Institute of Technical Education (ITE) students can now play a bigger role in helping the Home Team keep Singapore safe and secure under a new pact with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Under the Memorandum of Understanding, signed by the school and ministry at the second day of the inaugural Home Team festival on Saturday, ITE students will partner different MHA agencies to conduct proof of concept trials and prototyping of safety and security projects, said Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade & Industry, Mr S Iswaran.

Mr Iswaran, who was the guest-of-honor at the event, also presented awards to the student winners of a design competition, which included a video analytics system designed by Nanyang Polytechnic that can alert home owners to suspicious behaviour outside their home through the Internet. He noted in his speech that one of the winning projects last year, a Trapped Persons Indicator, has since been adopted by the Singapore Civil Defence Force for rescue training, boosting the agency's efficiency.

He said the diversity of the mobile applications and projects at competition demonstrated that young people here are a rich source of good ideas for the Home Team. "I welcome and support this broadening and deepening of collaboration between the Home Team and our educational institutions, and look forward to more schools coming onboard to work closely with the Home Team to jointly develop safety and security solutions."