Seven students make UTAR proud at 2022 UAiTED Innovation Competition

Seven students from UTAR managed to secure gold, silver and bronze awards at the 2022 University Alliance in Talent Education Development (UAiTED) Innovation Competition, which took place on 13 August 2022. The students consisted of UTAR Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES) student Yeoh Zhao Wei; Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology (FEGT) students Wong Sin May, Long Chik Mun and Ng Yi Van; Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT) student Tan Kah Hsing; Centre for Foundation Studies (CFS) student Mark Ng Jun Qi, and LKC FES student Chen Zi Mun. The winners of the gold, silver and bronze awards, walked away with USD5,000, USD3,500 and USD2,500 respectively.

The 2022 UAiTED Innovation Competition is a competition that aimed to fulfil two objectives: 1) To leverage high-tech innovation to facilitate ideas and solutions for problems related to some categories among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) announced by the United Nations (UN); 2) Facilitate cross-regional, multicultural, and interdisciplinary global talent development. The competition saw students from UAiTED member universities in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, forming cross-institution and cross-regional teams to come up with innovative solutions for the themes — Healthy Lives, Education, Ecosystem for Innovation, Climate Action and Sustainable Energy. A total of eight teams made it to the final.

Yeoh, who was part of the gold award winning team named Team SGF, selected the theme Healthy Lives. The team designed an Intelligent Digital Rectal Exam (DRE) Device that can improve patients’ and doctors’ willingness to accept DRE. He mentioned that he chose this theme because he wanted to use his own ideas to help substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses caused by hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination. Yeoh also explained his motivation for joining the competition, which was to improve his collaboration skills and create an innovative idea that can change the world.

Yeoh presenting his project in the competition

Yeoh Zhao Wei

Meanwhile, Wong, Long, Ng and Tan won the silver award with their team, Envero. The team designed a packaging solution provider for an e-commerce business platform since they chose the theme Ecosystem for Innovation. Each of them had their own reasons for choosing that particular theme, with Wong wanting to propose an idea to innovate a facility or a new business model which would benefit consumers, while Long wanted to try installing green roofs on smaller structures such as bus stops and walkways as opposed to larger structures. Ng, on the other hand, desired to create a self-sustaining smart plantation site, while Tan wished to produce a sustainable solution to a problem to help the community and the environment.

The four silver award-winning students also had their own different motivations for joining the competition. Wong said she liked taking up challenges, working with people from different backgrounds and widening her connections; Long noted his interest in trying something new and garnering valuable co-curriculum knowledge; Ng was simply interested in innovative competitions, while Tan loved the challenge of solving real-life issues using the skills and ideas he had obtained.

From left: Wong Sin May and Long Chik Mun

From left: Ng Yi Van and Tan Kah Hsing

Finally, Mark Ng from Team Nova Fascia and Chen from the team, Tree.io, achieved the bronze awards. Mark Ng had his heart set on the Healthy Lives theme, as he mentioned that the pandemic has made humans realise that their lives are venerable, and thus to cure the disease, new innovative technology must be introduced alongside the learning of new skills. Chen opted for the theme, Climate Action. Her idea involved incorporating waste materials like expanded polystyrene beads and kenaf fibre into concrete to produce bricks. Speaking of their motivation to join the competition, Mark Ng said that he wanted to make the world a better place with his ideas, while Chen hoped that by participating, she could contribute to the innovation of future technology with everything that she has learned in her studies.

From left: Mark Ng and Chen Zi Mun

UTAR congratulates and is proud of the seven students for their amazing achievements in the 2022 UAiTED Innovation Competition.