It was a great privileged to Institute of Human Centered Engineering {iHumEn), a renowned research institute, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia {UTM), has been invited to the exhibition of the ‘Festival of Ideas’ {FOI), a jointly organized event hosted by the Department of Higher Education {JPT), Ministry of Higher Education (KPT) of Malaysia, and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris {UPSI) on 12th September 2022.
The establishment of FOI is an effort shown by JPT with strategic directions outlined, celebrating new ideas in line with the development of higher education in the era of industrial revolution 4.0 through the involvement of government agencies, institutions of higher learning, industry partners, and the community, and secondly to leverage new ideas in resolving issues and problems raised through cooperation network and healthily compete with each other.
The JPT proposed four main objectives through this implementation of FOI. It is, first, generating new and challenging ideas that have the potential to be worked on through the involvement of the government, academics, industry networks, and the community. Second, it is a linkage network of cooperation between the government, academics, industry networks, and the community. Third, to provide space for university students to improve skills (upskilling) in solving problems with experts and industry players, and fourth, to create opportunities to move society towards a higher quality of life with Malaysia’s aspiration to become a developed nation.
In addition, through the development of FOI, this implementation is high potential resulting in a digital database comprising tangible ideas, including issues, problems, and problem-solving, research based on current problems, and the production of local creative content products.
For iHumEn, FOI and innovation have successfully presented a program of conversation, connection, and curiosity, exploring some of the most pressing questions of our time with a dynamic and engaging program of talks, events, and activities showcased by the JPT, university, private agency, industry player and community. It is a golden opportunity for all iHumEn researchers and its members to share the latest research outcomes while promoting the outstanding research expertise of iHumEn to the public through the FOI platform.
