Blood Donation Drive app bags Prime Minister’s Innovation Award in DiGi Challenge for Change Finale

• Over RM200,000 in prizes awarded to ideators and app developers
• Best developer wins Telenor Group Award and chance to attend Digital Winners Conference in Norway

SHAH ALAM, 27 June 2013: After seven months of developing ideas and applications targeted at ‘Bringing Malaysians together, One App at a Time’, Leow Aik Peng, 41 from Shah Alam walked away with the Prime Minister’s Innovation Award for the best overall app idea in the fourth edition of DiGi Challenge for Change (DGCFC).

Leow’s Social Blood Drive idea was aimed at increasing the success of blood donation drives by connecting blood donors to hospitals and medical centres. According to the judges, Leow’s idea best reflected the Challenge for Change philosophy of bringing communities together through the power of mobile internet for a greater good.

VIPs at the DiGi Challenge for Change Finale
• Sigve Brekke, Chairman, DiGi Telecommunications 
• YBhg Datuk Che Azemi Haron, Deputy Secretary General for Communication & Multimedia Ministry 
• Henrik Clausen, Chief Executive Officer, DiGi Telecommunications

Over the past months, Leow had worked closely with participating developers by providing clear insight on his idea to aid in the app development process. Besides the honour of winning this prestigious inaugural award, Leow’s win made him RM25,000 richer on top of the RM5,000 he won in the ideation phase of the competition.

Besides Leow, seven app developers also bagged prizes and cash for developing apps based on the winning ideas generated during the ideation phase.

DiGi also announced a Telenor Group Award for the best overall mobile app. This award was presented to the developers of the greeting app ‘YO!’, namely Muhammad Nazrin bin Almi, Shafwan bin Mohd Radzi and Muhammad Muhaimin bin Juhari. The ‘YO!’ app works to organize mobile contacts according to their festival groups, auto-reminds you to send timely greetings with the option to trigger physical greeting card delivery.

App developer showing YBhg Datuk Che Azemi Haron, Deputy Secretary General for Communication & Multimedia Ministry his app while Henrik Clausen, Chief Executive Officer, DiGi Telecommunications (second from right) looks on.

The ‘YO!’ team wins a trip to the Digital Winners Conference in Oslo, Norway in November 2013, and the opportunity to meet global industry experts, learn new development skills and gain new insights on trends relevant to digital services and mobile application development. DiGi is an affiliate of Telenor Group, one of the world’s major providers of mobile communications.

YBhg Datuk Che Azemi Haron, Deputy Secretary General for Communication & Multimedia Ministry, who officiated the awards ceremony on behalf of Minister Communication & Multimedia, YB Dato’ Ahmad Shabery Cheek, commended Leow and all the other winners for their efforts. He said, “I believe the internet brings positive changes to Malaysians particularly in connecting relevant content, convenience and economic opportunities to Malaysians of all walks of life. Programmes like Challenge for Change help promote local content development, which is a key component in this value chain. I am pleased to see DiGi taking an active role in driving internet usage through mobile apps and nurturing an inclusive app ecosystem that encourages innovation.”

DiGi’s Chief Executive Officer Henrik Clausen echoed Datuk Che Azemi saying that mobile apps are a fitting platform to connect people and drive socio-economic opportunities, as more and more Malaysians first experience the internet on their mobile phones.

Group photo of all the DiGi Challenge for Change winners and the VIPs.

“Together with our partners, we are pleased to have worked with the local developer community to build mobile apps that meet the shared needs of Malaysians, are readily implementable, and encourage greater use of the internet and participation in the digital economy. This underscores our vision for Challenge for Change, and brings us a step closer in our mission to make Internet For All a reality for more Malaysians.”

DiGi Challenge for Change is a competition to unearth innovative, community-centric ideas that are then developed into mobile applications. This programme was held in partnership with PEMANDU, Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), Google Malaysia and Microsoft Malaysia.

Since the launch last year, a total of 2,000 mobile app ideas were received in the ideation phase. Seven (7) winning ideas were then chosen and presented to the local developer community to be transformed into working mobile apps. 50 mobile apps were then received in the app development phase, seven (7) of which were announced as winners in their respective categories today, with each developer or team winning RM25,000 each (see factsheet for more information). Going forward, DiGi will support these winning apps by promoting them to its customer base, including 5.7 million mobile internet subscribers across various touch points.

For more information on DiGi Challenge for Change, visit: www.dgcfc.com.my