Winners of Portal Design Competition visit San Francisco and Silicon Valley (English only) (with photo)
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    The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco has received the winning team of the first Portal Design Competition for Public Youth Services, organised by the Efficiency Unit of the HKSAR Government.

     The press reception at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office concluded the winning team's four-day visit to Silicon Valley and San Francisco. The winners, Edward Kwong, Leo Yiu and Steve Yu met with Ms Doris Cheung, the Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office and the media. They were accompanied by Mr Dennis Yip from the Efficiency Unit and Mr Charleston Sin, General Manager of Cisco Systems (HK) Ltd, which sponsored the visit.

     "I am delighted to receive the winners of the Youth Portal Design Competition," Ms Cheung said at the press reception. "This competition is organised in support of the HKSAR Government's 'people-based governance' policy. It enables the Government to better understand young peoples' expectations for the Youth Portal, allows our youth to actively participate in community affairs and also provides an excellent platform for young people to demonstrate their immense creativity and realise their aspirations in web portal design," she said.

     In addition to visits to Cisco headquarters and other high-technology companies in Silicon Valley and meetings with successful venture capitalists, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office also arranged for the winners to meet with students of Stanford University, and visit the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, which is one of the world's leading research laboratories in designing, constructing and operating state-of-the-art electron accelerators and related experimental facilities in high-energy physics.

     According to the winners, this US trip was an eye-opening experience for them. They treasured the first-hand information that they gathered through company and university visits. They are also inspired by the creativity and innovation of high-tech companies in Silicon Valley and hope they will be able to use their knowledge and skills in technology to give back to the community of Hong Kong.

Ends/Friday, September 15, 2006
Issued at HKT 10:00

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