CYBERJAYA, 2 August 2015 – Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) team, comprising Chen Kok Seng, Heng Wei Wei, Cheok Ming Jin and Nurhidayah Binti Mohd Salleh was announced Champion of the Software Hackathon 2015 competition organized by Dreamcatcher Asia and Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC).
They received RM1,500.00 as the prize money from MDeC Chief Operating Officer, Ms Ng Wan Peng.
The UTM students developed a Mobile Apps featuring a convenient way for tourists and travelers to purchase souvenirs and gifts.
The Manager of UTM Technology Entrepreneurship Centre (UTMTEC), Dr. Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan said that Software Hackathon 2015 involved an 8-day program with 6 days spent on teaching students skills in fundamental web and mobile app development such as Ruby on Rails, CSS, and HTML5, as well as entrepreneurial skills. The remaining 2 days involved applying the skills learnt into practice – Develop & Pitch.
“Basically, students were divided into groups, with each group having to solve specific problems. Industry mentors were available to assist the teams. The students then showcase their solution to the problem within a 48-hour period and pitched their solutions to a board of judges,” said Dr. Mohd Zaidi.
The goal of this competition was to up skill graduates’ skills and enhance their employability rate and entrepreneurial talents.
For the record, 132 students who formed 31 teams, from Malaysian public and private Universities participated in the event. The 2nd and 3rd place was won by Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) respectively.