Several participants have been named winners at the recent Brunei Info-Communications Technology Awards (BICTA), taking home cash prizes and trophies.
The award ceremony was graced by His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah ibni His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Wadddaulah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office as the Royal Patron of BICTA.
Carrying the theme ‘Smart Nation Through Digital Transformation’, this year’s competition was divided into three categories namely; ICT Industry, Tertiary and School.
The winner of the School Category was Chung Hwa Middle School with their product, AI Care. They received received a trophy sponsored by imagine, certificate and cash prize of $3,000.00
Second place winner Sekolah Menengah Berakas won cash prize of $2,000, at trophy and certificate with their project MidoriSAWI.
Third place went to Sekolah Ugama Arab Menengah Perempuan Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha with their project SignSpeak, bringing home cash prize of $1,000, a trophy and certicificate.
Meawhile, there was no winner in the first place for the Tertiary Category.
Universiti Teknologi Brunei won second and third places with their Smart Paddy Irrigation System and Smart Waste Bin System With Beacon Technology, respectively. For each place, they received cash prizes of $3,500 and $1,750 sponsored by Dynamik Technologies and Alif Technologies, respectively.
In the ICT Industry Category, the Ministry of Health won first place with their health and lifestyle mobile application BruHealth. The ministry received a cash prize of $10,000, a trophy and certificate courtesy of imagine.
Meanwhile, Techbru Solution won second place with its KedaiPOS, bringing home $5,000, trophy and certificate sponsored by Dynamik Teknologies.
Sitting at third place was Network Integrity Assurance Technologies (NiAT) for their product, OBSERVE™. The company received cash prize of $2,500, a trophy and certificate sponsored by Alif Technologies.
Four other projects received special awards, receiving a plaque and certificate. The recipients were BruIoT with their product LoRa Based Relay received the Internet of Things Technology (IOT) award.
For the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology Award, CodeBit Company with their AI Pipeline for Receipts Digitisation project.
Land Transport Department and and Universiti Teknologi Brunei with their product Road Accident Data Enhancement and Development (Raded) received Big Data Analytics Technology Award.
The Start-Up Award went to Thryffy Technologies with Thryffy. There was no recipient for Research and Development Project.
Meanwhile, the BICTA 2022 Royal Patron Award, which is an award for the best of the best among all the categories, went to the Ministry of Health for the BruHealth application.
BICTA winners of each category will have the chance to represent Brunei at the APICTA Awards 2022, a prestigious international ICT competition and since its participation in APICTA in 2008, Brunei Darussalam, has to date won two winning awards and 27 merits.
Prior to the prize presentation, the BICTA 2022 Chief Judge, Pengiran Sarimah Pengiran Haji Abdul Latiff had also briefed on the presentation of the BICTA Judges Report.
BICTA this year was implemented through a strong collaboration between the Ministry of Transport and Infocommunication, the Authority for Info-communication Technology Industry and the InfoCom Federation Brunei.
After having the ceremony postponed for two years due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the committee was excited to finally be able to hold the ceremony this year.
“This year’s theme features the inevitable digital transition and innovation that should be harnessed towards creating a better quality of life as well as a vibrant and sustainable economy,” said Minister of Transport and Infocommunication YB Pengiran Shamhary Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Mustapha in his remarks.
Taking into consideration the current pandemic situation, participants of the year 2021 have also been brought into the 2022 competition.
A total of 51 entries were received this year, bringing an increase of 27 per cent in the number of entries compared to the previous year.
BICTA winners will have the opportunity to represent Brunei Darussalam to the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards towards the end of the year having the chance to compete with participants from 15 other economists from the Asia-Pacific region.
BICTA has also introduced a new programme this year dubbed ‘BICTA Level Up’ to encourage product development and ensure the continuity of the BICTA participants.
In 2021, BICTA has also marked an achievement with the establishment of BICTA Alumni to gather past BICTA participants and actively held several events to connect members with industry players, technical experts and facilitate collaboration opportunities with partners.
BICTA is an annual ICT competition organised by the Ministry of Transport and Infocommunications (MTIC) in collaboration with the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) and InfoCom Federation Brunei (IFB).
The competition is aimed to stimulate innovation and creativity in ICT among individuals, students and local enterprises.
BICTA is also supported by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Religious Affairs, Darussalam Enterprise (DARe) and Brunei Intellectual Property Office (BruIPO).
Also in attendance were Deputy Minister of Department of Energy at the Prime Minister’s Office as Chairman of the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI), YM Dato Seri Paduka Haji Matsatejo Sokiaw, and Permanent Secretary of MTIC as Co-Chairman I of BICTA 2022 Steering Committee Haji Mohammad Nazri Haji Mohammad Yusof.
This article was first published on 09 July 2022 in our Weekly Epaper issue 201 |
THE BRUNEIAN | BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
