UTAR Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES) Bachelor of Science (Honours) Software Engineering student Benjamin Leong E-Jenn won Merit Award at Asia-Pacific ICT Alliance Awards 2020-2021 (APICTA Awards 2020-2021) (Asia Pacific level).

Leong was shortlisted to represent the Malaysia team to compete in the APICTA 2020-2021 competition. Other contestants from other economies also included, Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Nepal.

Supervised by LKC FES Department of Internet Engineering and Computer Science lecturer Ts Dr Sugumaran Nallusamy, Benjamin Leong’s winning project titled “Mobile-Based Real Time Property/ Land for Sale Viewing using Google Map and Communication Tool for Buyers and Client/Real Estate Agent” aimed to develop and implement a mobile-based property market application that is capable of providing an enhanced virtual home viewing experience. With the integration of an improvised chat feature, the application also allows appointment bookings to be made and enables users to reach out to real estate agents more conveniently.

Benjamin Leong explained, “The real estate industry is still lacking in terms of integrating its features to the digital world compared to many other industrial sectors. There is plenty of room to grow and many new features to implement, especially during this pandemic. Virtual visualisation features for home viewing, smart contacts through blockchain technologies, smart home features to toggle household electronics and switches, and making payments through application are all areas that could be explored which will benefit the society in the coming future.”

He added, “Google view of the properties functionality is able to provide a better view of the available properties to the buyers, as well as, help them explore and compare the geographical location of the properties. Furthermore, this application is able to speed up the homebuying process as the system allows to send required documents within the application just by uploading them.”

Speaking of the motivation for conducting this research, Benjamin Leong said, “The real estate industry is still lacking compared to many other industrial sectors out there. So I saw this as an opportunity to venture into it, hoping that some changes can be made to it. Coincidentally, my mother also asked me to develop a real estate mobile application for her personal use previously, but I had to put it on hold due to my overloading assignments. But when I saw that this title was up for grabs, it was an opportunity that I had to try and get.”

“To be honest, I was surprised when the panel of judges shortlisted my project for the final round of judging after the preliminaries. I never thought that I would be able to take my final year project this far,” said Benjamin Leong. He added, “Taking part in this competition gave me the opportunity to be exposed to external competitions at the international level. I was able to compete with students from other higher learning institutions and countries, and view many interesting projects.”

Benjamin Leong advised juniors to be brave and not to be afraid to try. “I did not expect to gain valuable feedback and advice from the panel of judges; it was an additional means to improve my project. I advise you to get out there and try your best. If you don’t try, the result will always stay the same. But if you do, there is always a possibility,” said Benjamin Leong.

The APICTA Awards is a jointly organised programme by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and The National ICT Association of Malaysia (PIKOM) to cultivate a steady stream of innovators, technopreneurs, thinkers, and visionaries. It is an international awards program organise by APICTA, which aims to increase ICT awareness in the community and assist in bridging the digital divide. By providing networking and product benchmarking opportunities to ICT innovators and entrepreneurs in the region, the program is designed to stimulate ICT innovation and creativity, promote economic and trade relations, facilitate technology transfer, and offer business matching opportunities via exposure to venture capitalists and investors.