The Centre of University of Wollongong (UOW) Programs at INTI recently collaborated with industry partners from Google, IBM, and MIMOS to organize the annual UOW Technopreneur Week, aimed at nurturing the next generation of technology-savvy entrepreneurs.
The main objective of the event was to gather disruptive technologies and how it will impact workforces in all sectors. Held for a week, the UOW Technopreneur Week reached out to multidisciplinary students from different levels, mostly majoring in IT, Computer Science, Business, Marketing, Finance, Communications, and Engineering.
During the opening ceremony, Lt. Col. Mustaffa bin Ahmad (Retired), Vice President,Outreach and Capacity Building Division of CyberSecurity Malaysia (an agency under MOSTI), said in his keynote address that, “We as Malaysians are one of the fastest growing internet users in the world. As a nation of enthusiastic adopters, there is a growing impetus for businesses to adapt to minimise the disruptive effects of technology. We need to better understand the risks and opportunities associated with disruptive technologies, and use this knowledge to make informed decisions on the best way to navigate this sea of change be it as individuals, businesses or a nation. Today’s event proves to be an important platform that will help build this foundation, particularly for students.”
The event also organized IT and Business forums on emerging trends in analytics as well as issues and challenges of free trade by industry leaders from IBM GDC Malaysia, MIMOS Berhad, Kasatria Technologies, Monitoring Sustainability of Globalization (MSN) Malaysia, and La Ca Prime Holding Sendirian.
Dr. Jane Lim, Deputy Chief Executive and Dean of UOW, said: “The annual UOW Technopreneur Week is one of INTI’s real industry projects. We work with our close industry ties to offer our students with the opportunity and responsibility to work on projects that may have actual and immediate effects in enabling them to develop employability and competency skills – whether that is problem solving, communication, teamwork, or leadership. Working in partnership with UOW has allowed our students a learning experience that will prepare them for a successful career in any field that they may embark on.”
The UOW Technopreneur Week concluded with the third CodeFest, wherein 150 students compete against each other in a 24 hours hackathon to develop a mobile application. The theme for CodeFest 3.0 this year was Community Care with an objective to create an application which will benefit the society and care for their well-being. This was executed in the first category, Mobile Apps Development.
A new addition to CodeFest 3.0 this year was a second category where students were required to build not just a prototype of the mobile application, but a business plan too which was pitched to the panel of judges. This included industry experts from Fusionex and Stampede Solutions, who both sponsored RM 3,000 each and sent their senior software engineers to mentor the students. The panel of judges also included representatives from Cubinet, ACTIV Consulting and VHR.
