| James Kon |
HIS Royal Highness Prince (Dr) 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 graced the Crown Prince CIPTA Award 2019 ceremony at the Serambi Suluh Hall of Tarindak D’Seni yesterday morning. His Royal Highness also presented prizes to the winners.
His Royal Highness, who is also the Pro-Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB), was welcomed upon arrival by Minister of Education Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Hamzah bin Haji Sulaiman, Acting Vice-Chancellor of UTB Dr Hajah Noor Maya binti Haji Md Salleh and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Brunei LNG Sdn Bhd Patrice Girard.
Minister of Energy, Manpower and Industry Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mat Suny bin Haji Mohd Hussein, Deputy Minister of Education Datin Seri Paduka Dr Hajah Romaizah binti Haji Mohd Salleh, and Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Pengiran Dato Seri Paduka Haji Bahrom bin Pengiran Haji Bahar were also present at the ceremony.
The ceremony commenced with the recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah and Doa Selamat by Yang Berhormat Pehin Datu Imam Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Abdul Hamid bin Bakal.
In her welcoming remarks, Dr Hajah Noor Maya highlighted a number of factors that are required to effectuate change and development to move the country towards a digital or ‘smart’ economy.
“To bring the country towards a prosperous and sustainable economy, what we need is creative and innovative workforce development, skills in the field of science and technology, as well as the ability to work efficiently in a ‘smart’ environment,” she said. “These are among the main factors for the development and changes happening in the current industry that is in line with the development of ICT.”
She added, “Aware of this trend and technology opportunities, UTB plays a vital role in instilling interest towards education and learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM. In addition, the university also provides a platform to enable high quality invention and innovation through the Crown Prince CIPTA Award competition.”
This year’s competition, themed ‘Industry 4.0: Convergence of Innovation’, was contested by 41 participants – 27 from Brunei and 14 from other ASEAN member countries.
The involvement of ASEAN contestants in the Crown Prince CIPTA Award has become somewhat of a catalyst in increasing the competiveness of local participants, with their submissions becoming benchmarks for quality in the competition.
The biennial competition, inaugurated in 2005 and organised by UTB with Brunei LNG Sdn Bhd as partner and sponsor, is aimed at inspiring the youth and public to develop creative products, processes or technologies to meet national aspirations, as well as to encourage inventions and innovations and to recognise and award creative talents.
It also serves to encourage research and development, to promote manufacturing processes and technological product development, to embed a culture of science, engineering and technology among the youth and public in Brunei Darussalam, and to foster collaborative linkages within Brunei Darussalam and the ASEAN region.
Hirman bin Haji Abu, one of the judges representing the competition’s technical committee, delivered a summary of the chief adjudicator’s appraisal of the Crown Prince CIPTA Award 2019 entries. Following this, the competition winners were announced.
Hirman announced that there were no winners for the Crown Prince CIPTA Award 2019 trophy as the winning project must be distinguished compared to the other projects and of “excellent quality”. He said the winning project for the award must achieve an overall score of at least 90 per cent.
He explained that despite a number of quality projects being submitted, “Those projects did not fulfil the standards that were already established and did not achieve the average score of 90 and above. Therefore there are no winners who are qualified to receive the Crown Prince CIPTA Award 2019,” he said.
After Hirman’s address, His Royal Highness, who is Patron of the competition, presented prizes and trophies to the winners for Category 1: Creating New Product, Process or Technology; Category 2: Modifying Existing Product, Process or Technology; Category 3: Creating New or Modifying Existing Product; Process or Technology by Young Inventors; Smart Junior Competition; and the ASEAN Category: New Invention & Innovation Category and Young Inventor Category.
A pesambah was presented to His Royal Highness by Dr Hajah Noor Maya on behalf of the Crown Prince CIPTA Award 2019 organising committee.
Prior to the end of the event, His Royal Highness toured the exhibition booths and interacted with the competition winners.