When Maryknoll School graduate Galen Ho returned to Hawaii after retiring from a 35-year career in the aerospace and defense industries, he was struck by the lack of resources and opportunities for local kids interested in science and technology.
The number of Hawaii high-tech companies had grown significantly since he left the islands in the late 1960s, but many were relatively unknown and weren’t in the position to inspire the state’s young minds.
Ho set out to change that.
"There are jobs here now and we have the capability," said Ho, a former senior executive with BAE Systems Inc. "We just have to get the kids more excited about these kinds of careers versus having to go to the mainland and finding a job, which is what I did."
One of Ho’s first actions was to join with Peter Crouch, dean of the University of Hawaii-Manoa College of Engineering, to form an advisory council in 2007 made up of faculty and local leaders in the engineering community.
Ho and Crouch are now teaming up on a new venture. Flanked by officials from some of the state’s most successful tech companies, the two recently announced a project called SEE-IT aimed at encouraging Hawaii’s youth to pursue careers in the local high-tech sector.
SEE-IT, which stands for Science, Engineering Exposition — Innovative Technologies, will be launched with an interactive exposition at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in November.
The SEE-IT exhibit will occupy up to 8,000 square feet on the main floor of the Hawai‘i Convention Center during the weeklong event before being relocated to the mezzanine level for 18 months. After that the exhibit will be moved to a permanent home. Locations being considered include the basement of Iolani Palace and the Bishop Museum, Ho said.
Among the Hawaii-based companies that have signed on with SEE-IT are Avatar Reality, Makai Ocean Engineering, Oceanit, Pacific Biodiesel, Navatek Ltd., Skai Ventures, Sopogy Inc. and Tissue Genesis Inc. Also participating are UH-Manoa’s College of Engineering and School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology.
Avatar Reality CEO Henk Rogers, a video-game designer-turned-entrepreneur who runs several ventures from his Merchant Street headquarters, is helping lead the effort to promote SEE-IT’s mission.
"In Hawaii there are some very amazing technology companies that are producing amazing products," Rogers said. "But most of the people in Hawaii, especially the young people, have no idea these companies exist. They have no idea what these companies do."
SEE-IT gives middle and high school students a chance to see close up what some of Hawaii’s high-tech companies are doing on a global stage, Crouch said.
"Kids and families on the mainland in most big cities have access to museums, science and technology centers, and exploratoriums," Crouch said. "In the physical sciences and engineering, we don’t have that on Oahu.
"That’s what this is based on, is to try to help our kids, our families," he said.
The participating companies and educational organizations are putting together individual exhibits for the exposition. SEE-IT also will seek partnerships with mainland institutions, such as the Smithsonian and the Museum of Science in Boston, to host some of its traveling exhibits.
Although the main purpose of SEE-IT is to inspire and motivate Hawaii’s youth, its location at the convention center will help raise the profile of local tech companies among APEC delegates and other conventioneers that will be using the facility during the following 18 months, Ho said.
The companies involved in SEE-IT run the gamut from global player BAE Systems Inc. to SEE/RESCUE Corp., a small firm run by local inventor Robert Yonover which specializes in survival equipment.
"When I go out to schools here, the kids have brilliant ideas, but they don’t have the follow-through. A lot of our great minds are lost because there is no company to come back to," Yonover said.
"And that’s what I want to develop."
