Innovation in the digital age

Group photo of the participants and presenters

The R&D Colloquium (2.0) 2016 was held at Sungai Long Campus on 22 October 2016. The colloquium was the sixth instalment which saw researchers nationwide, including from UTAR’s 28 research centres, convene to share and exchange research ideas and findings, as well as to collaborate on multidisciplinary research.

Prof Lee urging the researchers to engage in more multidisciplinary research

“Many of today’s issues that are affecting Malaysians are increasingly complicated, therefore it requires teamwork from various disciplines to improve our communities. I hope today’s colloquium would pave the way for researchers to collaborate and realise their ideas into competitive products and services that will address the issues we face,” said UTAR Vice President for R&D and Commercialisation Prof Ir Dr Lee Sze Wei.

Themed ‘Innovation in the Digital Age’, this colloquium featured four sub-themed sessions and 22 presentations by researchers from the areas of tourism, education, health and infrastructure.

From left: Session chairpersons Dr Falahat, Dr Nadya, Prof Shelly and Prof Tanaka

The sub-themes were ‘Sustainable Tourism in the Digital Age’ chaired by Centre for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility in Business Chairperson Dr Mohammad Falahat Nejadmahani, ‘Innovation in Society and Education in the Digital Age’ chaired by Centre for Modern Languages & Literature Chairperson Dr Nadya Supian, ‘Improvement in the Quality of Our Lives through Innovation’ chaired by Centre for Research on Non-Communicable Disease Chairperson Prof Dr Shelly Soo, and ‘Innovation in Infrastructure Monitoring and its Socio-Economic Impact - Smart City’ chaired by Centre for Disaster Risk Reduction Chairperson Prof Dr Yasuo Tanaka.

 

From left: Lam, Ir How, Razim and Yapp

Among the presentations that stood out were “Edu-Tourism: Exploring Perceived Risk and Risk Reduction Strategies in the Pursuit of Higher Education Abroad” by Lam Mun Soon from Multimedia University, “Digital Economics Throughout the Construction Lifecycle” by Ir How Yoke Teng from Brunsfield International Group, “Smart City by IBM” from IBM Country Manager for Watson Internet of Things Razim Malek Othman, and “Practice Led Research: Virtual Reality (VR) in Medicine” by Centre for Immersive Technology & Creativity Chairperson Aloysius Yapp.

“This event was a great networking opportunity for researchers from around the country to partner up and develop innovative research projects,” said Faculty of Arts and Social Science Lecturer Edwin Michael N Muniandy.

“Despite the impressive research outcomes shared by the presenters, more industry players and researchers from other institutions should participate so that more ideas and knowledge can be shared,” said Master of Engineering Science student Yau Meng Kuan.

This colloquium was organised by the Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research (IPSR), in line with UTAR’s 10-year Strategic Plan on cross-disciplinary research.