Story by Victor Seow
Pix by Shum Jian-Wei
THE launch of the Penang Science Café@Heritage at Wisma Yeap Chor Ee on Dec 5 marked a major milestone by the state government in the pursuit of science and technology especially among the younger generation of Penangites.
Led by Keysight Technologies and supported by the Penang Science Cluster, the Penang Science Café@Heritage is a social collaborative space for building a community of science and serves as a catalyst to engage, educate, inspire and connect people pursuing innovation.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who officiated the building has high hopes for the Penang Science Café@Heritage to boost the interest of the young towards science and technology, an area which will be most pivotal for the future prosperity and advancement of the state.
“When the present state government took office in 2008, we received a lot of feedback from industry captains that the main constraint for Penang’s industrial growth lies in the lack of human talent – the shortage of high quality science and technical based human resources. Indeed, there was great concern that the interest of school students taking up studies in the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects was declining,” Lim said.
“Penang’s economic success depends primarily on the size and quality of the state’s talent pool. As a result, the state government initiated the formation of the Penang Science Cluster in 2010 with the mission to inspire the spirit of innovation in science and engineering into the community, especially among the young,” he added.
Also present at the event were Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon, Deputy Chief Minister II Prof Dr P. Ramasamy, Keysight Technologies Malaysia & Singapore president Datuk Gooi Soon Chai and chief executive officer of Penang Science Cluster Ooi Peng Ee.
The Penang Science Cafe@Heritage contains a Robotics Competition arena, provides interactive workshops for all ages, showcases innovations from students and makers and also runs engagement programmes with schools to develop STEM learning.
It also features the Garage which is a fully-equipped Makerspace with mechanical tools and machines as well as electronic instruments and hardware for students, makers and budding entrepreneurs to build and test their prototypes. It also serves great coffee and treats at Yin’s Sourdough.