On 27 May 2022, a group of students from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) emerged as the 1st runner-up of the Swiss Innovation Challenge ASEAN (SICA) 2021/22 in all ASEAN countries.
The winning team from UTM, Ad Libitum, consists of Wan Muhamad Asyraf (MS Biomedical Engineering) from School of Biomedical Engineering, Loke Rui Kee (1st-Year BCS Bioinformatics) from School of Computing, and Dr. Bhuwaneswaran Vijayam (MS Biomedical Engineering), alumni from School of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Doctor at Poliklinik Dan Surgeri Medikhtiar, Larkin Johor (refer Figure 1), and was mentored by Associate Professor Dr. Yeong Che Fai from Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Robotics of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (CAIRO UTM) and Associate Professor Ir. Dr. Eileen Su Lee Ming from School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The team took home RM3,000 as the first runner-up prize (refer to Figure 2).
Swiss Innovation Challenge (SIC) is an innovation promotion programme in Switzerland with an integrated competition that takes a holistic approach in realising innovative business ideas along with the lifecycle of an enterprise. SIC is an annual prestigious program led by the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) with full support from the Swiss Government.
Commencing in July 2021, and ended on May 2022, SICA 2021/22 organizer received more than 200 submissions, with participants from Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia (refer Figure 3). As one of the finalists, throughout the 10 months, to address common long-term health issues such as cardiovascular disease and metabolic sickness, team Ad Libitum designed a smart medical mirror, and tackled one of ASEAN socio-economic issues in medical accessibility due to different socio-economic settings.
Team Ad Libitum presented their solution (refer Figure 4), LEAP-X where they emphasized on the importance of preventive yet personalised medical device, which helps enable ASEANs who are lacking of accessibility in a medical setting to overcome it with their solution.
The international final judges were represented by Prof Dr. Rolf-Dieter Reineke from University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Dato’ Seri Michael Tio from PKT Logistics Group Sdn. Bhd. Malaysia, Datuk Dr. Hafsah Hashim from SME Corp, Prof Dr. Verkuil Arie Hans from Swiss-Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (SMCC), and Mr. Robest Yong from Innopreneur Enterprise.
The prestigious win is one of the countless affirmation that Universiti Teknologi Malaysia is one of the leading higher institutional learning in Malaysia to producing reputable graduates with the help of its dedicated lecturers. Kudos to the winners and may the win be the start of a successful and fruitful journey to the winners.
More about CAIRO UTM:
CAIRO UTM (Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Robotics) is one of the leading Centres of Excellence in Malaysia focusing on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Control and Automation. Established in 1997, CAIRO UTM has produced numerous talents and significant research outcomes on AI & Robotics. In 2018, CAIRO UTM was awarded as one of the Competence Centre by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry MITI. UTM has strong linkages and networking with academic institutions, government sectors and industrial sectors, on national and international level.