UTM won 2nd Runner Up in ASEAN Data Science Explorer Regional Final 2020

Nor Hidayati Mokhtar

JOHOR BAHRU, 18 Nov. — Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), representing Malaysia, emerged as the 2nd Runner Up in the ASEAN Data Science Explorers Regional Final 2020 organised by ASEAN Foundation together with SAP.

The winning team (Psyduck) comprised Oscar Ling Fang Jack and Jason Quah Chun Meng from Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering mentored by Associate Professor Dr. Yeong Che Fai.

The team took home USD500 (RM2043.75) and the honour of being the top three teams in the region.

This ASEAN Data Science Explorers (ASEAN DSE) is an annual flagship event organized by SAP and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foundation since 2017.

This initiative has educated more than 10,000 young people across 250 institutes of higher learning in ASEAN countries to increase their digital literacy and cultivate a greater sense of responsibility and ownership towards the region’s future.

This year, the organiser received more than 400 storyboards submission across ASEAN and there were 10 champions for each National Final which included Politeknik Brunei, Camed Business School, Institut Teknologi Bandung, National University of Laos, Dagon University, Yangon Technological University, Neuva Ecija University of Science & Technology, National University of Singapore, Yale-NUS College, Chulalongkorn University, and RMIT University Vietnam.

Featuring 10 reigning national champions from the 10 ASEAN countries, these finalists competed in presenting data-driven solutions that support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the region.

This year’s Regional Final which was supposed to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam was conducted virtually for the first time.

The top three teams this year are:

WINNER: TEAM CATFISH from RMIT University (Vietnam)
FIRST RUNNER-UP: TEAM HALCYON SERAPH from National University of Singapore and Yale-NUS College (Singapore)
SECOND RUNNER-UP: TEAM PSYDUCK from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Malaysia)

Throughout the past five months, Team Psyduck had designed a storyboard that consists of key findings and implementable solutions based on data-driven insights using SAP Cloud Analytics to tackle one of the ASEAN socio-economic issues.

They presented their storyboard of “Digital Integration: The Key to Growth” where they emphasized how important is digital integration in enabling ASEAN to have an inclusive socio-economic growth as well as the roadblocks and solutions to overcome them.

The regional final judges consisted of Dr. Yang Mee Eng (Executive Director ASEAN Foundation), Thomas Zipperle (Chief Financial Officer SAP Southeast Asia), Ms. Jean Tan (Executive Director Singapore International Foundation), Sriganesh Lokanathan (Data Policy & Innovation LeadPulse Lab Jakarta), and Martin Hansen (Country Director GIZ GmbH).