KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Oct: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) students once again demonstrated what they are made of when they won two out of five main prizes at MTDC Business Challenge 2018 (MTDC 2018).
Abu Hassan Al-Basri Abd Malek from the School of Electrical Engineering and Lai Cong Yan from the School of Mechanical Engineering won the second prize with their innovative product, Rubber Tapping Robot.
They took home RM 500 in cash, fund for product development valued at RM 7500, mentorship program with MTDC, hamper and also certificates of appreciation. Abu Hassan said his team’s product revolutionizes agriculture sector and their focus is to advance rubber industry in Malaysia to be one of the best rubber manufacturers in the world. “We created ‘Narutobot’, a rubber tapping robot, which it can be installed in the plant.
Narutobot has proficient tapping system and high precision. It is controlled by IoT system, so that we do not have to come to rubber plantation every morning. We are thankful to Malaysia Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) and UTM Centre for Student Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship (UTM XCITE) for creating the platform for us to bring forward our product to the market.”
Another team from UTM, EduAR, bagged home fourth prize with RM 500 in cash, fund for product development valued at RM 4500, mentorship program with MTDC, hamper and certificates of appreciation. EduAR was represented by Tong Xin Jo from the School of Civil Engineering and Albert Chong Ming Cai from the School of Chemical Engineering.
For Tong Xin Jo, MBC 2018 helps her determine the right and most sustainable business model through thorough validation using Business Model Canvas (BMC). “BMC is very important knowledge for my team as we are also at first uncertain about the right business model for our product. I take this opportunity to thank MTDC and UTM XCITE for organizing such an amazing event for undergraduate students in Malaysia to showcase their talents and skills.”
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan, Director of UTM XCITE, said 9 teams from UTM including 2 from Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) were selected out of 120 submitted participation. “This is the best performance so far. UTM XCITE through its industrial partners and various agencies are actively seeking ways to ensure UTM students can gain first-hand experiences in innovation and entrepreneurship development.”
He also said that this MBC 2018 also involved 11 UTM students from various schools such as School of Electrical Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Azman Hashim International Business School (AHIBS) as volunteers. “MBC 2018 has provided platform for volunteers to gain experience in organizing event as well as enhance their generic skills.” He added.
Aleeya Mohd Roslee, a third year student from AHIBS, said, “the best experience throughout this program is that I am able to observe how investors identify which products are market-ready based on product value, cost strategy and market readiness.”
MBC 2018 is an inaugural competition organized by MTDC in collaboration with UTM XCITE. Committee members of MBC 2018 involved UTM lecturers from various schools: Dr. Umar Haiyat Abd Kohar (UTM XCITE), Dr. Farrah Merlinda Muharam (AHIBS), Dr. Adriana Mohd Rizal (AHIBS), Dr. Adaviah Mas’od (AHIBS), Dr. Zuraidah Sulaiman (AHIBS), Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Syuhaida Ismail (UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology), and Dr. Shahrizal Rusli (School of Electrical Engineering).