How Hong Kong Telecom is helping city’s smart home innovation become a reality
- ‘Pioneering’ telecommunications company has invested considerable resources into intelligent technologies to enhance Hongkongers’ lifestyles
- HKT Smart Living Awards, held for past three years, honours best global smart home interior designers and recognises students – the innovators of future
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Imagine coming home after a stressful day and opening the door to discover the lighting and temperature are perfect and your favourite album is starting up.
Welcome to the world of smart living. A home can be described as “smart” when home interior design incorporates connected elements – either a central system or a mix of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices – using technology customised to address the homeowner’s particular needs and preferences.
For advocates of smart living, this ideal scenario is already a reality and the trend is now “widely spread, and shaping a new living style filled with convenience and comfort”, Ringo Ng, Managing Director of HKT's Consumer Group, tells South China Morning Post.
He says that the demand for smart home design is growing in Hong Kong as its tech-crazy residents look towards smart solutions to improve their homes, controlling their own preferential settings via one-touch on a mobile app, or simply through voice command.
The trend is only going to continue to grow, as more and more interior designers incorporate smart features into their projects as they merge aesthetics and comfort with technology and connectivity.
Local leaders
Ms Susanna Hui, Group Managing Director of HKT, said: “As a smart technology pioneer, HKT has invested considerable resources into the application of intelligence to improve lifestyles. We will continue to promote smart living solutions, powered by the latest technologies, in order to create yet more possibilities and enhance the everyday lives of our customers.”
Ng says that we “all look for a quality of life and the ‘smart living’ attitude brings our living extra comfort, convenience, and efficiency at home”.
Smart tech integration into homes should be simple, seamless, invisible and intuitive, allowing numerous family members to have their own settings, he says.
Myriad benefits
Beside convenience and comfort, home connectivity has other advantages, too.
Bringing smart tech offerings into our homes also provides support for people with special needs, which is “important, but more important is how this could enhance sustainable development, green living and how we can contribute to [saving] the Earth”, Ng says.
“Aside from giving our home a lifelike ability to interact with us, smart technology makes our homes more energy-efficient, as the systems automatically conserve energy with temperature adjustment and lighting control.”
He says the tech “has been growing fast – more and more human friendly and affordable technologies are being developed. The way it’s developing allows interior designers to create quality and aesthetic smart homes, according to their client’s requirement.”
He says the company joins forces with designers and homeowners, “constantly working” with a range of designers who are integrating technology into their interior designs and offers collaboration services with HKT Smart Living consultants “to work together to select the product that will work the best”.
Recognising the best of the best
It also recognises the achievements of the best of the best, with its HKT Smart Living Awards, an annual gala which recognises the best smart home interior designs, setting the benchmark for the year ahead.
It is Hong Kong’s first-ever scheme combining the concepts of smart and beautiful design and has earned HKT its reputation for recognising and honouring outstanding smart interior design.
The response to this year’s competition was a confirmation of the aims and hopes of HKT, with 120 entries from both established professionals and interior design students competing for 16 awards in two categories, including “HKT Smart Living Design Award”, “Best Application of Smart Living Concept Award”, and “Best Interior Design Concept Award”. The entries were judged on both their interior design and smart living concepts.
The public was also able to vote for their favourite entry in the "Most Popular Smart Living Design Award" category.
This year’s competition welcomed entrants to submit project completed overseas for the first time (entrants must be holders of a valid Hong Kong ID) – vastly broadening the scale of the competition and cementing Hong Kong’s position as a global hub of tech and design excellence and a conduit for the industry.
By recognising students – the next generation of creators and innovators – HKT is nurturing and inspiring the way our future homes will look and operate.
The competition, now in its third year, brings together the world’s foremost smart home interior designers and gives local professionals a chance to interact, exchange ideas and learn from each other, and potentially collaborate and enhance the industry – something that will ultimately benefit us all.
Outstanding entries
This year’s winners include Maggy Cheung’s Gold entry for her work at The Granville, making use of a 180-degree top level and outdoor area to “create spacious and harmonious” living conditions, while inside, connecting the apartment’s curtains, air conditioning and IP camera.
Another medallist, Regina Kwok, sought to “create a haven for [her] client, drawing inspiration from the natural surroundings of their home in northern California,” according to the competition entry notes, while seamlessly integrating the living space’s lighting, curtains and AV system.
Golden age
Ng says we are now in a golden period of innovation in the smart home sector. Future advances in technology will do away with manual controls altogether, ushering in an era of voice or even motion-activated controls with the ability to differentiate between voices, allowing the smart home to adjust settings for a particular user.
The applications for artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics in the industry are exciting, Ng says.
“With the proliferation of AI technology, the future smart home system can analyse your personal habits and switch to your preferred setting without manual control,” he says.
“With the latest advancement in AI and robotics technologies, robots with capabilities to interact with humans have become a focus of development.”
This will be particularly valuable when there are specific needs to be addressed, he says – for example, robots that have been successfully developed to interact and provide care and companionship for the elderly.
Ng says HKT Smart Living aims to be Hong Kong’s leading connectivity advocate, “bringing in the latest technology to enhance one’s quality of life”.
He says: “With a strong background in tech and an experienced team, we are able to offer smart living solutions tailored for both end consumers and property developers, as well as specific groups’ needs, like providing smart home solutions for the elderly and special needs groups.”