JOHOR BAHRU, 17th September 2017 – The United States Embassy with the collaboration from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Faculty of Computing and UTM Technology Entrepreneurship Centre (UTMTEC) has organized the Embracing IoT Opportunities Workshop.
The workshop was held at the Seminar Hall of the Faculty of Computing, Johor Bahru campus and officiated by the Dean of the Faculty of Computing, Prof. Dr. Abd. Samad Hj. Ismail.
UTMTEC Deputy Director, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Zaidi Rozan said the workshop which was open for all students and staff with the objective to expose participants to the trends and opportunities that future and aspiring entrepreneurs can tap into in the Internet of Things (IoT) which is one of the most fast-changing and dynamic movements in the world today.
“The guest speaker Deborah Magid was from IBM Venture Capitalist USA, specially flown from Silicon Valley, USA while the locals were UTM’s own academic staff, Dr Raja Zahilah Raja Mohd Radzi from the Faculty of Computing and me,” said Dr. Mohd. Zaidi.
The workshop was separated into two sessions with the morning session covering topics on the trends and opportunities in IoT by Deborah Magid, an experience sharing session on IoT projects by Dr. Raja Zahilah and on funding opportunities for any IOT projects in UTM by Dr Zaidi.
“The session was meant to expose the ecosystems, the environment and prospects of the IoT that start-up and future entrepreneurs can consider. Deborah is a software strategy director from IBM Venture Capitalist USA and is well-versed in the start-up’s communities.
“She has been very supportive in giving insights on the potential of IoT as solutions in industries. Dr. Raja Zahilah had shared some of the IoT related projects meant to aspire our participant and inspire them for their next IoT projects,” said Dr. Zaidi.
WIth regard to getting fund for one’s projects, Dr Zaidi delivered a talk on how to get financial support both from potential investors and organizations.
The afternoon session was on the issue of Women In Tech where Ms Magid once again shared her insights and experiences on how to be a successful woman entrepreneur in the tech ecosystem.
The session was meant to empower and inspire women in the tech industry to take a step further and break the stereotypes by being more involved and supportive of each other.
Deborah also shared some of the resources that women entrepreneur can use to their own advantages and advices in how to bring oneself while being in an environment that is predominantly male.
“This programme is a very insightful and interesting workshop. IoT is a giant network of connected ‘things’ where the inter-relation includes people-people, people-things and things-things. The internet of things is more than just connecting devices, there are so many opportunities and solutions that IoT can offer.
“Insights and prospects in the IoT shared by the speakers were definitely a good experience for our participants. As a starting ecosystem in Malaysia, future entrepreneurs and start-ups should take the initiative and take on the challenges to delve into opportunities like this,” said Dr. Zaidi.
In conjunction with that, UTMTEC will hold an IoT Hackathon that focuses on the problems and opportunities of our everyday life. The event is set to run on the 21st November 2017 in conjunction with Innovate Johor 2017.