|   James Kon |

HIS Royal Highness Prince (Dr) Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, and Pro-Chancellor of Institut Teknologi Brunei (ITB), graced the Crown Prince CIPTA (Creative, Innovative Product and Technological Advancement) Award 2015 ceremony at the Royal Berkshire Hall, Royal Brunei Polo and Riding Club, Jerudong.

Upon arrival, His Royal Highness was greeted by Minister of Education, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Haji Awang Abu Bakar bin Haji Apong, the Vice-Chancellor of ITB, Associate Professor Dr Hajah Zohrah binti Haji Sulaiman and Managing Director of Brunei LNG Sdn Bhd, Awang Mohamad bin Haji Awang Damit.

The vice-chancellor of ITB in her opening remark said, “For the first time this competition has introduced new categories that is open to participation from Asean countries, namely the New Invention and Innovation as well as Young Inventor categories.

“The introduction of these new categories is to raise exposure for the competition regionally while providing an avenue for healthy competition between local participants and their counterparts from Asean countries.”

The vice-chancellor added that the winning prizes for all the categories have increased in value and lauded the fact that as many as 71 projects were received from 33 participants representing universities, secondary schools and other educational institutions from the regional bloc as well as 38 local participants.

His Royal Highness Prince (Dr) Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Pro-Chancellor of Institut Teknologi Brunei (ITB), in a group photo with the Minister of Education, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Haji Awang Abu Bakar bin Haji Apong, the Vice-Chancellor of ITB, Associate Professor Dr Hajah Zohrah binti Haji Sulaiman and Managing Director of Brunei LNG Sdn Bhd, Awang Mohamad bin Haji Awang Damit and other guests.

Another new category, the Smart Junior Category, which is open to students in Years Seven to Nine, aimed to encourage creativity and innovation among the younger generation.

The vice-chancellor highlighted that ITB along with government agencies will continue to play a role in encouraging innovation among the local community.

One such example is to sponsor the local winner to participate in competitions of this nature at the international level.

Meanwhile, Chief Adjudicator, Professor Salim Al-Hassani, prior to announcing the results also put forward a number of recommendations, saying, “The competition is commendable but in comparison to previous CIPTA competitions, the number of entries from female participants was less. It is observed that from the list of winners for this year, only 22 per cent were from female participants.”

He added that the number of female participants may be further increased through national investment and effort from relevant institutions and stakeholders to cultivate a stronger spirit of inventiveness and creativity, particularly in school.

He also suggested that besides awarding product-focused inventions, future prizes could also include awarding novel projects or inventions aimed at improving social cohesion, development of schemes to connect moral behaviour and professional conduct, spreading the spirit of cooperativeness alongside individual competitiveness and the development of schemes to enhance entrepreneurship – such as children setting up viral companies and businesses.

After launching the ITB innovation month in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of The Crown Prince CIPTA competition, His Royal Highness, who is the patron of the competition also presented prizes to the winners of each category, followed by touring the exhibition and interacting with some of the winners.

The theme for this year’s CIPTA award was ‘Towards A Smart Nation’.

TOP CIPTA 2015 WINNERS

Category 1 (New Innovative or Creative Product, Process or Technology)

Joint second runner-up prize

GZUP Dual Way Steering Box – A steering system for vehicle that can be shifted and operated in two opposite directions (by Haji Zupri bin Haji Kamis), and

Smail – A smart mailbox system that provides on-demand information to the resident on their hand-held devices (by ITB)

Category 2 (Modification of Existing Product, Process or Technology) – Winner prize

Smart Shower 2.0 – A prototype shower system with smart function to conserve water and energy (by ITB)

Category 3 (Creating New or Modifying Existing Product, Process or Technology by Young Inventors) – First runner-up prize

TechnoHeadphone Station TH-01 – All-in-one headphone amplifier, digital-to-analogue converter and stand (by St Andrew’s School)

Smart Junior Competition First runner up prize

Covel – A conceptual idea of a 3-in-1 versatile farming product, which consists of a cutter, hoe and shovel (by Ma’had Islam Brunei)

Asean category – New Invention and Innovation

Green Tea Nanocarriers to Fight Cancer – A new drug delivery system that utilises a key ingredient in green tea to improve the effectiveness of anti-cancer drugs (by Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Singapore)

Honourable mention prize

Extraction of Vitamin E using Palm Fatty Acid Distillate – A technology to extract Vitamin E using palm fatty acid distillate (by Curtin University Malaysia)