| Danial Norjidi |
AN AWARD ceremony for the Brunei Info-Communication Technology Awards (BICTA) 2018 was held yesterday at the International Convention Centre in Berakas.
The event was graced by His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah ibni His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, as the Royal Patron of BICTA.
His Royal Highness was greeted upon arrival by Minister of Communications Dato Seri Setia Awang Abdul Mutalib bin Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Setia Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Yusof, Deputy Minister of Energy, Manpower and Industry Dato Seri Paduka Awang Haji Matsatejo bin Sokiaw as the Chairman of the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI), Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications Haji Azhar bin Haji Ahmad as the Co-Chairman I of the BICTA Steering Committee, and Chairman of the InfoCom Federation of Brunei (IFB) Sheikh Haji Abas bin Sheikh Mohammad as the Co-Chairman II of the BICTA Steering Committee.
The event began with the recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah and Doa Selamat led by Yang Berhormat Pehin Datu Imam Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Abdul Hamid bin Bakal.
This was followed by a welcoming speech from the Minister of Communications, who said the presence of His Royal Highness as the Royal Patron of BICTA was “high motivation for local ICT industry players and youths to be more innovative, creative and competitive”.
His Royal Highness presented plaques of appreciation to the judges and speakers of the BICTA 2018 workshop, as well as prizes and the BICTA 2018 awards to the winners in various categories.
As the main highlight of the event, His Royal Highness presented the Royal Patron Award to Mindplus Education Sdn Bhd.
The biennial award is given to the overall winner who is best in all categories.
His Royal Highness then viewed an exhibition showcasing the products of the BICTA winners.
The theme for BICTA 2018 is ‘Digital Generation with a Vision’ and it is hoped that BICTA will continue to provide the platform for ICT professionals to constantly innovate, resulting in more locally inspired business solutions for the benefit of the community in Brunei Darussalam.
The winners of BICTA will have the opportunity to represent Brunei Darussalam in the regional competition – the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (APICTA) – which will be held in Guangzhou, the People’s Republic of China on October 9-13.
Yesterday’s event also witnessed the BICTA 2018 winners receiving awards in various categories. In the School Project category, cash prizes of BND3,000, BND2,000 and BND1,000 were respectively won by teams in first, second and third places, while all three winners were awarded trophies and certificates.
In this category, a team from St John’s School in Kuala Belait took first place for their mental health application, ‘Hope’. Chung Ching Middle School in Seria finished in second place for their tourism application, ‘BruLife’, while third place went to Chung Hua Middle School in Kuala Belait for their application, ‘Instant Health Aid’.
Meanwhile, in the Tertiary Project category, grants for product development amounting to BND7,000 and BND3,500 were awarded to teams in first and second places. The third place team received a cash prize of BND1,750 while all three teams were awarded trophies and certificates.
The category featured a team of two sisters who are students from Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) garnering first and third places for their projects, ‘Mechsim’ and ‘GoBacker’. ‘Mechsim’ uses virtual reality to run simulations on mechanical installations, while ‘GoBacker’ is a crowdsourcing platform.
A team of students from Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) took second place in that particular category for ‘Droplets’, which is an Internet of Things (IoT) system to monitor water in the environment.
In the ICT Industry category, the first- and second-placed teams received grants for product development of BND10,000 and BND5,000, while the third-placed team received a cash prize of BND2,500. All three teams received trophies and certificates.
Mindplus Education Sdn Bhd won first place in the ICT Industry category for ‘Mindtrex’, an adaptive learning, practice and exam simulation app that aims to boost overall academic results with the help of advanced technology.
Second place went to TechBru Solutions (B) Sdn Bhd for ‘WasapPay’, which aims to enable businesses to easily receive payments online through a mobile application, QR codes and web links. The third place winner was Rotuku Sdn Bhd for their international online marketplace, ‘Rotuku.com’.
In addition, three special awards were also presented. The Research & Development Project special award was presented to a student from UTB Hanif bin Jumaat for his SmartFarm Prototype for plant disease detection, diagnosis and treatment using IoT technologies.
The IoT special award went to a student from UBD Mohd Azizi bin Saiful Rizal for the ‘Droplets’ project, while the Start-Up special award was won by Mohammad Suhimi bin Mohd Salleh from Aqli Enterprise for its local business search app, ‘Aqli’.
BICTA was first organised in 2004, and is an annual event organised by the MinCom in collaboration with AITI and IFB. Among the objectives of BICTA is to stimulate ICT industry innovation and creativity among individuals, students and entrepreneurs including those from small and medium enterprises (SMEs).