JOHOR BAHRU– The Bioprocess Engineering Student Society(BIOSS) from the School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), had once again successfully organised their 7th International Biotechnology Competition and Exhibition (IBCEx’21) on the 11th and 12th June 2021.
The main objectives of this annual event were to encourage research and development of biotechnology as well as to inspire and nurture the commitment to save the world by the young generation of today through the competition and exhibition. With the theme “Youth Empowerment: Innovation for Sustainable Future”, the organiser had opened three categories for the main Innovation Competition which were Environment/ Waste Treatment, Green Product/ Renewable Energy/ Biotechnology and Biotechnology/ Green Product/ Green Technology. The Biotechnology/ Green Product/ Green Technology category was only opened for postgraduates whereas the others were for undergraduates.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this annual physical event was once again held virtually. This year, IBCEx’21 had gained participation with a total of 35 competing teams for main innovation comprising 4 international teams and 31 local teams. Out of the 4 international teams, two teams were from Universitas Islam Indonesia (Indonesia) while one team each from Universitas Padjajaran (Indonesia) and Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia). Meanwhile, for the local team, eleven teams were from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), four teams from Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), three teams from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), three teams from Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam (UiTM), three teams from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak, two teams from UCSI University and one team each from Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), University of Nottingham and Brickfields Asia College (BAC). IBCEx’21 main innovation competition offered an extra specialty where there was a category for postgraduate besides undergraduate which was joined by 9 teams out of 31 teams from local universities.
Apart from that, a Poster Presentation Competition was organized as a side competition with the same theme opened to all undergraduate students. Prizes for this competition were up to RM 150 for first winner, RM 120 for first runner up and RM 100 for second runner up. This year, there were 15 participants comprising of undergraduates from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), National Defense University of Malaysia (UPNM), Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia and University of Nottingham Malaysia.
IBCEx’21 decided to break with tradition by adding a new side competition to the event which was a Video Presentation Competition. The objective of the Video Presentation Competition with the same theme as the main Innovation Competition was to encourage high school students to share their ideas into a creative video. Prizes for this competition were same as for the Poster Presentation Competition. There were four teams participating in the Video Presentation Competition where three teams were from SM Sains Tuanku Aishah Rohani and one team from SM Sains Tapah. Students from SM Sains Tuanku Aishah Rohani were Aisya Shahira Binti Ahmad Nordi, Husna Aliyah Binti Mohamad and Nur Ainna Liyana Binti Zaharuddin. The student from SM Sains Tapah was Nurul Aini Binti Anuar. These videos were creative, interesting and meaningful and are available to be watched on the official instagram and facebook page of IBCEx’21.
A webinar with the title of “Future of Commercialising Biotechnology Innovations in Malaysia” was organised on the first day of the event. The first speaker of this webinar was Ir Goh Su Kin, a senior mill engineer from Lenga Palmoil Industries Sdn Bhd, who has 15 years working experience and the second speaker was Dr Mariani Abdul Hamid, a senior lecturer in the School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UTM. During the one-hour webinar, moderated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dayang Norulfairuz, topics such as factors needed to be considered before launching a new product, activation of innovation and entrepreneurship, challenges when commercializing new products, eco-innovation were discussed. Besides, participants also asked questions during the webinar as most of them were curious about the biggest challenge to the company during this pandemic and the ways to overcome it.
Prof. Ts. Dr. Ahmad Fauzi bin Ismail, Vice Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, was invited to officiate the IBCEx’21 closing ceremony on the 12th June 2021. Encik Ahmad Fakhrurrazi Arshad, Head Stakeholder Relation Repsol Oil & Gas Malaysia Limited, the main sponsor of the program, was also being invited to the closing ceremony as the VIP.
The champion for the main Innovation Competition under Environment/ Waste Treatment category was team WT04 from Universitas Padjadjaran with their project titled “Utilization of Black Soldier Fly Larvae (Hermetia Illucens Linnaeus) as an Innovative Organic Waste Management”. The first runner up went to team WT13 from UTM with their project titled “Smart Trash Bin” and the second runner up went to team WT15 from Universitas Islam Indonesia with the project titled “Treatment of Organic Waste Using Microbial Fuel Cell Method with Rice Paddy Field Soil for Electricity and COD”.
For the category of Green Product/ Renewable Energy/ Biotechnology, the winner went to team GP10 from UTM with the project titled “WasteWashedWealth (3W) Hydrogel: Green Hydrogels based on Agro-waste Blends”. The first and second runner up both went to team GP04 and GP06 from UTP with project titled “Hydrogel Production From Extracted Cellulose of Napier Pakchong, Napier India and Napier Kobe” and “Removal of synthetic dyes by hydrogel grafted oil palm empty fruit bunch / carbon nanotubes”, respectively.
Meanwhile, for the category (Postgraduate) of Biotechnology/ Green Product/ Green Technology, the champion went to team PG07 from UM with the project titled “Handheld PCB-based Three-Electrode Lab-On-Chip System for Characterisation and Detection of Pathogenic Microorganisms”. The first runner for this category was team PG03 from University of Nottingham Malaysia with project titled “Smart Farming and Harvesting System of Microalgae and Bioactive Compounds” and the second runner up was team PG02 from UKM with the project titled “Green Separation Technology Via Integrated Microalgae-Membrane Contactor System for Biohydrogen Separation with Carbon Neutrality”.
Next, the winner of Best Template & Design Presentation for undergraduate category was team WT06 from UiTM with project titled “Waste from Eggshell and Banana Peel as Catalyst for Biodiesel Production” and for postgraduate category was team PG06 from USIM with project titled “Development of Fish and Chicken Feed Incorporated With Chloroplast Rich Fraction (Crf) From Sweet Potato Haulm”. The best presenter went to Wong Chang Koon (undergraduate) from UTM and Prince Nishchal Narayanaswamy Elumalai (postgraduate) from UM. The Best of Best Innovation award for undergraduate went to team GP10 from UTM with project titled “WasteWashedWealth (3W) Hydrogel: Green Hydrogels based on Agro-waste Blends” while for postgraduate was team PG07 from UM with project titled “Handheld PCB-based Three-Electrode Lab-On-Chip System for Characterization and Detection of Pathogenic Microorganisms”.
Siti Nursyakirah Binti Idris from UTHM won the 1st place in Poster Presentation Competition with the title “ONIELL – Tinted Film”. The first and second runner up was Celine Lai with the title “A Guide to A Sustainable Future for The Youth : Waste Not, Want Not” and Koo Sheng Shao with title “Eco-Life Bicycle Shelter”, respectively. Meanwhile, the champion for Video Presentation Competition was Nurul Aini Binti Anuar from SM Sains Tapah with her video title as “Carbon Tax Revived Mother Nature”. The first runner up was Nur Ainna Liyana Binti Zaharuddin with her video title as “Foot Candy” while the second runner up was Husna Aliyah Binti Mohamad with the video title “ La Casa Privada (The House Of Your Dreams)”. Both of them came from SM Sains Tuanku Aishah Rohani.
UTM appreciated the hard work of every committee for successfully organizing this outstanding competition and exhibition. We believe that this programme has provided an excellent platform for people to generate and turn their ideas into valuable products related to biotechnology which can then be contributed to meet the needs of the world and people. Therefore, UTM hopes all the participants have seized this opportunity to learn something new and obtained new knowledge as well as useful experiences from IBCEx21. Last but not least, UTM also hopes that this meaningful programme can be maintained and improved from year to year so that BIOSS is able to bring more exciting activities to the participants in the future.
Written by: Tan Yee Qing, Tan Pei Wen, Shalini a/p Doraisingam, Melissa Ng, Muhammad Haziq Bin Hasnizam, Chan Yi Lin, Auni Diyana Binti Hirzan Bazli, Susmiita Ragavee Nair a/p Sathia Narayanan@ Nair & Wong Chee Tim