Innovate Malaysia Design Competition 2012: Fostering innovation and creativity in engineering

Five global technology leaders join forces to promote closer industry-academia collaboration and cultivate industry-relevant talents

PENANG, 19 July 2012 – Global technology leaders including Agilent Technologies, Altera, Intel Malaysia, National Instruments and SilTerra recently grouped together to organize the 2nd Innovate Malaysia Design Competition (IMDC) 2012, following its success last year. The competition was held with the support of Talent Corporation Malaysia (TalentCorp), Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), and managed by Dream Catcher Consulting Sdn. Bhd.

The year-long competition, which was opened to all engineering and computer science final year undergraduates, culminated in a Grand Finale held last Saturday. The team from University Technology Malaysia comprising Mohamad Faizal bin Abdullah, Muhamad Khairul Amilin bin Muhamad Hassim and Rabiah Adawiyah binti Shahad emerged as national champions to claim the coveted grand prize of the MOSTI Innovate Malaysia Award – defeating over 100 registered teams nationwide.(Left to right) a. Yang Berbahagia Prof Datin Paduka Dr. Khatijah Binti Mohd Yusoff, Deputy Secretary General (Science) of MOSTI. b. IMDC 2012 Grand Prize winners Rabiah Adawiyah binti Shahad, Mohamad Faizal bin Abdullah, Muhamad Khairul Amilin bin Muhamad Hassim of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. c. Johan Mahmood Merican, CEO of Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad. d. Choo Wai Heng, MD of Dream Catcher Consulting Sdn Bhd

The winning project is called ‘Lab-On-Chip’, a cell counting device commonly used in biomedical research. Based on Agilent Technologies’ USB data acquisition (DAQ) family, the device is a low-cost and effective miniature version of conventional technologies which are considerably bulkier, expensive and not readily accessible.

The multi-disciplinary engineering design competition was held in an effort to develop industry-relevant technical talent to support the growth of high-tech electronic industries. Apart from nurturing closer industry-academia collaboration, the competition also aimed at promoting a culture of continuous innovation and enhancing the students’ skill-sets in practical design engineering.Track champions for the Innovate Malaysia Design Competition 2012 together with representatives from competition technology sponsors Agilent Technologies, Altera, Intel Malaysia, National Instruments and SilTerra.

“We are fully supportive of this initiative by these five industry leaders because it cultivates skill-sets that closely match industry demands. It is encouraging to see the industry complementing universities’ efforts in developing the next generation of ICT talent. We hope to see greater participation from technology leaders within the industry, be it in the form of competitions such as this or other creative methods,” said Prof. Datin Paduka Dr. Khatijah Mohd Yusoff, Deputy Secretary General (Science) of MOSTI.

The competition was held in tandem with the compulsory final year project which forms part of the universities’ engineering and computer science curriculum. Throughout the competition period between July 2011 and July 2012, participants received guidance from the respective universities’ supervisors as well as mentors from the technology sponsors.

The teams also underwent various engineering and software design training and activities organized by their respective technology sponsors. The activities allowed participants to work with world-class technology platforms and high-tech industry tools, where they gained exposure and hands-on experience in an industry environment. All projects were conducted on selected industrial platform supported by the technology sponsors namely the Test and Measurement Platform by Agilent, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) Platform by Altera, Platform based on the Intel® Atom™ processor by Intel, Integrated Circuit by SilTerra, and Embedded Acquisition & Control by National Instument.

“We are very pleased with the increased quality of project submissions this year. We believe that the participants have captured the spirit of innovation and creative thinking in the process. It is our hope to see upcoming graduates bring this same spirit into their working environment in the coming years,” said Ng Hong Soo, Director of Strategic Programs, Intel Architecture Group, Intel Malaysia, who spoke on behalf of the five participating industry leaders.

This year, apart from funding highly specialized industry platform trainings, TalentCorp also funded soft skills trainings to the participating teams. These training sessions were held at various universities across the country to help groom future talent in presentation, communication and inter-personal skills.

“For Malaysia to emerge as a developed nation and a global talent destination by 2020, we must recognize the importance of optimizing our home-grown talent, who are our most precious resource,” said Johan Mahmood Merican, CEO of TalentCorp.

He added that moving forward, TalentCorp would continue to collaborate with institutions of higher learning (IHLs) and Malaysia’s leading employers on more industry-sponsored campus competitions, which provide students with greater industry exposure in addition to increasing graduate employability in the long term.

The IMDC 2012 received very encouraging response, recording a total of 241 registered students comprising 111 teams from 18 universities nationwide. The projects were judged on innovation and creativity, performance specification and complexity, practicality of design and verification of prototype on the selected platform.

Prize List of Innovate Malaysia Design Competition 2012

Grand Prize
MOSTI Innovate Malaysia Award 2012

Track Prizes
Agilent Track based on Test and Measurement Platform
1x 1st Prize – Cash award of RM5,000.00
1x 2nd Prize – Cash award of RM3,000.00
1x 3rd Prize – Cash award of RM1,000.00
* Each 1st, 2nd and 3rd Prize winner will also receive 1x VEE Pro software.
2x Consolation Prizes – Cash award of RM500.00 each.

Altera Track based on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) Platform
1x 1st Prize – Cash award of RM5,000.00
1x 2nd Prize – Cash award of RM3,000.00
1x 3rd Prize – Cash award of RM1,000.00
* Each 1st, 2nd and 3rd Prize winner will also receive 1x tPad DE2-115 Multimedia Development Kit and 1x ACDS software.
2x Consolation Prizes – Cash award of RM500.00 each.

Intel Track on Platform based on Intel® Atom processor
1x 1st Prize – Cash award of RM5,000.00
1x 2nd Prize – Cash award of RM3,000.00
1x 3rd Prize – Cash award of RM1,000.00
* Each 1st, 2nd and 3rd Prize winner will also receive 1x Intel Processor Based Notebook.
2x Consolation Prizes – Cash award of RM500.00 each.

National Instrument Track based on Embedded Acquisition & Control
1x 1st Prize – Cash award of RM5,000.00 + Lego Mindstorms NXT kit
1x 2nd Prize – Cash award of RM3,000.00 + NI myDAQ + LabVIEW student edition
1x 3rd Prize – Cash award of RM1,000.00 + NI myDAQ + LabVIEW student edition
2x Consolation Prizes – Cash award of RM500.00 each.

Silterra Track based on Integrated Circuit
1x 1st Prize – Cash award of RM5,000.00
1x 2nd Prize – Cash award of RM3,000.00
1x 3rd Prize – Cash award of RM1,000.00
* Each 1st, 2nd and 3rd Prize winner will also receive 1x MPW fabrication voucher.
2x Consolation Prizes – Cash award of RM500.00 each.

Supplementary Prizes
Best Thesis Award by Institute of Engineers Malaysia
1x Cash award of RM1,500.00