Have great ideas how your city should be like in the future? Then you should consider participating in the upcoming Medini Iskandar Malaysia’s ‘Medini Innovention Challenge 2016’ which encourages youth community across Southeast Asia to demonstrate their creativity by sharing innovative ideas that can be turned into inventions towards shaping Medini into a smart and sustainable city.
Carrying the theme ‘Icon of Future City Living’, the two-phase Challenge is open to students who are registered at public, private tertiary and higher education institutions.
The Challenge is intended to be a spark plug for innovative thinking and to ignite the spirit of entrepreneurship among those participating. As part of the Challenge, teams will be tasked to develop solutions based on four Medini Smart City qualities, namely Smart, Connected, Liveable and Efficient.
Students can submit ideas in written and video proposals in phase one of the challenge. The written entries must provide a brief introduction, sketches, business model, social and economic implications, and demonstrate how the idea will benefit Medini. The video presentation allows students to pitch their ideas in the most creative manner. To-date, proposal submissions have been received from students in Malaysia and Thailand, and keen interest from Singapore and Brunei. The deadline for submission of video proposals in phase 1 is July 16, 2016.
In phase two of the Challenge, 20 shortlisted teams will further develop their ideas into prototypes. All 20 generated ideas will be featured at an exhibition later this year, where final judging will take place to select the winners. The Challenge offers prizes amounting to RM25,000 for two categories (undergraduate and postgraduate).
Datuk Ir. Khairil Anwar Ahmad, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Medini Iskandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd said, “With our close proximity to world-class educational institutions such as those in EduCity, this inaugural Challenge is an ideal platform to spur creativity and strengthen the relationship between industry and academia.”
“We are excited to see what these bright young minds can come up with when they are inspired to unleash their creativity. More importantly, we are eager to help our bright innovators and creators to commercialise at least one of their ‘innoventions’ so it does not just end with the Challenge. Not only could these ideas contribute towards Medini’s development, the Challenge hopes to cultivate more young entrepreneurs and talent in the country.”
“Being smart and sustainable are among the core qualities shaping Medini as it becomes a city. In fact, this is what the future represents as we become a vibrant, liveable urban space where communities can seamlessly live, work and play,” Datuk Khairil added,
This Challenge is supported by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia and MIM is collaborating with PlaTCOM Ventures Sdn Bhd, Media and Game Innovation Centre of Excellence (MaGICX), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and the Imagineering Institute
