{"id":5224,"date":"2025-10-23T06:59:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T06:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/?p=5224"},"modified":"2025-10-23T06:59:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T06:59:28","slug":"day-1-session-1-great-innovation-challenge-2025-officially-kicks-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/day-1-session-1-great-innovation-challenge-2025-officially-kicks-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 1 Session 1: Great Innovation Challenge 2025 Officially Kicks Off!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Kuala Lumpur, 23 October 2025<\/strong> \u2013 The <strong>Great Innovation Challenge (GIC) 2025: Reengineering Plastic for Impact<\/strong> officially began with an inspiring opening session hosted by the <strong>Centre for Artificial Intelligence &amp; Robotics (CAIRO), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)<\/strong>, in collaboration with the <strong>IEEE Kuala Lumpur Subsection<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year\u2019s challenge is proudly sponsored by <strong>Great Eastern Takaful Berhad (GETB)<\/strong>, with a total of <strong>RM 37,000 in prizes<\/strong> and prototype development funding to be awarded to Malaysia\u2019s most innovative student teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The morning workshop, held virtually via Zoom, marked the official <strong>kick-off and technical training<\/strong> for participating teams from universities and colleges across the country. The session introduced the competition\u2019s objectives, rules, and judging criteria, while building participants\u2019 technical knowledge in sustainable design and digital prototyping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udcac <strong>Opening Ceremony<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The session began with a warm welcome and programme briefing by <strong>Dr. Muhammad Hisyam Rosle<\/strong> from CAIRO UTM.<br>Opening remarks were then delivered by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Ibrahim Shapiai<\/strong>, Director, CAIRO UTM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mr. Shahrul Azlan Syahriman<\/strong>, Chief Executive Officer, Great Eastern Takaful Berhad<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Both speakers emphasized the importance of <strong>industry\u2013academia collaboration<\/strong> and <strong>sustainability-driven innovation<\/strong>, inspiring students to take on the challenge of reengineering plastic waste into meaningful, community-based solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2699\ufe0f <strong>Technical Training: Sustainable Machine Design &amp; Digital Prototyping<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The first technical module, titled <em>Sustainable Machine Design &amp; Digital Prototyping<\/em>, was led by <strong>Dr. Fadhilah binti Abdul Razak<\/strong> from CAIRO UTM.<br>Participants learned the fundamentals of sustainable design, energy-efficient material selection, and the use of <strong>Fusion 360 and SolidWorks<\/strong> to create digital prototypes of improved plastic-recycling machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through live demonstrations and group exercises, students explored how to make small-scale recycling systems more <strong>portable, automated, and environmentally responsible<\/strong> \u2014 key goals of the Great Innovation Challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udc65 <strong>Active Participation and Collaboration<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Moderated by <strong>Mr. Zaenal Abidin<\/strong>, the session saw enthusiastic engagement from students representing both <strong>IPTA and IPTS<\/strong>.<br>Participants actively shared ideas and posed questions on automation, sustainability, and AI integration in recycling systems.<br>Presentation slides and session recordings were shared via the official <strong>GIC Facebook Group<\/strong> to support continued learning and collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udfaf <strong>A Platform for Future Innovators<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Great Innovation Challenge 2025 runs from <strong>September 2025 to May 2026<\/strong>, featuring two phases \u2014<br><strong>(1)<\/strong> <em>Concept Design &amp; Digital Prototyping<\/em> and<br><strong>(2)<\/strong> <em>Prototype Development &amp; Final Demonstration.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through this programme, participants will gain hands-on exposure to sustainable engineering, automation, and basic AI technologies, while contributing to Malaysia\u2019s green innovation ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udf1f <strong>A Promising Start<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Day 1 Session 1 concluded successfully at <strong>11:45 AM<\/strong>, marking a strong beginning for the two-year innovation journey.<br>Participants left inspired and better equipped to begin their concept development phase, setting the stage for impactful solutions that turn <strong>plastic waste into opportunity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udd17 <strong>Stay Connected<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Follow our updates and photos on the official Facebook page:<br>\ud83d\udccd <a href=\"#\">facebook.com\/<\/a>cairoutm<br>and learn more at<br>\ud83c\udf10 <a href=\"#\">research.utm.my\/cairo\/greatinnovationchallenge<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s <strong>Innovate. Compete. Impact.<\/strong> together for a cleaner, smarter, and more sustainable future! \ud83c\udf31<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kuala Lumpur, 23 October 2025 \u2013 The Great Innovation Challenge (GIC) 2025: Reengineering Plastic for Impact officially began with an inspiring opening session hosted by the Centre for Artificial Intelligence &amp; Robotics (CAIRO), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), in collaboration with the IEEE Kuala Lumpur Subsection. This year\u2019s challenge is proudly sponsored by Great Eastern Takaful [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11261,"featured_media":5226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-5224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-events","tag-cairo"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image.png",1600,947,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-300x178.png",300,178,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-768x455.png",768,455,true],"large":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-1024x606.png",1024,606,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-1536x909.png",1536,909,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image.png",1600,947,false],"et-pb-post-main-image":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-400x250.png",400,250,true],"et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-1080x675.png",1080,675,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-400x284.png",400,284,true],"et-pb-portfolio-module-image":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-510x382.png",510,382,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image-single":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-1080x639.png",1080,639,true],"et-pb-gallery-module-image-portrait":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-400x516.png",400,516,true],"et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth-large":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image.png",1600,947,false],"et-pb-image--responsive--desktop":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-1280x758.png",1216,720,true],"et-pb-image--responsive--tablet":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-980x580.png",931,551,true],"et-pb-image--responsive--phone":["https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/10\/image-480x284.png",456,270,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"CAIRO Webmaster","author_link":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/author\/nenny\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Kuala Lumpur, 23 October 2025 \u2013 The Great Innovation Challenge (GIC) 2025: Reengineering Plastic for Impact officially began with an inspiring opening session hosted by the Centre for Artificial Intelligence &amp; Robotics (CAIRO), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), in collaboration with the IEEE Kuala Lumpur Subsection. This year\u2019s challenge is proudly sponsored by Great Eastern Takaful&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5224"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5228,"href":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5224\/revisions\/5228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.utm.my\/cairo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}