entrant’s local context or the Southeast Asian region as a whole; and
  • Be evidence-driven.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

The Competition is free to enter and open to submissions from all youths aged 18-35 years old from Southeast Asia.

Submissions should be no more than 1,500 words in length, excluding any attached charts, tables, footnotes, references, and appendices.

Each entrant may only submit a single entry, formatted as a Microsoft Word file titled “COUNTRY_SCHOOLNAME_FULLNAME”. If not currently in school, entrants should title their word file “COUNTRY_FULLNAME”.

Please read our detailed submission instructions before submitting your essays.

PRIZES

3 winning entries will be selected from each of the partner universities in following categories:

  • Category 1: Institut Teknologi Bandung
  • Category 2: Universiti Malaya
  • Category 3: University of the Philippines
  • Category 4: Singapore University of Technology and Design
  • Category 5: Chiang Mai University
  • Category 6: Vietnam National University
  • Category 7: Southeast Asia-Open (for all other participants)

The following awards will be given to the winning entries in each category:

Award

Prize Money

1st Prize

USD $1000

2nd Prize

USD $750

3rd Prize

USD $500

KEY DATES

Milestone

Date

Submission window open

8 September

Submission window close

2359hrs on 31 October 2022, GMT+8:00

Announcing of results

Tentative; early November

Virtual Awards Ceremony

18 November

JUDGING CRITERIA

Essays will be judged on the level of demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the theme, quality of insight, compelling use of evidence, quality of argumentation, structure, and persuasive force.

Essays will be judged by leading academics and business leaders across the region.

Submit your essay by 31 October here.

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Dr Ming Tan

Founding Executive Director

Dr Ming Tan is founding Executive Director for the Tech for Good Institute. She is concurrently a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore. Her research interests lie at the intersection of technology, business and society, including sustainability and innovation.

 

Ming was previously Managing Director of IPOS International, part of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, which supports Singapore’s future growth as a global innovation hub for intellectual property creation, commercialisation and management.

 

Prior to joining the public sector, she was Head of Stewardship of the COMO Group, a Singaporean portfolio of lifestyle companies operating in 14 countries worldwide. Her portfolio covered sustainability, brand and data privacy. She was concurrently the founding Executive Director of COMO Foundation, the private philanthropy of the owner of the COMO Group.

 

As a company director, she lends brand and strategic guidance to SuperNature Pte Ltd, COMO Hotels and Resorts (Asia) Pte Ltd, COMO Club Pte Ltd, and Mogems Pte Ltd. In the not-for-profit space, Ming is an Advisor to Singapore Totalisator Board and serves on the boards of Esplanade–Theatres on the Bay, Singapore’s national performing arts centre, St. Joseph’s Institution International and COMO Foundation.

 

As part of her commitment to holistic education and the arts, she also sits on the Advisory Panel of the Centre for the Arts of the National University of Singapore.

 

Ming was educated in Singapore, the United States, and England. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stanford University and her doctorate from Oxford.